This 29th July marked 5th International
Tiger Day to raise awareness of tiger conservation. This is observed as both a celebration
and awareness day , decided at the Saint Petersburg Tiger Summit in 2010. The
goal of Tiger Day is to promote the protection and expansion of the wild tigers
habitats and to gain support through awareness for tiger conservation.
WORLDWIDE
1) According to a report we have lost
97% of all wild tigers in a bit over 100 years, instead of 100,000, as few as
3000 live in the wild today, last year it was 3200.
2) Tigers lost 93% of their natural
habitat due to the expansion of cities and agriculture by humans.
INDIA AND THE TIGER CONSERVATION
1) India has special role to play in
tiger conservation with tiger being India’s national animal apart from being an
endangered species.
2) India is now home to more than 70 percent
of the world's tiger population.
3) To protect them the Govt. of India
had launched “Project Tiger” on 1st April 1973 in Palamau Tiger Reserve.
4) Project Tiger is the largest species
conservation initiative of this kind , started with only 9 reserves in 1973-74
its now extended to a total of 48.
5) Tiger reserves are developed as
breeding nuclei, from which surplus animals would migrate to adjacent forests.
6) A Tiger Task Force was constituted on
the recommendation of the National Board of Wild Life chaired by PM.
7) Under this a statutory authority with
LEGAL BACKING and ADMINISTRATIVE POWER called National Tiger Conservation
Authority(NTCA) was established in the year 2006 (amendments in wild life
protection act 1972).
8) Minister for Environment and Forests
holds the chairmanship of NTCA. The Authority has eight experts including
tribal, apart from three Members of Parliament of whom two are elected by the
House of the People and one by the Council of States. The Inspector General of
Forests (in charge of project Tiger) is the ex-officio Member Secretary. Rest
are the professionals having relative
experience in the field of environment and species conservation.
9) Main functions of NTCA includes
laying down standards ,guidelines and the conservation plans .It also prepares
an annual Report, which is laid in the Parliament along with the Audit Report.
10) There is a provision of setting up
State level Steering Committees under the Chairmanship of respective Chief
Ministers to have a state specific plan which in turn will coordinate with
central body and work equally in the direction of conservation.
TIGER CENSUS 2014
1) This is conducted in every 4 years to
to gauge the success of conservation efforts, find change in tiger population
and their ecosystem for better planning.
2) Census was carried out by NTCA in
collaboration with State Forest Dept., National Conservation NGOs and Wild Life
Institute of India.
3) 2014
report was titled as “Status of Tigers ,Co-predators, Prey and their
Habitats 2014”.
4) The census used images of tigers
captured by cameras and computer assisted analysis of tiger stripes (as each
has distinct stripes like we humans have finger prints) on the images to count
the number of tigers.
WHAT DOES THE REPORT SAYS?
1) Tiger population in India has
increased by 30.5% since the last estimate of 2010.
2) Karnataka hosts maximum no. of tigers
followed by Uttarakhand.
3) Odissa , Uttarpradesh and AP are the
only three states where fall in tiger population has been observed due to various
reasons.
CONCLUSION
Though the increasing number of tigers
is exciting ;providing adequate forest areas, avoiding animal human conflicts,
vigilance and limiting poaching still remain as roadblocks in achieving what
needs to be done to conserve this mighty animal. Recently there has been much
debate by the environmentalists on the constructions of Highways passing
through the forests ,home of tigers as in the case of NH7 passing through Kanha
national park(M.P.) where racing and honking disturbs the tranquility of the
forest. The solution to all these problems lies in empathy and belief in sustainable
development supported by law.
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Author: Palak Tiwari, a freelancer writer based in Bhopal
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