Buxa Tiger Reserve: West Bengal

• 14 Dec 2021

Why in News

Recently, a Royal Bengal tiger was sighted at the Buxa reserve - a first such sighting in 23 years.

• Historically, tigers were distributed throughout the reserve including the southernmost ranges and fringe areas. However, the reserve has a low tiger density at present. 

Key Points

• About:
  
  • Buxa Tiger Reserve is situated in the Alipurduar Sub-division of Jalpaiguri District, West Bengal. It was created in 1983 as the 15^th tiger reserve of India.
    
    • It was declared as a National Park in January 1992.
  • The northern boundary of Buxa Tiger Reserve runs along the international border with Bhutan. The Sinchula hill range lies all along the northern side of Buxa National Park and the Eastern boundary touches that of the Assam State.
  • The main rivers flowing across the Tiger Reserve are Sankosh, Raidak, Jayanti, Churnia, Turturi, Phashkhawa, Dima and Nonani.
• Tiger Corridor:
  
  • The reserve has corridor connectivity across the border with the forests of Bhutan in the North, on the East it has linkages with the Kochugaon forests, Manas Tiger Reserve and on the West with the Jaldapara National Park. The following corridor links are important:
    
    • Buxa-Titi (via Torsa): Connecting Rangamati Reserve Forest area of Buxa Tiger Reserve with Titi Reserve Forest.
    • Buxa-Titi (via Beech and Bharnabari Tea estate): Connecting Bharnabari Reserve Forest of Buxa Tiger Reserve and Titi Reserve Forest situated south of Dalsingpara tea estate by passing through Bharnabari tea estate and Beech tea estate.
    • Nimati-Chilapata (Buxa-Chilapata): Facilitating elephant movement between Nimati Range of Buxa Tiger Reserve and Chilapata Reserve Forest, thereby maintaining elephant movement between Buxa Tiger Reserve and Jaldapara Wildlife Sanctuary (West Bengal).
    • Buxa-Ripu at Sankosh (Sankosh): This corridor is a contiguous forest that connects Buxa Tiger Reserve of West Bengal with the Ripu Reserve Forest of Kachugaon Forest Division, Assam.
  • The corridors mentioned above form part of North East and Brahmaputra Valley tiger landscape, providing crucial linkages for the dispersal of tigers to various protected areas like, Buxa, Manas Tiger Reserve (Assam), Phipsoo Wildlife Sanctuary in Bhutan and Jaldapara National Park.
• Flora:
  
  • The forests of the reserve can be broadly classified as the ‘Moist Tropical Forest’.
• Fauna:
  
  • Some important species found in the reserve are Indian Tiger (Panthera tigris tigris), Leopard (Panthera pardus), Clouded Leopard (Neofelis nebulosa), Hog badger (Arctonyx collaris), Jungle Cat (Felis chaus) etc.
• Other Protected Areas in West Bengal:
  
  • Gorumara National Park
  • Sundarbans National Park
  • Neora Valley National Park
  • Singalila National Park
  • Jaldapara National Park

Tiger

• Conservation Status:
  
  • Indian Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972: Schedule I
  • International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List: Endangered.
  • Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES): Appendix I.
• Tigers in India:
  
  • India is home to over 70% of the tiger population globally.
  • India is home to 53 tiger reserves spread across 18 states and the last tiger census of 2018 showed a rise in the tiger population.
  • India achieved the target of doubling the tiger population four years ahead of schedule (2022) of the St. Petersburg Declaration on tiger conservation.
  • India’s strategy of tiger conservation attaches topmost importance to involving local communities.
• Tiger Conservation Projects in India:
  
  • Project Tiger 1973: Project Tiger is a Centrally Sponsored Scheme of the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change (MoEFCC) launched in 1973. It provides havens for tigers in the country’s national parks.
    
    • Recently, the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) has designated the combined areas of the Guru Ghasidas National Park and Tamor Pingla Wildlife Sanctuary as the 53^rd Tiger Reserve in India.
  • National Tiger Conservation Authority : It is a statutory body under the MoEFCC and was established in 2005 following the recommendations of the Tiger Task Force.

Source: IE