Govt will prepare master plan for tigers at high altitudes: Javadekar

The central government will prepare a master plan for tigers at high altitudes, Union Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar said on Tuesday after releasing a report which revealed that big cats have been found in high altitude regions.

"India has already become the capital of tigers with 70 per cent of its population here. It is an exciting study as it reveals that even ecology at high altitude is compatible for the tiger growth and we will take inputs from this study to have a high altitude tiger master plan," the minister said while releasing the report based on a study.

The report, prepared by the Global Tiger Forum (GTF), provides the action strategy for a high altitude tiger master plan with gainful portfolio for local communities and ensuring centrality of tiger conservation in development, through an effective coordination mechanism, involving stakeholders and line departments operating within the landscape, an official of the Ministry of Environment said.

The report provides the rationale for stepping up high altitude conservation of tigers, while identifying possible viable habitats, corridor linkages, anthropogenic pressures, and induced landscape level changes for evolving an in-situ conservation roadmap, he said.

The study, led by the GTF, with governments of Bhutan, India and Nepal, along with conservation partners (WWF and country specific collaborators), was supported by the Integrated Tiger Habitat Conservation Programme (ITHPC) of the IUCN.

Tiger habitats in high altitude require protection through sustainable land use, as they are a high value ecosystem with several hydrological and ecological processes providing ecosystem services and adaptation to mitigate the ill effects of climate change.

Several high-altitude habitats in South Asia have the spatial presence of tigers, active in-situ efforts are called for ensuring their conservation, the ministry said in a statement.

As per the latest tiger census report, their number stood at 2,967 at last count in 2018, a 33 per cent jump from 2,226 in 2014.