Source: PIB & Times of India
On the occasion of International Tiger Day, Prime Minister released the results of the fourth cycle of All India Tiger Estimation – 2018. The count of tigers in India has risen to 2967, in 2018, according to this census.
Key Highlights
- The Tiger Estimation exercise is believed to be the world’s largest wildlife survey effort in terms of coverage, the intensity of sampling and quantum of camera trapping.
- India conducts the All India Tiger Estimation every four years. Three cycles of the estimation have already been completed in 2006, 2010 and 2014.
- The 33% rise in tiger numbers is the highest ever recorded between cycles which stood at 21% between 2006 to 2010 and 30% between 2010 and 2014. The rise in tiger numbers was in conformity with the average annual growth rate of tigers since 2006.
- The rise in tiger numbers was in conformity with the average annual growth rate of tigers since 2006. Madhya Pradesh saw the highest number of tigers at 526, closely followed by Karnataka at 524 with Uttarakhand at number 3 with 442 tigers.
- It was a moment of pride for the country as it achieved its commitment to the St.Petersburg Declaration, of doubling the Tiger population, much in advance to the 2022 deadline.
- Chhattisgarh and Mizoram saw a decline in their tiger numbers while the tiger’s numbers in Odisha remained constant. All other States witnessed a positive trend.
- Viewed at the landscape level, all 5 landscapes showed an increase with the Central Indian landscape recording the highest increment.
- Approach: India has been estimating its tigers using a double sampling approach involving a mark-recapture framework to ascertain tiger numbers, which is being improved over time keeping in view advancements made in science.
- During the 4th cycle, in sync with the Government of India’s “Digital India” initiative, data was collected using an Android-based application- M-STrIPES ( Monitoring system for Tigers’ Intensive Protection and Ecological Status) and analyzed on the applications’ desktop module.
- The Prime Minister also released a report of the 4th cycle of the Management Effectiveness Evaluation of Tiger Reserves (MEETR) with Pench Tiger Reserve, Madhya Pradesh scoring the highest and Sathyamangalam Tiger Reserve, Tamil Nadu showing the highest increment in management since the last cycle for which the latter was awarded. 42% of the tiger reserves fell in the Very Good management category, 34% in the Good category, 24% in the Fair category while no tiger reserve was rated Poor.
- Projecting tiger reserve as engines of growth was highlighted in the report released on Economic Valuation of Tiger Reserves which was jointly published by the NTCA and the Indian Institute of Forest Management Bhopal.
