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News:
- A new study offers hope for wild tiger populations across countries by showing that under optimal conditions, tiger numbers can triple in 18 sites across the world, including eight in India.
Important Facts:
- About the study: The study, published in PLOS ONE, was conducted by 49 conservationists of the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) across 10 tiger-range countries.
- The best available information was compiled including the occurrence and abundances of tigers and their prey from available scientific studies, the connectivity of the protected areas and availability of protected buffer forests nearby as well as human disturbances including fragmentation through the Human Footprint Index.
- This information was used for developing site-specific and ecologically realistic targets and timelines for the recovery of tiger populations in 18 tiger global “recovery sites”.
- The eight “recovery sites” in India with potential for increasing tiger numbers are the following:
- Anamalai-Vazhachal (in Tamil Nadu-Kerala)
- Sathyamangalam (Tamil Nadu)
- Balaghat (Madhya Pradesh)
- Achanakmar (Chattisgarh)
- Western Rajaji and Nandhaur (Uttarakhand)
- Manas (across Assam-Bhutan)
- Valmiki (across Bihar-Nepal)
- Currently, these regions support an estimated 62 tigers which could rise to 287 over the next 30-50 years, an increase of more than four times in India alone.
- Challenges:
- Tackling growing incidents of human–tiger conflict in these areas would be crucial to aid this increase, according to the study.
- The goal of doubling tiger numbers from about 3,200 to about 6,000 by 2022 may have been an “ambitious goal” that the signatories of the Global Tiger Recovery Program took on.
- Significance:
- This new assessment could guide planning for tiger recovery globally and help inform more effective, integrated approaches to tiger conservation.
- This study affirms the need for tiger-range governments to take a holistic, long-term view towards tiger recovery which must include plans for revival of prey animals and other wildlife at the site- level.
The Global Tiger Recovery Program (GTRP) seeks to empower Tiger Range Country (TRCs) to address the entire spectrum of threats, domestic as well as those that are transboundary in nature, and work toward increased financial sustainability through the integration of conservation objectives into development.
The GTRP has been developed, with the shared goal of doubling the number of wild tigers globally by 2022 through actions to:
(i) Effectively manage, preserve, protect, and enhance tiger habitats;
(ii) Eradicate poaching, smuggling, and illegal trade of tigers, their parts, and derivatives;
(iii) Cooperate in transboundary landscape management and in combating illegal trade;
(iv) Engage with indigenous and local communities;
(v) Increase the effectiveness of tiger and habitat management; and
(vi) Restore tigers to their former range.
The GTRP has been developed, with the shared goal of doubling the number of wild tigers globally by 2022 through actions to:
(i) Effectively manage, preserve, protect, and enhance tiger habitats;
(ii) Eradicate poaching, smuggling, and illegal trade of tigers, their parts, and derivatives;
(iii) Cooperate in transboundary landscape management and in combating illegal trade;
(iv) Engage with indigenous and local communities;
(v) Increase the effectiveness of tiger and habitat management; and
(vi) Restore tigers to their former range.
- The 13 Asian Tiger Range Countries (TRCs) are Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, Russian Federation, Thailand, and Vietnam.
