Overall management performance improved compared to last analysis but key parameters remain backbenchers
Periyar tiger reserve in Kerala stands out as the best performing tiger reserve. Photo: iStock Action on key agendas like carbon capture and climate change, fund flow as well as village relocation has been identified as the weakest performing area for Indian tiger reserves in a report prepared by Dehradun-based Wildlife Institute of India and National Tiger Conservation Authority, agencies under the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change.
However, overall, management performance in tiger reserves has improved, with the mean score — 78.02 per cent — eight per cent greater over the last analysis carried out in 2018. Overall, 33 parameters were considered for the analysis.
The report is titled Management Effectiveness Evaluation (MEE) of tiger reserves in India, 2022 (Fifth Cycle). It has been prepared on the basis of a detailed analysis of 51 tiger reserves involving top-notch Indian wildlife experts following a framework prepared by the International Union for Conservation of Nature's World Commission on Protected Areas.
“The Management Effectiveness Evaluation has played a critical role in enhancing the management of our tiger reserves. It has helped in identifying the gaps in our conservation efforts and enabled us to adopt more effective strategies for ensuring the long-term survival of these magnificent creatures,” pointed out Union environment minister Bhupender Yadav in the foreword of the report.
“Tiger reserves have shown a steady improvement in their scores, indicating that our conservation efforts are bearing fruit,” further claimed the minister.
“The headline indicator; ‘carbon capture and climate change’ has received the lowest score (60 per cent) in the current cycle, the reason being, there is no mandate in the TCP (tiger conservation plan) for it,” reads the report.
“Climate change has become a major concern for tiger reserves in general and for areas like the Sundarbans in particular, which are affected by high intensity climatic impacts. The issue needs prioritisation as well as integration in the management plan,” observed Biswajit Roy Chowdhury, a wildlife expert with nonprofit NEWS, and a member of the West Bengal wildlife board.
“We carried out a study in forest areas of the Sundarbans after Cyclone Aila which found significant climatic impacts. The impacts must have increased manifold in recent times with a series of high intensity cyclonic events coupled with flooding, salinisation and other disasters,” the expert added.
A senior forest official of West Bengal agreed that there was significant impact during the cyclones like Amphan and Bulbul. “We do not have any structured data but our findings showed that the forest area was significantly impacted both in the short term as well as in the long term,” said the official.
A few years back, a paper published in the journal Science of the total environment warned that there may be a rapid decline in the Bengal tiger population within the Sundarbans, due to habitat loss caused by climate change.
Another scientific paper — Climate co-benefits of tiger conservation by Aakash Lamba and others published in Nature Ecology & Evolution this year — found that there were significant forest carbon storage co-benefits associated with the tiger reserves.
“We used to model avoided forest loss and associated carbon emissions reductions in protected areas that underwent enhanced protection for tiger conservation. Over a third of the analysed reserves showed significant but mixed effects, where 24 per cent of all reserves successfully reduced the rate of deforestation and the remaining nine per cent reported higher-than-expected forest loss,” read the report.
It further calculated “… a net positive benefit with over 5,802 hectares of averted forest loss” with emission reduced by around one metric of carbon dioxide or equivalent greenhouse gas in between 2007 and 2020; translating to a benefit around $92 million in ecosystem services; about Rs 720 crore.
“With a structured and well-defined tiger reserve policy on climate change, the figures will rise,” argued a biodiversity expert.
“Securing our natural ecosystems delivers rewards far beyond preserving biodiversity. It is a down payment on our collective future,” noted Harjeet Singh, Head-Global Political Strategy in Climate Action Network International.
“Countering climate change should be embedded with wildlife conservation. The tiger reserves should be resilient to climate impacts and thus integrate climate actions in their management mechanism for the long term sustainability,” said Sanjay Vashist, director of Climate Action Network South Asia.
Inadequacy of funds, from Union to state government to other donors, stands out as the biggest deterrent in the management of tigers in India, with three direct fund flow-related parameters among the worst five performing areas of tiger reserves.
Other poorly performing parameters such as ‘infrastructure maintenance’ and ‘village relocation’ are also influenced by shortage of fund flow.
In contrast, landscape integration and countering human-wildlife conflicts were found to be the better performing indicators; scoring over 85 per cent marks.
“Virtually no funds were spent for relocation of villages within tiger reserves in the last two years, a vital part of management as it reduces human-animal conflicts,” said a senior tiger expert. Reserves require such funds to compensate families living within forests who are to be relocated.
Visitor management and population trends of endangered species have been identified as other parameters where the performance scores were found in the lower rung.
Records available with this reporter show that the actual fund allocation on tiger conservation has been dwindling since 2018-19, before a surge in 2022-23; though actual fund release was quite less even in that financial year.
Incidentally, Project Tiger allocation was Rs 350 crore in 2018-19; Rs 282.57 crore in 2019-20; Rs 195 crore in 2020-21 and Rs 220 crore in 2021-22. Though the allocation during 2022-23 increased to Rs 300 crore, the actual release was only Rs 220 crore. Foresters also complained that the process of requisition and release has been made extremely complicated further slowing down the fund flow.
Periyar tiger reserve in Kerala stands out as the best performing tiger reserve with a MEE score of around 94 per cent, followed by Satpura in Madhya Pradesh and Bandipur in Karnataka. Sundarbans in West Bengal, the only tiger forest in the world with mangroves, continued to be in the ‘very good’ category, and got a rank position of 32nd.
Dampa in Mizoram was found to be the poorest performing tiger reserve with barely 50 per cent marks, followed by Indravati in Chhattisgarh and Nameri in Assam.
Overall, 29 tiger reserves have improved their status compared to earlier rating while two reserves — Nameri in Assam and Udanti-Sitanadi in Chhattisgarh — deteriorated. Bor in Maharashtra, BRT hills tiger reserve in Karnataka and Similipal in Odisha have shown significant improvements in the MEE ratings. Of five regions assessed, Northeast reserves have performed the poorest.
We are a voice to you; you have been a support to us. Together we build journalism that is independent, credible and fearless. You can further help us by making a donation. This will mean a lot for our ability to bring you news, perspectives and analysis from the ground so that we can make change together.
.png)
Comments are moderated and will be published only after the site moderator’s approval. Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name. Selected comments may also be used in the ‘Letters’ section of the Down To Earth print edition.