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Introduction
Courtesy – Project Tiger
The Government of India has taken a pioneering initiative for conserving its national animal, the Tiger, by launching the ‘Project Tiger’ in 1973. The project started with 9 tiger reserves and in present it has increased to 47, spread out in 18 of tiger range states. These reserves amount to around 2.08% of the geographical area of our country. The tiger reserves are constituted on a core/buffer strategy. The core areas have the legal status of a national park or a sanctuary, whereas the buffer or peripheral areas are a mix of forest and non-forest land, managed as a multiple-use area. The Project Tiger aims to foster an exclusive tiger agenda in the core areas of tiger reserves, with an inclusive people-oriented agenda in the buffer.
‘Project Tiger’ is a Centrally Sponsored Scheme of the Environment, Forests and Climate Change, providing funding support to tiger range States, for in-situ conservation of tigers in designated tiger reserves, and has put the endangered tiger on an assured path of recovery by saving it from extinction, as revealed by the recent findings of the All India tiger estimation using the refined methodology. It is implemented and monitored by the National Tiger Conservation Authority.
The National Tiger Conservation Authority is a statutory body under the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change constituted under enabling provisions of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972, as amended in 2006, for strengthening tiger conservation, as per powers and functions assigned to it under the said Act. The National Tiger Conservation Authority has been fulfilling its mandate within the ambit of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972 for strengthening tiger conservation in the country by retaining an oversight through advisories/normative guidelines, based on the appraisal of tiger status, ongoing conservation initiatives, and recommendations of specially constituted Committees.
Current Activities:
Providing central assistance to States under the ongoing Centrally Sponsored Scheme of Project Tiger for tiger reserves, for activities (recurring/non-recurring), as reflected in the Annual Plan of Operations of tiger reserves, based on their Tiger Conservation Plans is an important activity.
It includes protection, habitat amelioration, day to day monitoring, and eco-development for local people in buffer areas, voluntary relocation of people from core/critical tiger habitats, and addressing human-wildlife conflicts, within the ambit of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972 and guidelines of Project Tiger / National Tiger Conservation Authority.The NTCA / Project Tiger also conducts the country level assessment of the status of tiger, co-predators, prey and habitat once in four years, using the refined methodology, as approved by the Tiger Task Force.
Special thrust on tiger protection and anti-poaching operations
The illegal demand for body parts and derivatives of the tiger outside the country continues to be a serious threat to wild tigers. Therefore, protection is accorded topmost priority in Project Tiger / NTCA. The States are engaged in an ongoing manner through the NTCA Headquarters as well as its Regional Offices. It also closely works with the CBI, Wildlife Crime Control Bureau, and the Police Departments.
Managing moving tigers in human-dominated landscapes
In several productive tiger landscapes, tigers move out from the core/critical tiger habitats/source areas. It is an innate behavior owing to their social dynamics. Since the tiger landscapes have human settlements and varied land uses, there are frequent human-tiger/ wildlife interface issues. The NTCA / Project Tiger is actively engaging with the States to address such issues and a SOP has been put in place in this regard.
Key functions and responsibilities of ‘Project Tiger ’
- Stepped up protection/networking/surveillance
- Voluntary relocation of people from core/critical tiger habitat to provide inviolate space for tiger
- Strengthening of protection infrastructure and habitat management as per Tiger Conservation Plans of tiger reserves
- Use of information technology in wildlife crime prevention
- Addressing human-wildlife conflicts
- Addressing the issue of resource dependency of local people through sustainable livelihood options
- Capacity building of frontline personnel
- Developing a national repository of camera trap tiger photographs with IDs
- Active management for rescuing moving tigers from human-dominated landscape
- Conducting the next round of country-level assessment of tiger, co-predators, prey besides habitat status monitoring
- Conducting the next round of the independent management effectiveness evaluation
- Strengthening the regional offices of the NTCA
- Declaring and consolidating new tiger reserves
- Fostering awareness for eliciting local public support
- Fostering Research
Developments
Due to concerted efforts under Project Tiger, at present India has the distinction of having the maximum number of tigers in the world (1706) as per 2010 assessment, when compared to other tiger range countries. The 2010 country level tiger assessment has also shown a 20% increase of tigers in the country (from 1411 in 2006 to 1706 in 2010). However, there is a decline in tiger occupancy (12.6%) in other areas of tiger States. The tiger corridors for gene flow have been mapped in the GIS domain.