A CORRESPONDENT
NEW DELHI: Along with the rest of India, Assam has also registered an increase in tiger population as per the fourth cycle of national tiger status assessment report 2018-19.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi released results of the fourth cycle of ‘All India Tiger Estimation’ at his official residence here on Monday.
The assessment — the most accurate survey conducted till date — covered 381,400 km of forested habitats in 20 tiger occupied States of India. A foot survey of 522,996 km was done for carnivore signs and prey abundance estimation.
The tiger population in Assam in 2014 was 167 whereas the number went up to 190 in the 2018 tiger census report. In northern hills and Brahmaputra it was 201 in 2018 and the population went up to 219 in 2018.
In the north-eastern States of Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram and Nagaland, sampling could not be done with appropriate mark recapture method due to logistic constraints. According to the report, in these States confirmed tiger presence locations from tiger cats (confirmed by DNA profile), and opportunistic camera trap photos to model suitable tiger habitat using 13 program MaxEnt were used.
“Minimal tiger density obtained from individually identified tigers within small intensively searched areas was used to provide a crude estimate of tiger numbers in these States,” the report said.
Analysts suggest that loss and gain of tiger occupancy was mostly from habitat pockets that support low density populations. Such habitats with low density tigers, though contributing minimally to the overall tiger numbers, are crucial links for gene flow and maintaining connectivity between source populations. The loss and gain of tiger occupancy in these marginal areas is a dynamic process and depends on several factors like proximity of a tiger source population, anthropogenic pressures operating in the landscape, associated change in habitat conditions and protection regime. Loss in North East is due to poor sampling.
Tiger occupancy has increased in Madhya Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh. Madhya Pradesh has also registered a substantial increase in their tiger population and along with Karnataka ranks highest in tiger numbers. The poor and continuing decline in tiger status in Chhattisgarh and Odisha is a matter of concern.
Though tiger population in India continues to increase, this rise is observed in areas with substantial and good management inputs, complementing India’s conservation efforts. The populations of conservation-priority based on genetic distinctiveness, diversity and vulnerability were identified as those of North East Hills, Southern Western Ghats, and tigers of Odisha and Valmiki .
“Of these, tiger populations have shown improvement in Southern Western Ghats and Valmiki, while those of North East Hills and Odisha remain critically vulnerable and need immediate conservation attention,” the report said.
The report said that maintaining the source values of tiger reserve populations through good management, protection and making the core areas inviolate through incentivized voluntary relocation of human habitation has been the most important reason for continued improvement in the status of tigers in India.
“Ensuring the functionality of habitat corridor connectivity between the source populations in India as well as with Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh and Myanmar tiger populations is essential for the long-term viability of tiger populations within India and the region. These habitat corridors are often threatened by development of linear infrastructure. Careful spatial planning to avoid traversing critical habitats and their linkages, along with appropriate mitigation through wildlife passage ways will ensure that tigers and biodiversity conservation is not compromised by modern development,” the report said.
The north-eastern States, however, witnessed loss of 1,237 kms of forest occupancy.