TIGER CENSUS (Syllabus: GS Paper 3 – Env & Eco)

Context: After announcing its own tiger census in July and raising doubts about the All-India Tiger Estimation (AITE) 2022, the Odisha government has recently revealed its strategy for conducting the census.

• The state claimed a total of 733 camera traps were deployed in Odisha, as against 6,894 and 4,872 in Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra respectively.

All-India Tiger Estimation (AITE) 2022

• Nodal Ministry:Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC).
• Maximum Number of Tigers: Madhya Pradesh (785), followed by Karnataka (563), Uttarakhand (560), and Maharashtra (444).
• Highest Number of Tigers: Corbett (260), followed by Bandipur (150), and Nagarhole (141).
• Increase: Central India, the Shivalik Hills, and the Gangetic plains 
• Decrease: Western Ghats 

Tiger Census in India

• About: It is done every 4 years by the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) in partnership with state forest departments, conservation NGOs, and the Wildlife Institute of India (WII).

Tiger:

• Conservation status: IUCN – Endangered, CITES – Appendix I, WPA, 1972 – Schedule I.
• Characteristics: It is a solitary animal but mother tiger stay with their cubs for about two years.

oStripes on every tiger is different as unique as fingerprints of human.

• Significance of Tigers: It is a “flagship species of India, umbrella species and also a keystone species”.
• Population in India: 3167 (According to Tiger census, 2022, released April 2023).
• Conservation programme in India: Project Tiger, 1973 (Implemented through National Tiger Conservation Authority/NTCA).
• Conservation programme at global level: Global Conservation Assured/Tiger Standards (CA/TS), St. Petersburg Declaration (TX2), Global Tiger Forum (GTF), Global Tiger Initiative (GTI).