Tiger Conservation in India: Key Highlights, Challenges & Conservation Strategy

Source: Indian Express
GS III: Biodiversity and Conservation, Environmental Impact Assessment

Overview

1. News in Brief
2. Key Findings of the Assessment
3. Causes of Struggling Tiger Reserves
4. Tiger Reintroduction and Government Strategy
5. Way Forward

Why in the News?

The Union Government has released two new assessments during the 18th anniversary of tiger reintroduction at Sariska Tiger Reserve (Rajasthan) to improve the recovery of tiger reserves with low tiger populations.

News in Brief

• The Centre has identified several tiger reserves with critically low tiger populations despite conservation efforts.
• The focus has shifted from merely increasing tiger numbers to improving habitat quality, prey availability, landscape connectivity, and scientific management.
• The assessment recommends strengthening source populations, reviving sink populations, improving habitats, protecting wildlife corridors, and reintroducing tigers where feasible.

Key Findings of the Assessment

• India has significantly increased its tiger population over the years, reflecting the success of conservation initiatives.
• However, tiger populations remain unevenly distributed, with a few reserves supporting a large share of the country’s tigers.
• Several tiger reserves continue to have very low tiger numbers, limiting breeding opportunities and increasing the risk of local extinction.
• Some reserves currently have no resident tiger population, indicating the need for habitat restoration and scientific interventions.
• Kawal (Telangana), Kamlang (Arunachal Pradesh), and Dampa (Mizoram) are among the tiger reserves where tigers are currently absent.
• The assessment highlights that habitat quality, prey availability, ecological connectivity, and effective protection are more important than merely designating an area as a tiger reserve.
• It recommends strengthening weaker reserves through habitat restoration, prey augmentation, corridor protection, and scientific management to ensure a more balanced distribution of tigers across India.

Causes of Struggling Tiger Reserves

• Poor Habitat Quality
  • Degraded forests reduce suitable breeding and shelter areas for tigers.
  • Deforestation, forest fires, invasive species, grazing, and human disturbances degrade habitats.
  • Poor habitat quality limits the reserve’s ability to sustain viable tiger populations.
• Low Prey Availability
  • Declining populations of deer, wild boar, gaur, and other prey reduce food availability.
  • Habitat degradation, poaching, and livestock competition contribute to prey decline.
  • Lack of prey forces tigers to move outside forests, increasing human-wildlife conflict.
• Habitat Fragmentation
  • Roads, railways, canals, mining, and settlements divide forest landscapes.
  • Fragmentation restricts tiger movement and dispersal.
  • Isolated populations suffer from reduced gene flow and a higher risk of local extinction.
• Human-Wildlife Conflict
  • Dispersing tigers often enter villages and agricultural fields in search of food or territory.
  • This results in livestock depredation, human casualties, and retaliatory killings.
  • Frequent conflicts weaken public support for tiger conservation.
• Poaching
  • Illegal hunting targets both tigers and their prey species.
  • Poaching directly reduces tiger populations and prey availability.
  • It threatens the long-term survival of tiger reserves.

Sink and Source Population

Source Populations

• Reserves with healthy breeding populations and abundant prey.
• Produce surplus tigers that disperse to neighbouring forests.
• Characterised by:
  • High tiger density.
  • Successful breeding.
  • Healthy prey base.
• Examples: Corbett, Bandipur, and Kaziranga Tiger Reserves.

Sink Populations

• Reserves with low tiger numbers and poor breeding.
• Depend on incoming tigers from source populations.
• Characterised by:
  • Low tiger density.
  • Poor breeding success.
  • Degraded habitat or inadequate prey.
• Require habitat restoration and prey augmentation before receiving additional tigers.

Recipient Sites for Tiger Reintroduction

• Forests prepared to receive relocated or naturally dispersing tigers.
• Essential requirements include:
  • Adequate prey density.
  • Suitable habitat quality.
  • Strong anti-poaching protection.
  • Ecological connectivity.
  • Community participation and support.
• Properly prepared recipient sites improve reintroduction success.

Tiger Reintroduction and Government Strategy

• Involves relocating tigers from healthy populations to reserves where they are locally extinct or critically depleted.
• Supports the Kunming–Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework.
• Contributes to SDG 13 (Climate Action) and SDG 15 (Life on Land).
• Objectives
  • Restore ecological balance.
  • Re-establish viable tiger populations.
  • Improve genetic diversity.
  • Revive abandoned tiger habitats.
  • Strengthen long-term ecosystem resilience.
• Challenges
  • Local community resistance.
  • Poor prey availability.
  • Habitat degradation.
  • Human-tiger conflict.
  • High monitoring and management costs.

Experience from Tiger Reintroductions

Successful Examples

• Sariska Tiger Reserve (Rajasthan)
  • India’s first successful tiger reintroduction programme.
  • Initiated after tigers became locally extinct due to poaching.
  • Tigers were translocated from Ranthambore Tiger Reserve.
  • Demonstrated the success of scientific translocation, habitat restoration, and effective protection.
• Panna Tiger Reserve (Madhya Pradesh)
  • Successfully restored tiger population after local extinction.
  • Considered a model for wildlife recovery.

Challenging Examples

• Mukundra Hills Tiger Reserve (Rajasthan)
  • Faced habitat limitations and management challenges.
• Satkosia Tiger Reserve (Odisha)
  • Encountered community opposition, habitat constraints, and conflict management issues.
• Key Lesson
  • Successful reintroduction requires suitable habitat, scientific planning, and community support.

Government Conservation Strategy

• Shift from reserve-centric to landscape-based conservation.
• Strengthen and protect source populations.
• Restore habitats in low-tiger reserves.
• Improve prey density.
• Reconnect fragmented forests through wildlife corridors.
• Encourage natural dispersal and colonisation.
• Undertake reintroduction only in ecologically suitable reserves.
• Strengthen scientific monitoring and adaptive management for long-term conservation

Importance of Landscape Connectivity

• Ecological connectivity is essential for maintaining healthy tiger populations across landscapes.
• Wildlife corridors enable tigers to move safely between forests, allowing natural dispersal and reducing population isolation.
• Well-connected landscapes help to:
  • Facilitate natural dispersal of young tigers.
  • Maintain genetic diversity through gene flow.
  • Reduce inbreeding among isolated populations.
  • Lower the risk of local extinction.
  • Support healthy metapopulations across multiple reserves.
• Protecting wildlife corridors has become a key component of India’s landscape-based conservation strategy.

Tiger Landscape

• India has five major tiger landscapes:
  • Shivalik-Gangetic Plains
  • Central Indian Landscape
  • Western Ghats
  • North-East Hills & Brahmaputra Plains
  • Sundarbans

Tiger is an Umbrella Species

• Conserving tigers also protects:
  • Forest ecosystems
  • Elephants
  • Leopards
  • Deer
  • Birds
  • Rivers and watersheds

Way Forward

• Restore degraded habitats and wildlife corridors.
• Strengthen anti-poaching and scientific monitoring.
• Improve prey populations.
• Promote community participation and compensation.
• Adopt landscape-level conservation with better Centre-State coordination.

UPSC Prelims and Mains Practice Question

Consider the following statements regarding tiger conservation in India:

1. Source populations are tiger reserves with high breeding success that supply dispersing tigers to other landscapes.
2. Sink populations generally have healthy breeding populations and require no habitat restoration.
3. Wildlife corridors facilitate gene flow and reduce the risk of local extinction.
4. The National Tiger Conservation Authority was established through an amendment to the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972.

Which of the statements given above are correct?

A. 1 and 2 only
B. 1, 3 and 4 only
C. 2, 3 and 4 only
D. 1, 2, 3 and 4

Answer: B

Explanation: Statement 2 is incorrect. Sink populations are low-density areas needing habitat restoration and connectivity.

Mains Practice Question

Q. “India has achieved remarkable success in increasing its tiger population, yet the uneven distribution of tigers across reserves poses significant conservation challenges. Discuss the reasons for this imbalance and suggest measures for sustainable tiger conservation.” (15 Marks, 250 Words)

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