Animal Rights Movement South Asia - ARMSA

Tiger population in India still fewer than potential’ India's wildlife expert says country’s habitat can host 15,000 tigers against the current 3,000. By Ahmad Adil

Although India currently hosts the largest tiger population, experts believe that the country has not achieved much progress over the years in protecting and increasing its numbers. Supporting dark vertical stripes on orange-brown fur with a lighter underside and once ranged widely from the Eastern Anatolia in the west to the Amur River basin in the east, and in the south from the foothills of the Himalayas, the tiger is now listed as endangered on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) list.

K. Ullas Karanth, director of Centre for Wildlife Studies based in the southern Indian city of Bangalore said the country has not achieved much because of not following the scientific policies. "We had about 2,000 tigers 50 years ago and have about 3,000 now. Given the potential habitat of over 300,000 square kilometers, which has a potential to host 15,000 tigers, I would say we have not achieved much," he said. As per official estimates, India last year counted 2,967 tigers in its forests against 2,226 recorded in 2014.

The government is running Project Tiger which undertakes research and converses the habitat of this largest wild cat species, which is also the national animal of India. Karanth said that Indian tiger recovery efforts began over 50 years ago, and the country has done relatively better than other countries in terms of releasing funds, enforcing conservation laws, and creating public interest in tigers. "However, because we have failed to base our policies on sound science and the stranglehold of excessive bureaucracy, we have not achieved what is possible," he said. Karanth, who has conducted pioneering research on the ecology of tigers, sympatric predators, and other large mammals said that rapid urbanization is not the main cause of tiger habitat shrinkage.

Problems vary, "Urbanization and a desire of the rural people to migrate to semi-urban and urban areas is reducing pressure on tiger forests. The problems are different, and vary among regions of the country," he said. He said the most extensive forests of central and eastern India, "illegal hunting of prey and tigers is the main problem”.

"Forest exploitation and cattle grazing by local people is also laying waste on large tracts. Infrastructure projects such as roads and railways are breaking up habitat connectivity," he said. Karanth further said that inefficient green energy projects, such as micro-hydel projects and rural road projects are also increasingly opening tiger habitats to negative human impacts. Asked if India is doing enough to cooperate with neighboring countries to preserve tigers since the animal does not know borders, Karanth said this largest wild cat has been wiped out on both sides of the border along, more so along the China-Myanmar region.

"The border where we share tiger habitats are with Myanmar, China-Tibet, Bhutan, Bangladesh, and Nepal...my impression is there is reasonable coordination with Nepal, Bhutan, and Bangladesh which are countries that share tiger populations with India," he said.

Man-animal conflict, About increasing man-animal conflict, Karanth said "a few well-protected tiger habitats are producing surplus tigers" which are dispersing away and coming into conflict with humans. "In such situations, the priority should be to quickly kill the problem tigers if human lives are being lost through persistent predation. If not, local hostility will be unmanageable," he said.

Commenting on India's success, as a signatory of St. Petersburg's declaration on tiger conservation, which aims to double the number of tigers across their global range by 2022, the experts said "these summits are just a show and grandstanding for politicians and bureaucrats both national and international”. "The goal posts for the so called doubling are moved periodically. In the 2000 census the number was 4,000 and in 2004 it was deliberately brought down to 1,400 so that officials can play these games. The real number is most likely to have been around 3,000 for the past two decades. Use of poor methods and hiding the data from independent scrutiny are how things are being done," he said.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi had claimed that the country has completed this target of doubling the tiger population in 2019, four years ahead of the deadline.

India’s tiger population jumps to 3,167 in 2022,Prime Minister Narendra Modi launches initiative to protect 7 major big cats of world By Shuriah Niazi

India’s tiger population has risen to 3,167 in 2022, the Indian prime minister announced, releasing a survey on the tiger population. Announcing the government's vision for tiger conservation in Mysuru, a city in India's southwestern Karnataka state, Prime Minister Narendra Modi also launched the International Big Cats Alliance (IBCA). The main motive behind the IBCA is to protect and conserve seven major big cats of the world – tiger, lion, leopard, snow leopard, puma, jaguar, and cheetah, according to a statement by the Prime Minister’s office.

Modi said that the protection of wildlife was a universal issue and IBCA was India's endeavor for the protection and conservation of big cats. According to the data shared by the premier, the tiger population stood at 1,411 in 2006, 1,706 in 2010, 2,226 in 2014, 2,967 in 2018, and 3,167 in 2022. “Everyone is witness to the landmark event of Project Tiger completing 50 years today and its success is not only a moment of pride for India but the entire world,” said Modi, adding that India has not only saved the tiger population from declining but also provided an ecosystem where tigers can flourish.

“Project Tiger” was launched in India on April 1, 1973, to revive the tiger population. In the beginning, there were nine tiger reserves but at present 53 tiger reserves are covered under the project. The prime minister said India is home to 75% of the world’s tiger population in the 75th year of Indian independence. “Cheetahs had become extinct in India decades ago. We brought this magnificent big cat to India from Namibia and South Africa. This is the first successful transcontinental translocation of the big cat,” said Modi. “India is a country where protecting nature is part of the culture. We do not believe in a conflict between ecology and economy, but give importance to coexistence between the two,” he added.

Nepal’s tiger population rising, experts call for addressing 'future challenges’ Nepal saw its wild tiger population nearly triple from 121 in 2009 to 355 this year By Ahmad Adil.

Nepal recently announcing that it has nearly tripled its wild tiger population, experts have stressed focusing on several "challenges" that lie ahead in maintaining the tiger population in the Himalayan country. Nepal announced the results of the national survey, which revealed that in 2022, 355 tigers now roam in the country -- nearly triple the number in recent years. In 2009, the tiger count was 121. Officials in Nepal maintain that it has "become the first country to double the tiger number."

Speaking to Anadolu Agency, Bhagawan Raj Dahal, a renowned ecologist and conservation biologist in Nepal, identified habitat management, mitigating human-animal conflict and providing livelihoods to those dependent on the forests as future challenges while maintaining the tiger numbers. "The most important thing is to promote human-wildlife coexistence in the buffer zones of the national parks. At the same time, we have to address the issue of climate change. A number of tigers have been sighted at high altitudes above 2,000 meters and tigers are looking for alternative habitats. So we need to do habitat management there as well," he said, adding there is a need to provide livelihoods to the people to minimize the number of people who are dependent on the forest where tigers are present.

If people are provided with livelihoods, forest resources won’t be disturbed and there will also be less human-animal conflict. He said the government has already identified these challenges and is working in these areas.

Concentrated efforts: Sanjeevani Yonzon Shrestha, an environmentalist and director at Wildlife Conservation Nepal, a Nepal-based non-governmental organization working on the environment and wildlife, told Anadolu Agency that the increase in the tiger population in Nepal is due to "concentrated efforts in conservation, Banke National Park's establishment in 2010, and also includes more hi-tech and advanced technologies for counting." "Another focus was on stricter monitoring for illegal wildlife trade and participatory conservation models...Youths and communities have been involved in conservation. Also countries with tiger populations can only achieve this (increase in population like Nepal) if they can work on a broader landscape and people participatory model in my opinion," she said. She noted that the next challenge is "how to maintain a healthy population and minimize human-wildlife conflict."

"Population dynamics maintenance is a big challenge, and we need a bigger focus on human-wildlife conflict, infrastructure wise, compensation schemes and better monitoring of our tiger population.” Dev Narayan Mandal, founder and chairman of the Nepal-based Mithila Wildlife Trust, termed it a great achievement nationally being able to almost triple the tiger population in Nepal.

"It's not just an increase in the number of tigers, it's increasing the overall habitat and prey species of the tiger, cracking down on the illegal wildlife poaching and illegal wildlife trade network, coordinating with local communities and involving them in conservation and also restoring the corridor between tiger habitats," he said. "So when we talk about tiger conservation, we talk about conservation of the forest and the entire ecosystem. Community-based conservation approaches of Nepal have been very successful in restoring habitats and the wildlife population." Mandal said regular maintenance of grasslands in core forests and creating and maintaining waterholes are also among the major activities done by park staff to increase the number of prey species. He said Nepal has successfully divided responsibility into three dimensions, including conservation inside protected areas, where park staff and the Nepal Army join together to ensure that no poaching takes place, and regular combined patrolling of both park staff and the Nepal Army.

"The second one is the local community. Community Forest User Groups (CFUG) work hard to restore diminished forest lands surrounding national parks and protected areas which provide extra space for the prey and thus additional habitats for the tigers. The third one is additional support provided by national and international organizations," said Mandal. According to Mandal, the major challenge Nepal is awaiting is managing human-tiger conflict and providing safety to the communities residing in the buffer zones of protected areas and national parks. "The community, who is the main contributor in tiger conservation, may oppose and will be bound to go against the increase of the tiger population if they are not secured within their residential area," he said. "Similarly, the changes in the day-to-day livelihood options of local communities due to the occurrence of tigers in their surroundings should be addressed by the authorities to tackle the human-tiger conflict."

Hard work: Ram Chandra Kandel, a top official of Nepal's Ministry of Forest and Environment, said it was the dedication at all levels which helped achieve the feat. "We have also been able to successfully mainstream the local community in the protection through a benefit-sharing mechanism. We have been giving them some sort of incentives...They are involved in controlling illegal trade, the protection of wildlife, and operations against poaching," he said.

The Nepal Army is currently deployed in the national parks to protect wildlife. Kandel said that while the efforts have resulted in an increase in the tiger population, now the country has to manage and maintain the population. "We are already doing a lot of work, and we will continue to do so," he said, noting that people are happy with the recent results. Asked if there has been an increase in the number of incidents of human-animal conflict, Kandel said that in the last one to two years, around 10 such cases were reported within the national parks. "For that, we are making awareness among the people," he said.