The National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) and the Wildlife Institute of India (WII) have released two landmark documents that outline a science-driven strategy for managing India's growing tiger population while critically evaluating past reintroduction efforts across 12 reserves.
Roadmap for Active Management
The flagship report, titled “Roadmap for Active Management of Tigers in India”, provides a comprehensive framework for managing the country's rapidly expanding tiger population through evidence-based interventions, landscape-level planning, and adaptive conservation strategies.
India currently supports an estimated 3,682 wild tigers, accounting for nearly 70 per cent of the world's tiger population. According to Sanjay Kumar, Additional Director General (Project Tiger) and Member Secretary of NTCA, “This achievement has been made possible through sustained habitat protection, prey recovery, scientific monitoring, strong law enforcement and active community participation under Project Tiger.”
Landscape-Scale Conservation
The roadmap emphasises that tiger conservation can no longer be confined to protected areas alone. Instead, it advocates a landscape-scale model that focuses on maintaining wildlife corridors, securing dispersal habitats, and promoting human-tiger coexistence across shared landscapes. This approach aims to address the challenges posed by habitat fragmentation and increasing human-wildlife interactions.
Reintroduction Assessment
Alongside the roadmap, the NTCA and WII released a second document, “Tiger Reintroduction: Field Learnings and Case Studies”. This report provides the first comprehensive assessment of efforts to restore locally extinct, depleted, and genetically isolated tiger populations.
Key findings from the report include notable successes in several reserves:
- The Sanjay Dubri reserve has increased its tiger count from eight to 24 through strategic supplementation.
- The Veerangana Durgavati reserve now supports 30 tigers, emerging as a key conservation landscape in central India.
- The Ramgarh Vishdhari reserve has recorded eight tigers, strengthening connectivity across eastern Rajasthan.
- The Navegaon–Nagzira reserve has expanded its tiger population from eight to 23.
Implications for Future Conservation
The release of these documents marks a significant step in India's tiger conservation efforts, shifting from a reactive to a proactive, science-based management approach. By integrating lessons learned from reintroduction projects and adopting a landscape-level perspective, the NTCA and WII aim to ensure the long-term viability of tiger populations across the country.
