Bengaluru, India (AP) – India has doubled its population of tigers in just over a decade by protecting great cats against poaching and loss of habitat, ensuring that they have enough prey , by reducing conflicts of human life and increasing the life standards of communities near the Tiger, a study published Thursday revealed.
The number of tigers increased from 1,706 tigers in 2010 to around 3,682 in 2022, according to estimates by the National Tiger Conservation Authority, which makes India about 75% of the world’s world population. The study revealed that certain local communities near Tiger habitats also benefited from the increase in tigers due to pedestrian traffic and the income brought by ecotourism.
The study of the journal Science claims that the success of India “offers important lessons for countries of range of tigers” that conservation efforts can benefit biodiversity and neighboring communities.
“The common belief is that human densities prevent an increase in tiger populations,” said Yadvendradev Jhala, principal scientist at the National Academy of Study Sciences based in Bengaluru and the main study of the study. “What research shows is that it is not human density, but the attitude of people, which matters most.”
Wildlife environmentalists have praised the study, but said that tigers and other wild animals in India would benefit whether the source data were made available to a larger group of scientists. The study was based on the data collected by the institutions supported by the Indian government.
Arjun Gopalaswamy, an ecologist with expertise in the Estimation of the Wild population, said that estimates of the official Tiger surveillance program of India were “chaotic” and “contradictory”. He said that some of the study figures are significantly higher than previous estimates for the distribution of tigers of the same data sets. But he added that the conclusions of the document seem to have corrected an anomaly reported several times by scientists since 2011 linked to the size of the tiger population and their geographic spread.
Tigers have disappeared in certain regions which were not near national parks, wildlife sanctuaries or other protected areas, and in areas which have experienced increased urbanization, increased human use of forest resources and higher frequency Armed conflicts, the study said. “Without community support, participation and community benefits, conservation is not possible in our country,” said Jhala.
The tigers are spread over approximately 138,200 square kilometers (53,359 square miles) in India, in the size of New York State. But only 25% of the region is rich in prey and protected, and 45% of tiger habitats are shared with around 60 million people, the study said.
The strong legislation on the protection of wildlife is “the backbone” of the conservation of tigers in India, said Jhala. “Habitat is not a constraint, it is the quality of the habitat that is a constraint,” he said.
The Biologist of the Fauna Ravi Chellam, who was not part of the study, said that if tiger conservation efforts are promising, they must be extended to other species to better maintain the entire ecosystem .
“There are several species, including the great Indian and Caracal decrease which are all at the limit,” said Chellam. “And there is really not enough concentration on this.”
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