Tiger population in India close to saturation point, says expert
Rajesh Gopal, Secretary General, Global Tiger Forum, making a presentation on 50 Years of Project Tiger and Chall,enges and Way Forward, in Mysuru on Monday.
| Photo Credit: M.A. SRIRAM
The tiger population across many habitats may be approaching peak level and may plateau soon and one could not dream of high numbers in future.
This was stated by Rajesh Gopal who was associated with Project Tiger for more than 35 years and was the former head of National Tiger Conservation Authority.
The 2022 tiger enumeration results released by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Mysuru on Sunday pegged the minimum number of tigers in the county at 3,167 while it was 2,967 in 2018, 2,226 in 2014, 1,706 in 2010 and 1,411 in 2006.
Speaking to The Hindu on Monday on the sidelines of the India Conservation Conference being held in the city as part of 50 Years of Project Tiger Mr. Rajesh Gopal said the tiger population was reaching saturation point and many of the tiger reserves were close to attaining their peak carrying capacity.
He said there were also transformations at the landscape level which will have a bearing on the tiger population and hence one could not dream of an exponential increase in future cycles of tiger surveys. Theoretically, it was possible to have more tigers but one has to be rooted in ground reality as with nearly 3,000 tigers there are conflict issues, he added.
Earlier, Mr. Rajesh Gopal, who is currently the Secretary General of Global Tiger Forum, made a presentation on ‘50 Years of Project Tiger: Challenges and Way Forward’ and underlined the imperatives of considering tigers as an indicator of ecosystem well-being in sync with sustainable development, biodiversity and climate goals instead of reducing them to numbers.
He referred to the Amrit Kaal Ka Tiger Vision and said that the tiger should be a mascot of livelihood and sustainable development and umbrella for wildlife and biodiversity conservation so as to secure ecosystem services for perpetuity.
Mr. Rajesh Gopal said the contours of the Amrit Kaal tiger strategy was to bring all potential tiger-bearing forests under the ambit of tiger reserves.
The vision envisages enhanced central assistance for core critical tiger habitat by way of incorporating state-of-the-art technology support for surveillance and security plan implementation. There are 12 national-level action plans, 13 State-level action plans and 14 field-level or tiger reserve-level plans to secure the future of tigers.
The vision also envisages international cooperation including joint wildlife appraisal, and enhanced central assistance for buffer and beyond to cover the entire tiger landscape.
