The Centre has mapped tiger corridors inside and outside protected areas across the country and developed a conservation plan for big cats, which includes a strategy to streamline infrastructure projects with mandatory inclusion of safe passages.
Union minister of state for environment Babul Supriyo released the details of the plan in Rajya Sabha on Monday. The plan has been formulated keeping in view the all India tiger estimation results released in July that showed there were 2,967 big cats in the country and that there has been a 6% annual increase in their numbers since 2006.
The National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA), under the Union environment ministry, has published a document, titled Connecting Tiger Populations for Long-term Conservation, in collaboration with the Wildlife Institute of India (WII), Dehradun. The document maps 32 major corridors and details the tiger conservation plan under the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972.
“These maps have been developed since 2014 and have been constantly updated over the past five years,” said NTCA’s additional director general, Anup Nayak. WII wildlife biologist said that these corridors have been assessed and developed based on annual tiger estimation exercises over 15 years based on preliminary big cat dispersal information.
The NTCA has developed a three-level strategy to manage negative human-tiger interactions under the Centre’s long-term tiger conservation program. Nayak said that while they are not against development, it has to be balanced with conservation. “The basic purpose of identifying these 32 corridors is to streamline linear infrastructure projects with mandatory inclusion of mitigation measures for safe passage of tigers,” said Nayak.
{{/usCountry}}The NTCA has developed a three-level strategy to manage negative human-tiger interactions under the Centre’s long-term tiger conservation program. Nayak said that while they are not against development, it has to be balanced with conservation. “The basic purpose of identifying these 32 corridors is to streamline linear infrastructure projects with mandatory inclusion of mitigation measures for safe passage of tigers,” said Nayak.
{{/usCountry}}Experts said that the corridors cover almost all major areas witnessing tiger movement.
“The Centre, however, has to improve the speed of relocating villagers from core areas of tiger reserves, and also enhance rehabilitation . Enforcement measures are well covered but need to be further strengthened,” said Wildlife Protection Society of India’s programme coordinator, Tito Joseph.
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