PROJECT TIGER

PROJECT TIGER

1. Meaning of Project Tiger

• Project Tiger is one of India’s most important wildlife conservation programmes.
• It was launched in 1973 to protect tigers from extinction and to maintain a viable tiger population in their natural habitats.
• It is a Centrally Sponsored Scheme under the environment ministry framework.
• The programme focuses on protection of tigers, their prey animals, forests, grasslands, water sources, and breeding habitats.
• It is not only a species-protection programme but also an ecosystem conservation programme.
• Tiger reserves created under this project follow a scientific management system based on habitat protection and monitoring.
• The programme also supports anti-poaching work, voluntary village relocation, and reduction of human-tiger conflict.
• It is administered by the National Tiger Conservation Authority, which provides guidelines and monitoring support for tiger reserves.

2. Background and Need

• Before Project Tiger, India’s tiger population had declined sharply due to hunting, habitat destruction, poaching, and loss of prey animals.
• The first country-wide tiger census in 1972 estimated the tiger population at a little more than 1,800, which showed a serious decline.
• This alarming situation created the need for a focused national-level tiger conservation programme.
• Tigers require large forest landscapes, sufficient prey, water availability, and undisturbed breeding spaces.
• When forests are fragmented by agriculture, roads, mining, settlements, and commercial activities, tiger survival becomes difficult.
• Poaching also became a major threat because tiger skin, bones, claws, and other parts were illegally traded.
• Project Tiger was therefore launched to give special protection to important tiger habitats.
• It aimed to conserve breeding tiger populations and restore ecological balance in forest ecosystems.

3. Tiger as an Apex Predator