Posted on by Insights Editor
Print Friendly, PDF & Email

Global Tiger Day:

Topics Covered: Conservation related issues.

Global Tiger Day:

Observed on 29 July. It was created in 2010 at the Saint Petersburg Tiger Summit.

On this occasion, the Union Environment Ministry has released an updated report on India’s Tiger Survey from 2018.

Highlights:

  1. Country’s tiger population: 2,967 — unchanged from the government’s estimate last year
  2. India has nearly 70% of the world’s tigers.
  3. Madhya Pradesh has the highest number of tigers at 526, closely followed by Karnataka (524) and Uttarakhand (442).
  4. Chhattisgarh and Mizoram saw a decline in tiger population and all other States saw a “positive” increase.
  5. While Pench Tiger Reserve in Madhya Pradesh recorded the highest number of tigers, Sathyamangalam Tiger Reserve in Tamil Nadu registered the “maximum improvement” since 2014.

Guinness Record:

The fourth cycle of the All India Tiger Estimation 2018 recently entered the Guinness World Record for being the world’s largest camera trap wildlife survey.

  • Camera trapswere placed in 26,838 locations across 141 different sites and surveyed an effective area of 121,337 square kilometres.

All India Tiger estimation:

The All India Tiger Estimation done quadrennially is steered by the National Tiger Conservation Authority with technical backstopping from the Wildlife Institute of India and implemented by State Forest Departments and partners.

Conservation efforts- National and Global:

  1. The National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) has launched the M-STrIPES (Monitoring System for Tigers – Intensive Protection and Ecological Status), a mobile monitoring system for forest guards.
  2. At the Petersburg Tiger Summit in 2010,leaders of 13 tiger range countries resolved to do more for the tiger and embarked on efforts to double its number in the wild, with a popular slogan ‘T X 2’.
  3. The Global Tiger Initiative (GTI) programof the World Bank, using its presence and convening ability, brought global partners together to strengthen the tiger agenda.
  4. Over the years, the initiative has institutionalised itself as a separate entity in the form of the Global Tiger Initiative Council (GTIC), with its two arms –the Global Tiger Forum and the Global Snow Leopard Ecosystem Protection Program.
  5. The Project Tiger,launched way back in 1973, has grown to more than 50 reserves amounting to almost 2.2% of the country’s geographical area.

Insta Fact:

What are the different species of tigers?

There are different species of tigers – Siberian tigers, Bengal tigers, Indochinese tigers, Malayan tigers and South China.

The Bengal tiger is found primarily in India with smaller populations in Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan, China and Myanmar. It is the most numerous of all tiger subspecies with more than 2,500 left in the wild.

tiger_day

InstaLinks:

Prelims Link:

  1. Differences between National Parks, wildlife sanctuaries and biosphere reserves.
  2. M-STrIPES is related to?
  3. What is GTIC?
  4. When was project tiger launched?
  5. NTCA- composition and functions.
  6. Why the fourth cycle of the All India Tiger Estimation 2018 entered Guinness Record book recently?
  7. State with highest number of tigers.
  8. State with highest tiger density.

Mains Link:

The centrality of tiger agenda is an ecological necessity for the sustainability of our environment. In this context, examine the steps taken by India to conserve tigers?

Sources: the Hindu.