Thursday, 05 Dec, 2024
Project Tiger has made great progress in tiger protection over the last 50 years, with impressive results.
Nearly 75 percent of the world's wild tiger population is currently found in India.
The population of tigers in India has increased to 3682 (range 3167-3925) as compared to the 2018 estimation of 2967 (range 2603-3346) and 2014 estimation of 2226 (range 1945-2491) as per the All India Tiger Estimation done in 2022. The tiger population is increasing at a rate of 6% per annum in India when consistently sampled areas are compared. This information was given by Union Minister of State for Environment, Forest and Climate Change Kirti Vardhan Singh in a written reply in the Lok Sabha on November 25, 2024.
Project Tiger is a comprehensive conservation initiative that was started in 1973 by the Indian government with the goal of protecting the country's tiger population and biodiversity. Project Tiger has made great progress in tiger protection over the last 50 years, with impressive results. The initiative, which began with nine tiger reserves totaling 18,278 km2, has grown into an impressive achievement with 53 reserves totaling 75,796 km2, or 2.3 percent of India's entire land area.
Source: Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change
Nearly 75 percent of the world's wild tiger population is currently found in India.
Enacting the Wildlife Protection Act and creating protected areas for tigers and tropical forests were the main goals of the first phase of tiger conservation in the 1970s. However, widespread poaching caused a fall in the 1980s. In response, the government initiated the second phase in 2005, adopting a landscape-level approach, community involvement & support, implementing strict law enforcement, and using modern technology for scientific monitoring to ensure tiger conservation. In addition to increasing the number of tigers, this strategy produced a number of important results, such as the emergence of additional tiger reserves, the designation of inviolate key core and buffer areas, and the creation of tiger landscapes and corridors.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the minimum tiger population of 3167, which is the population estimate from the camera-trapped region, on April 9, 2022, during the celebration of Project Tiger's 50th anniversary in Mysuru. According to the Wildlife Institute of India's additional analysis of data from both camera-trapped and non-camera-trapped tiger presence areas, the average number of tigers is 3682, with an estimated upper limit of 3925. This represents a remarkable annual growth rate of 6.1%.
The number of tigers in Central India, the Shivalik Hills, and the Gangetic Plains increased significantly, especially in the states of Madhya Pradesh, Uttarakhand, and Maharashtra. Nonetheless, other areas—like the Western Ghats—saw localized decreases, which called for focused conservation and monitoring initiatives. Some states have documented concerning trends with limited tiger populations, including Mizoram, Nagaland, Jharkhand, Goa, Chhattisgarh, and Arunachal Pradesh.
The largest tiger population of 785 is in Madhya Pradesh, followed by Karnataka (563) & Uttarakhand (560), and Maharashtra (444). The tiger abundance within the Tiger Reserve is highest in Corbett (260), followed by Bandipur (150), Nagarhole (141), Bandhavgarh (135), Dudhwa (135), Mudumalai(114), Kanha (105), Kaziranga (104), Sundarbans (100), Tadoba (97), Sathyamangalam (85), and Pench-MP (77).
Rehabilitating mining sites, minimizing the effects of mining, and pursuing an eco-friendly development strategy are all crucial for maintaining ecological integrity. Important actions to safeguard the nation's tiger population also include strengthening protected area management, stepping up anti-poaching efforts, using technology-driven data collecting and scientific thinking, and resolving human-wildlife conflict.
Over the past 50 years, India's Project Tiger has made significant strides in tiger conservation; nonetheless, issues like poaching continue to pose a danger. The survival of India's tigers and their ecosystems for future generations depends on ongoing efforts to preserve tiger habitats and corridors.
