Human-animal conflict, poaching in focus, Centre plans to roll out project to manage tigers outside reserves

The project has received the ministry’s in-principle approval and was also discussed earlier this month during a meeting of the National Board for Wildlife, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, which formally announced the initiative.

The ministry has sought funding for the project from the National Compensatory Afforestation Fund Management and Planning Authority (CAMPA), which finances wildlife conservation projects from funds collected through the felling of forests for development projects. The executive committee of the National CAMPA had in December asked the ministry to check for overlaps with the Project Tiger scheme, and the project proposal is likely to be placed again soon before the authority, ministry officials confirmed.

The tigers recorded outside tiger reserves span forests under the control of territorial divisions and wildlife divisions of state forest departments. The dispersal of tigers from tiger reserves to forest divisions spurs human-tiger conflict, livestock depredation and also puts tigers at risk of poaching. It also pushes out co-predators such as leopards and others further outside towards human settlements, in turn spurring more conflict.

The National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA), which will implement the project, has identified 80 forest divisions based on the findings of the All-India Tiger Estimation held in 2022 and recent trends of human-tiger conflict. Initially, the project will be rolled out in these 80 divisions spanning 10 states. Chandrapur district, which has the highest tiger population in the world, and the Chandrapur forest division, is a prime example where tigers from the source – Tadoba Tiger reserve – disperse to sink areas in neighbouring forests.

The new project, officials said, will seek to address these issues and supplement existing funding provided to states from Project Tiger. “Reducing conflict and stepping up monitoring outside tiger reserves to tackle tiger poaching would be the two key focus areas,” said an official aware of the developments.

The official added, “Wayanad in Kerala, Chandrapur in Maharashtra and Pilibhit in Uttar Pradesh are prime examples where there is recurring conflict and the issue needs to be addressed comprehensively with the engagement of local communities.”

Monitoring and anti-poaching activities, addressing human-animal conflict, community outreach, habitat improvements and stepping up capacity are some of the plans proposed in the project.

Between 2020 and 2024, 378 people have been killed due to conflict with tigers, with 110 in 2022 alone. Maharashtra alone accounted for 218 deaths, followed by Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh which accounted for 61 and 32 deaths, respectively. In the report of the parliamentary standing committee on science and technology, environment, forests and climate change tabled on March 25, it was noted that the environment ministry was falling short on funds to compensate people for wildlife attacks and it required an additional funding of Rs 70-80 crore for this purpose.

In the recent spate of poaching incidents reported from Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra, tigers have fallen prey outside tiger reserves as well, indicating gaps in monitoring.

India currently has an estimated 3,628 tigers (upper limit) and 58 tiger reserves. This population is distributed across the landscapes of Shivalik Hills, Terai plains, Central Indian Highlands and Eastern Ghats, Western Ghats, Northeastern hills and Brahmaputra plains and Sundarbans. Population-wise, the Central Indian landscape and Eastern Ghats landscape supports the maximum number of tigers, followed by Western Ghats, Shivalik Hills and Terai plains.