Awards for Tiger Conservation | 27 Nov 2020

Why in News

The Pilibhit Tiger Reserve (PTR - Uttar Pradesh) has bagged international award TX2 for doubling the number of tigers in the past four years.

  • Also, the Transboundary Manas Conservation Area or TraMCA (India-Bhutan border) has received the Conservation Excellence Award for 2020.
  • Earlier, India’s 2018 Tiger census (once in every four years) had set a Guinness record for being the largest camera-trap wildlife survey.

Key Points

  • About the Awards:
    • Launched recently, these awards were open to submissions from any site in a tiger range country that has achieved remarkable measurable progress since 2010.
      • Site: An area having a functional tiger population, legally designated as a "site" under national legislation.
    • Award winners were announced on 23rd November 2020 - the 10 year anniversary for the global TX2 goal.
    • Sites will receive a small financial grant to be used to further tiger conservation.
    • TX2 Award: It goes to one site that has achieved remarkable and measurable increase in its tiger population since 2010.
    • Conservation Excellence Award: This award recognises one site that has achieved excellence in two or more of these five themes:
      • Tiger and prey population monitoring and research (tiger translocation/prey augmentation),
      • Effective site management,
      • Enhanced law enforcement & protection & ranger welfare improvement,
      • Community based conservation, benefits and human-wildlife conflict mitigation and
      • Habitat and prey management.

TX2 Goal

  • The TX2 goal is a global commitment to double the world's wild tigers by 2022.
  • The goal has been set by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) through the Global Tiger Initiative, Global Tiger Forum and other critical platforms.
  • All 13 tiger range governments came together for the first time at the St Petersburg Summit (Russia -2010) where they committed to double the number of wild tigers by 2022.
  • Tiger Range Countries include India, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, China, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, Russia, Thailand and Vietnam.
    • Tiger (Panthera Tigris) is categorised as ‘Endangered’ under the IUCN Red List and is listed under Appendix I of CITES.
    • Global Tiger Day is observed on 29th July across the world.
    • India’s Project Tiger was launched in 1973 with 9 tiger reserves. Tiger has been listed under ‘Schedule I’ of the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972.
  • Pilibhit Tiger Reserve:
    • Location: Pilibhit district, Lakhimpur Kheri District and Bahraich District of Uttar Pradesh
      • The northern edge of the reserve lies along the Indo-Nepal border while the southern boundary is marked by the river Sharada and Khakra.
    • Declaration: PTR was declared in 2014-15 on the basis of its special type of ecosystem with vast open spaces and sufficient feed for the elegant predators.
      • PTR is one of the finest examples of the exceedingly diverse and productive Terai ecosystems (low-lying land at the foot of the Himalayas).
    • Features:
      • The study done by Wildlife Institute of India (WII) shows that Dudhwa-Pilibhit population has high conservation value as it represents the only tiger population with the ecological and behavioral adaptations of the tiger unique to the Terai region.
      • It is home to a habitat for over 127 animals, 326 bird species and 2,100 flowering plants.
        • Wild animals include tiger, swamp deer, Bengal florican, hog deer, leopard, etc.
        • It has high sal forests, plantation and grasslands with several water bodies.
    • Bagged TX2 Award: The number of tigers in the reserve area has gone up to 65 from 25 in the period of just four years (2014-18).
    • Other Protected Areas in Uttar Pradesh:
      • Dudhwa National Park
      • Katarniaghat Wildlife Sanctuary
      • Chambal Wildlife Sanctuary
      • Sur Sarovar (Keethan) Bird Sanctuary
  • Transboundary Manas Conservation Area:
    • Formation: It was conceptualized in 2011 with the vision to jointly develop and manage a transboundary conservation area between Bhutan and India, for the benefit of people and wildlife.
    • Features:
      • The TraMCA landscape with an area of over 6500 sq. km forms a vital mosaic of conservation spaces across the Eastern Himalayas, and covers the entire Manas Tiger Reserve in India, four protected areas in Bhutan and also two biological corridors.
      • The Manas Tiger Reserve in India and Royal Manas National Park in Bhutan form the core of this biologically outstanding trans-boundary region that is home to tigers, elephants, rhinos and more than 1,500 species of mammals, birds and vascular plants.
      • The Manas River flowing through Royal Manas National Park and Manas National Park also makes both parks an important watershed area in the region.
      • The landscape and its surroundings support over 10 million people in India and Bhutan with its services.
    • Bagged Conservation Excellence Award: For efforts to increase the tiger population. The recognition was for the TraMCA comprising the 500 sq. km. Manas National Park in Assam and the 1,057-sq. km. Royal Manas National Park in Bhutan.
      • The number of Tigers in the Indian Manas increased from 9 in 2010 to 25 in 2018 while that in the Bhutan Manas more than doubled from 12 in 2008 to 26 in 2018.

Source: TH