E-Paper
Pench Tiger Reserve achieves NTCA’s ‘excellent’ rating
To assist and improve the management perspectives of Tiger Reserves and their associated landscape connectivity, the NTCA and the Wildlife Institute of India (WII) jointly conduct a Management Effectiveness
Pune
For its effective management of the reserve area, the Pench Tiger Reserve in Maharashtra has achieved an ‘excellent’ rating of 90.91 per cent scores. Five other tiger reserves in the state, Tadoba - Andhari, Navegaon- Nagzira, Melghat, Sahyadri, and Bor tiger reserve have achieved a ‘very good’ rating with an effective score between 77 to 87 per cent, revealed the latest report by the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA).
To assist and improve the management perspectives of Tiger Reserves and their associated landscape connectivity, the NTCA and the Wildlife Institute of India (WII) jointly conduct a Management Effectiveness Evaluation (MEE)- 2022. On the occasion of Global Tiger Day on Saturday, July 29, a final report of the fifth cycle of MEE was published by NTCA.
India has a network of 53 Tiger Reserves spread across 18 States covering an area of 75,796.83 sq km. Of these, a total of 51 Tiger Reserves have been independently evaluated through the MEE process.
Ten Independent Regional Expert Committees (RECs) were constituted and deputed in 10 different clusters of five tiger landscapes. As a part of the exercise, the independent expert teams visited all 51 Tiger Reserves to conduct MEE as per the prescribed assessment criteria and completed the MEE scorecard after cross-checking the supportive documents submitted by the field directors.
For the assessment of each of the six elements of the MEE Framework, 33 criteria have been developed for the MEE of Tiger Reserves in India.
In this assessment, Periyar Tiger Reserve achieved the top score of 94.53, in the same category, Pench Tiger Reserve achieved a 90.91 per cent score.
Tiger population rises
The Management Effectiveness Evaluation (MEE)- 2022 report has given insight into tiger growth in Maharashtra. According to the report, the number of tigers in Maharashtra has increased from 103 in 2006 to 444 in 2022. These numbers indicate that the tiger conversation in Maharashtra is going on the right track and effective management of the tiger reserve increased the number of tigers as well as its predators said the forest officials.
