All India Tiger Estimation

28-Jul-2020: Union Environment Minister releases detailed report of Tiger Census on the eve of Global Tiger Day

“Tiger is an incredible part of the nature and the increased number of the big cats in India reflects equilibrium in the nature.”, said the Union Environment Minister, Shri Prakash Javadekar at the release of the detailed report of Tiger Census on the eve of Global Tiger Day in New Delhi today.

Shri Javadekar said, Tigers and other wild life are a kind of soft power India has to show on the international front. The Minister said, despite several constraints such as less land mass, India has eight percent of bio-diversity because our country has a culture of saving and preserving the nature, trees and its wild life. Noting that wildlife is our natural wealth, Shri Prakash said, it is praise worthy that India has 70 percent of world’s tiger population. The Minister mentioned, India is tirelessly working with all 13 tiger range countries towards nurturing the tiger.

Shri Javadekar also announced that his Ministry is working on a programme in which efforts would be made to provide water and fodder to animals in the forest itself to deal with the challenge of human-animal conflict which is causing deaths of animals. For this LIDAR based survey technology will be used for the first time. Lidar is a method for measuring distances by illuminating the target with laser light and measuring the reflection with a sensor.

Highlighting the keystone nature of the tiger, a poster on presence of small cats was also released by the Environment Minister. With the presence of nearly 30 percent of India’s tigers outside tiger reserves, India had embarked upon assessing management interventions through the globally developed Conservation Assured | Tiger Standards (CA|TS) framework, which will now be extended to all fifty tiger reserves across the country.

Speaking on the occasion, Minister of State of Environment, Shri Babul Supriyo said, human- animal conflict can be avoided but it cannot be ruled out in the country. He said, frontline officials have done commendable job in raising the numbers of tiger in the country.

The detailed report of the 4th All India Tiger Estimation is unique in the following ways;

Abundance index of co-predators and other species has been carried out which hitherto was restricted only to occupancy
Sex ratio of tigers in all camera trap sites has been carried out for the first time.
Anthropogenic effects on tiger population have been elaborated in a detailed manner.
Tiger abundance within pockets in tiger reserves has been demonstrated for the first time.

The Heads of the Governments of Tiger Range countries at St. Petersburg, Russia, had resolved to double tiger numbers across their global range by 2022 by signing the St. Petersburg declaration on tiger conservation. During the said meeting it was also decided to celebrate July 29 as Global Tiger Day across the world, which is since, being celebrated to spread and generate awareness on tiger conservation.

During Global Tiger Day 2019, it was a proud moment for India as the Prime Minister declared to the world fulfilment of India’s resolve as it had doubled its tiger numbers four years in advance to the target year highlighting resolute action taken by all concerned. India’s tiger population now stands at 2967 which is 70 percent of the global tiger population. A feather in India’s cap was added with the Guinness World Records recognizing the country’s efforts as the world largest camera trap survey of wildlife.

The detailed report released today assesses the status of tigers in terms of spatial occupancy and density of individual populations across India. In addition to the summary report released by the Prime Minister of India on the "Status of Tigers in India" in July 2019, this detailed report compares information obtained from the earlier three surveys (2006, 2010, and 2014) with data obtained from the 2018-19 survey to estimate population trends at country and landscape scales, patch colonization and extinction rates along with information on likely factors responsible for changes in tiger status at the fine spatial resolution of 100 km.

The report evaluates the status of habitat corridors connecting major tiger populations and highlights vulnerable areas that require conservation attention for each landscape. The report provides information on major carnivores and ungulates regarding their distribution and relative abundance.

27-Jul-2020: Union Environment Minister to release detailed report of Tiger Census on the eve of Global Tiger Day.

On the eve of Global Tiger Day,2020, Union Environment Minister, Shri Prakash Javadekar will be releasing the detailed report of the fourth All India Tiger Estimation-2018.

The event will be held at National Media Centre, New Delhi and will be live streamed at the following link https://youtu.be/526Dn0T9P3E from 11 AM on 28th July. The event is expected to be joined by around 500 participants from across the country.

It was during this day last year, when the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi declared to the world India’s fulfilment of its resolve to double tiger numbers, four years in advance to the target year of 2022 as decided during the St. Petersburg declaration on tiger conservation in Russia in 2010. India now has nearly 70% of the global tiger population.

The Environment Minister will also release a poster on Small Wild Cats of India. The event can be watched live at the following link https://youtu.be/526Dn0T9P3E

4-Jun-2017: Orang tiger reserve has the highest tiger density nationally

According to a survey, Orang tiger reserve in Assam, which has the smallest core, is host to 28 big cats, thus having the highest density nationally. The count was revealed during phase IV of the all-India tiger estimation programme of the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA).

Spread over Darrang and Sonitpur districts and notified in February 2016, Orang Tiger Reserve is the 49th in the country. It has the smallest core of 78.28 sq. km. It is located on the north bank of the Brahmaputra River. It is also known as the mini Kaziranga National Park (IUCN site) since the two parks have a similar landscape made up of marshes, streams and grasslands. The park has a rich flora and fauna, including great Indian one-horned rhinoceros, pigmy hog, elephants, wild buffalo and tigers. It is the only stronghold of rhinoceros on the north bank of the Brahmaputra river.

The National Tiger Conservation Authority is a statutory body under the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change constituted under enabling provisions of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972, as amended in 2006, for strengthening tiger conservation, as per powers and functions assigned to it under the said Act. The National Tiger Conservation Authority has been fulfilling its mandate within the ambit of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972 for strengthening tiger conservation in the country by retaining an oversight through advisories/normative guidelines, based on appraisal of tiger status, ongoing conservation initiatives and recommendations of specially constituted Committees.