On the occasion of International Tiger Day on July 29, 2021 Union Minister for Environment, Forest and Climate Change Bhupender Yadav announced that 14 tiger reserves in India have received accreditation of the Global Conservation Assured Tiger Standards (CATS).
CATS is a globally accepted conservation tool that sets best practice and standards to manage tigers and encourages assessments to benchmark progress.
CATS is being implemented across 125 sites in seven tiger range countries and India has the highest sites (94), out of which assessment was completed for 20 tiger reserves this year.
The 14 tiger reserves, which have been accredited, are Manas, Kaziranga and Orang in Assam; Satpura, Kanha and Panna in Madhya Pradesh; Pench in Maharashtra; Valmiki Tiger Reserve in Bihar; Dudhwa in Uttar Pradesh; Sunderbans in West Bengal; Parambikulam in Kerala; Bandipur Tiger Reserve in Karnataka; and Mudumalai and Anamalai Tiger Reserves in Tamil Nadu.
The Global Tiger Forum (GTF), an international NGO working on tiger conservation, and World Wildlife Fund India are the two implementing partners of the National Tiger Conservation Authority for CATS assessment in India.
It is important to note that India is home to over 70% of the entire tiger population in the world, spread out across 51 tiger reserves in 18 states. The last census of 2018 showed a rise in the tiger population. “India achieved the target of doubling of tiger population 4 years ahead of schedule of the St. Petersburg Declaration on Tiger Conservation.”
In 2010, India had 1,706 tigers. In 2018, the count was more than doubled to 2,967, according to the National Tiger Conservation Authority.
