Survey on tiger reserve management

Forty-nine out of 50 tiger reserves in India assessed in a survey have "fairly strong" management, the government informed Lok Sabha today.

Union Environment Minister Harsh Vardhan said, "49 out of 50 tiger reserve have a score ranging from 82 per cent to 100 per cent. Forest outside tiger reserves (where intensity of tiger conservation- specific management is far less intensive) scored between 57 per cent to 88 per cent."

A score of 75 per cent and above has been interpreted as having fairly strong management.

In written reply to a question, he minister said according to Conservation Assured | Tiger Standards (CA|TS) survey, per cent average scores for assessing management have been presented regionally as East Asia (China and Russia), South Asia (Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal and India) and South East Asia (Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar and Thailand).

 

Only 39 sites out of the 112 sites surveyed have a score of below 75 per cent and 20 of these sites are in South-East Asia.

He said in context of India, all sites surveyed in India have management plan.

He said that the Indian Management Effectiveness Evaluation of Tiger Reserves (MEETR) has been highlighted as a specially designed tool for tiger conservation areas under the Protected Areas Management Effectiveness (PAME).

"Project Tiger has been highlighted as an investment in the effective management of tiger conservation areas for many decades, besides a concerted effort to recover tigers in India based on the need to provide safe havens through a network of tiger reserves.

"Out of the 72 sites surveyed in India only 17 were found to be below 75 per cent benchmark. This included only one tiger reserve namely Indravati, which is plagued by left wing extremism which hampers day-to-day management," he said.