14 tiger reserves get CA|TS accreditation

The Global Tiger Forum and WWF India have congratulated the 14 tiger reserves that have received CA|TS accreditation.

CA|TS is a globally accepted conservation tool that sets best practices and standards to manage tigers and encourages assessments to benchmark progress.

Habitats that support tiger populations are the building blocks of wild tiger conservation and effectively managing them is essential for the long-term survival of wild tigers. CA|TS is being implemented across 125 sites in seven tiger range countries and India has the biggest number with 94 sites, out of which assessment was completed for 20 tiger reserves this year.

The sites went through the prescribed CA|TS process of site registration through external evaluation (including verification of evidence) to accreditation.

The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change made the formal announcement on Thursday.

This was facilitated by the Global Tiger Forum (GTF) and WWF India, which are the two implementing partners of the National Tiger Conservation Authority for CA|TS assessment in India, a press statement issued here said.

The 14 tiger reserves are Manas, Kaziranga, Orang (Assam), Sundarbans (West Bengal), Valmiki (Bihar), Dudhwa (Uttar Pradesh), Panna, Kanha and Satpuda (Madhya Pradesh), Annamalai and Madumalai (Tamil Nadu), Pench (Maharashtra), Parambikulam (Kerala) and Bandipur (Karnataka).

Dr Rajesh Gopal, Secretary-General, Global Tiger Forum said “CA|TS accreditation is a global recognition of good tiger governance. This recognition means a lot in the context of adaptation to climate change, sustainability of ecosystem services, and safeguarding disruption of zoonotic cycles, through an umbrella species approach.”

Ravi Singh, Secretary-General and CEO, WWF India said, “The CA|TS accreditation to 14 tiger reserves in India signifies that these reserves have achieved excellence in tiger site management. This accreditation will strengthen management practices in the sites as per international common criteria. WWF India will continue to support the CA|TS assessment process for tiger conservation landscapes.”

This is the first time that site assessments were carried out using CA|TS-LOG, the software that helps in visualising data and tracking site-based tiger conservation. India is the first country to roll this out nationally.

All the 14 accredited sites met the “Standard Exceeded” or “Standard Achieved” in the majority of the 17 elements under the 7 CA|TS pillars, i.e. importance and status, management, community, tourism, protection, habitat management and tiger populations, thereby reaching overall CA|TS scores of above 70% - the minimum required for consideration for accreditation.