Challenges galore in tiger conservation in India, says Status Tiger-2022 report

Though the tiger population has increased to more than double from 1,411 in 2006 to 3,167 in 2022, there were still several challenges that need to be addressed despite efforts to conserve tigers, the Status Tiger-2022 report has pointed out.

The latest tiger census data released by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to mark 50 years of 'Project Tiger' here on Sunday showed that the tiger population was 1,411 in 2006, 1,706 in 2010, 2,226 in 2014, 2,967 in 2018 and 3,167 in 2022.

“One of the major challenges is aligning the aspirations of large-scale economic development while safeguarding forests and their wildlife and mitigating human-tiger conflict,” the report said.

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It added that climate change-related impacts on habitats and the loss of the quality of forests over time were other mounting threats.

Out of the approximately four lakh square kilometres of forests in states that have tiger habitats, only one-third are in relatively healthy condition, the report said.

It also underlined that illegal wildlife trade posed a major threat to wildlife in general and tigers in particular.

“Even though poaching is illegal, the demand for tiger products remains high, and poachers continue to kill tigers for profit,” the report noted.

The tiger census was a result of a major exercise carried out by the forest departments of various states. The frontline staff of 20 states that potentially have tiger populations were trained to collect the Phase-1 data in a digital format on a mobile application called M-STrIPES.

Further, field guides were published in nine regional languages and provided to each beat guard. Data was collected on carnivore sign encounters, ungulate (hoofed herbivores) abundance, vegetation, human disturbance and dung counts.

For the Sundarbans, the above protocol was modified so as to allow sampling using a boat along river channels (khals) and in Northeast India, barring Assam, the polygon search method was used.

A news report from 2019 explains the polygon search method thus: The faeces of tigers is collected in manner that involves making polygons -- squares in this case -- of 25 sq km each in an area of 400 sq km in the northeastern region, and then physically going there and collecting faeces for genetic sampling.

Phase-1 sampling took a maximum of 10 days for each forest beat, with the sampling effort of two persons. In Phase-2, remote-sensing of spatial and attribute covariates were employed and in Phase-3, a camera trap survey was used.

In areas where camera trapping was not possible either logistically or due to insurgency, and tiger densities were very low, molecular tools were used to determine the presence of tigers by extracting DNA from scat collected in such areas.

The survey was carried out in five landscapes, namely Shivalik Range and Gangetic plains; central India highlands and Eastern Ghats; Western Ghats; North East hills and Brahmaputra flood plains; and Sundarbans.

“A total of 3,080 individual tigers (less than one year of age) were photo-captured, which are larger than the ones captured in 2018. The minimum population estimate is 3,167 individuals,” the Status Tiger-2022 report said.

Modi’s push for tiger conservation through the International Big Cat Alliance' (IBCA) and vision document called ‘Amrit Kaal Ka Tiger Vision’, which he launched on Sunday, also got a scriptural backing. In his message in ‘Status of Tigers-2022’, Modi quoted a Sanskrit couplet from the ‘Udyoga Parva’ of Mahabharata, which means “If there is no forest, then the tiger gets killed; if there is no tiger, then the forest gets destroyed. Hence, the tiger protects the forest and the forest guards the tiger!”

The couplet goes thus: Nirvano Vadhyate Vyaaghro Nirvyaaghram Chhidyate Vanam.

Tasmatvyaaghro Vanam Rakshedvayam Vyaaghram Cha Paalayet.