Posted
on 28 July 2011
New Delhi - Results of the recent tiger
population estimation exercise released
today show that the numbers of the highly
endangered big cat in India have increased
in the country.
The estimated population
of 1,706 individual tigers represents a
20 percent increase from the last survey
in 2006, which estimated a number of 1,411.
The increase is based on the survey of additional
areas as well as an increase in the number
of tigers within high-density populations.
These results are the highlights of the
Indian Government’s report - Status of Tigers,
co predators and prey in India, 2010, which
was released by Sri Jagdish Kishwan, Additional
Director General (Wildlife), Ministry of
Environment and Forest, Government of India
at an event organized by the National Tiger
Conservation Authority (NTCA) at WWF-India
in New Delhi earlier today.
This countrywide assessment of tigers, co-predators
and prey included all 17 tiger states, and
involved 477,000 work-days by forest staff
and 37,000 work-days by professional biologists,
making it the largest exercise of its kind
in the world.
“After the 2006 pan
India tiger population estimation, the present
exercise is even more comprehensive in terms
of the area covered and methodologies used,”
said Mr. Ravi Singh, Secretary General and
CEO of WWF India. “The involvement of conservation
partners, including WWF, has led to broad
based efforts and built a stronger constituency
and capacity for tiger conservation in India.”
Despite the good news,
the detailed report warns that tigers are
still in danger due to an overall 12.6 percent
decrease in area occupied by tigers, meaning
more tigers are being squeezed into smaller
areas, which could lead to a lack of dispersal
and consequent loss of genetic exchange
between populations, and an increase in
human-tiger conflict.
Dr. Y V Jhala, lead author of the report
said, “The loss of corridors does not bode
well for the tiger. Poaching can wipe out
individual tiger populations, but these
can be re-established by reintroductions
as has been done in the Sariska and Panna
Reserves. However, once habitats are lost,
it is almost impossible to claim them back
for restoration.”
WWF-India partnered with the NTCA and the
Wildlife Institute of India, which led the
massive estimation exercise. WWF played
a role in the exercise across the landscapes
where it works in the states of Arunachal
Pradesh, Assam, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh,
Tamil Nadu, Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh,
covering both tiger reserves as well as
habitats outside tiger reserves and connecting
corridors.
The report further states that tigers require
good forests and prey, along with undisturbed
breeding areas, for long-term term survival.
It is hoped that the recommendations in
the report will lead to planning decisions
that balance India’s long-term development
needs with conservation concerns to secure
a future for the country’s most iconic species.
“These results are encouraging,
and we congratulate all the partners in
India for achieving something like this
on a scale never attempted before. This
huge task undertaken by the partners perfectly
represents the scale of action we need to
take to turn around the future for the tiger,”
said Mike Baltzer, Leader of WWF’s Tigers
Alive Initiative “Unfortunately, while the
results indicate an increase, they also
provide evidence of even more pressure on
the tiger and its habitat, we must keep
up the momentum and redouble our efforts
to ensure the tiger has a future in India
and throughout its range in Asia and the
Russian Far East.”
