Global Tiger Day

Global Tiger Day (International Tiger Day) is celebrated every year on July 29th as a way to raise awareness about the magnificent but endangered big cat.

Background

July 29 has been identified as the day to commemorate the Global Tiger Day in 2010. It was on this day, at the 2010 International Tiger Summit in St. Petersburg, Governments of the 13 tiger range countries came together to endorse Tx2 – the global goal to double the number of wild tigers by the year 2022. 

About Tx2

A century ago, perhaps 100,000 wild tigers roamed the Earth. By the start of the 21st century, that number had plummeted by an estimated 95% due to rampant poaching and habitat destruction. Historically, tigers once ranged widely across Asia, but in recent decades, populations have been restricted to 13 countries, namely Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia (locally extinct), China, India, Indonesia, Lao PDR (locally extinct), Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, Russia, Thailand, and Viet Nam (locally extinct).

In 2010, when the tiger population had dipped to as few as 3,200, leaders from the 13 countries that currently or recently had tigers came together and set out to achieve an unprecedented goal: doubling the number of tigers in the wild by 2022, the next Chinese Year of the Tiger.

India's efforts in Tiger conservation

National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA)

The National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) 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.

Project Tiger

The ‘Project Tiger’ was launched in April, 1973 and is a Centrally Sponsored Scheme (CSS) of the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change, with the objective "to ensure maintenance of a viable population of Tigers in India for scientific, economic, aesthetic, cultural and ecological values, and to preserve for all times, areas of biological importance as a national heritage for the benefit, education and enjoyment of the people".

Over the past fifty years, Project Tiger has achieved commendable success, making significant strides in tiger conservation. Initially covering nine tiger reserves spanning 18,278 km², the project has flourished into a remarkable accomplishment with 53 reserves spread across 75,796 km², effectively covering 2.3% of India's total land area.

Tiger reserves in India

There are 53 Tiger reserves in India.  India categorized tiger habitats into five major landscapes based on biogeography and interconnectivity, enabling effective ecological and management-based strategies.

14 Tiger Reserves in India received the accreditation of the Global Conservation Assured |Tiger Standards (CA|TS). The 14 tiger reserves which have been accredited are Manas, Kaziranga and Orang in Assam, Satpura, Kanha and Panna in Madhya Pradesh, Pench in Maharashtra, Valmiki Tiger Reserve in Bihar, Dudhwa in Uttar Pradesh,Sunderbans in West Bengal, Parambikulam in Kerala, Bandipur Tiger Reserve of Karnataka and Mudumalai and Anamalai Tiger Reserve in Tamil Nadu.

Counting tigers in India

 To gauge the success of conservation efforts as well as to have a finger on the pulse of tiger populations and their ecosystems, the National Tiger Conservation Authority in collaboration with the State Forest Departments, the Wildlife Institute of India and conservation partners conducts a National assessment for the “Status of Tigers, Co-predators, Prey and their Habitat” once inevery four years.

The first assessment based on this scientific methodology was done in 2006 and subsequently in 2010, 2014, 2018 and 2022

To view the reports, click here.

Source : National Tiger Conservation Agency