25 primate species reported on brink of extinction

Twenty-five species of monkeys, langurs, lemurs and gorillas are on the brink of extinction and need global action to protect them from increasing deforestation and illegal trafficking, researchers said Monday.

Six of the severely threatened species live on the island nation of Madagascar, off southeast Africa. Five more from mainland Africa, five from South America and nine species in Asia are among those listed as most threatened.

The report by the International Union for Conservation of Nature was released at a biodiversity conference being held in Hyderabad.

Primates, mankind’s closest living relatives, contribute to the ecosystem by dispersing seeds and maintaining forest diversity.

Conservation efforts have helped several species of primates, which are no longer listed as endangered, said the report, prepared every two years by some of the world’s leading primate experts.

The report noted that Madagascar’s lemurs are severely threatened by habitat destruction and illegal hunting, which has accelerated dramatically since the change of power in the country in 2009.

Among the most severely hit was the Northern sportive lemur with only 19 known individuals left in the wild in Madagascar.

“Lemurs are now one of the world’s most endangered groups of mammals, after more than three years of political crisis and a lack of effective enforcement in their home country, Madagascar,” said Christoph Schwitzer of the Bristol Conservation and Science Foundation, one of the groups involved in the study.

“A similar crisis is happening in Southeast Asia, where trade in wildlife is bringing many primates very close to extinction,” Schwitzer said.

More than half of the world’s 633 types of primates are in danger of becoming extinct because of human activity such as the burning and clearing of tropical forests, the hunting of primates for food and the illegal wildlife trade.

Lion-tailed macaque taken off ‘top 25’ endangered list

The lion-tailed macaque, one of India’s endangered mascot species, is no longer on ‘The World’s 25 Most Endangered Primates’ list, after the international body compiling it determined that the State governments had acted positively to protect it.

The list of 25 primates is put out by a group of specialist agencies — the Primate Specialist Group of the IUCN/Species Survival Commission; the International Primatological Society; Conservation International (CI); and the Bristol Conservation and Science Foundation.

It was released here on Monday at a press briefing at the conference of parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity. Announcing the list of endangered primates for 2012-14, Russell A. Mittermeier, chairman of the IUCN/SSC and president of CI, said the Western purple-faced langur in Sri Lanka was still on the list.

Wild primate species are found in 91 countries, and their conservation status is periodically monitored with the Red List criteria by the IUCN. A new assessment is under way to determine how they are faring. It will build on the 2008 assessment — that 303 primates are critically endangered or endangered.

The Western Hoolock gibbon found in northeast India was also removed from the ‘list of 25’ earlier, though “it is still not doing well,” said Sanjay Molur, executive director of the Zoo Outreach Organization and participant in the assessment exercise. The Assam Forest Department is engaged in conservation action, along with NGOs, improving its fortunes.

The habitat of the lion-tailed macaque continues to be fragmented though it is getting positive attention in the Western Ghats. Across India, the growing problem is one of conflicts among langurs, macaques and humans, aggravated by lack of understanding of primate behaviour.

Many Indians feed them sentimentally, which contributes to their aggression as they seek more food; crop raiding is also common. India’s primates are classified as ‘least concern’ on the scale of threat assessment, but “these species are declining,” according to Dr. Molur.

More studies need to be done on Indian monkeys such as the Kashmir gray langur found in the Chamba Valley of Himachal Pradesh. It was rediscovered recently after first being described more than eight decades ago. Half of India’s 43 sub-species of primates are threatened.

The latest top 25 endangered primates comprise a range of ape, monkey and lemur species from Tanzania, Ghana, the Ivory Coast, Madagascar, Indonesia, Vietnam, China, and South America. Clearing of forests for oil palm cultivation and agriculture, demand for bush meat, and staggering deforestation in Madagascar, removing 90 per cent of endemic lemur habitat, severely threaten long-term prospects for primates.

The CBD is meeting in Hyderabad to look at new ways of reducing the loss of biodiversity and encouraging conservation actions.

Centre for rehabilitating tribals living near tiger reserves

After laying down rules for regulating tourism in critical tiger habitats, the Centre has now suggested a rehabilitation programme for tribals living around them to save the endangered animal from traditional hunting.

“There is an urgent need to launch a rehabilitation and development programme for denotified tribes and tribes involved in traditional hunting, living around tiger reserves and tiger corridors,” say the fresh guidelines on tiger conservation notified by the Centre.

According to the Environment Ministry, the denotified tribes and communities like Behelias, Ambalgars, Badaks, Mongias, Bavariyas, Monglias, Pardhi, Boyas, Kaikads, Karwal Nat, Nirshikaris, Picharis, Valayaras, Yenadis, Chakma, Mizo, Bru, Solung and Nyishi are involved in traditional hunting of wild animals.

“While this list is not exhaustive, around 5,000 such families are required to be taken up under a welfare programme (forming part of National Tiger Conservation Authority initiatives) during the (12th) Plan period,” it says.

The Guideline underlines that the rehabilitation and welfare package should be evolved in a site specific, consultative manner with livelihood options.

The livelihood options include wages for such people towards their deployment in foot patrolling for protecting wildlife, providing agricultural land with irrigation, basic health care, housing and related community welfare inputs and basic education facilities.

Last week, the Supreme Court had allowed the Centre to notify within a week its fresh guidelines on tiger conservation and indicated that it may modify its July 24 order staying all tourism activities in the reserved areas across the country.

A bench of justices A K Patnaik and Swatanter Kumar, had however, made it clear that the States, if aggrieved by the guidelines, are free to challenge it before the court.

Ban on tourism in tiger reserves’ core areas goes

The Supreme Court on Tuesday lifted the ban on tourist activities in core areas of tiger reserve forests.

This follows Additional Solicitor-General Indira Jaising’s submission that on October 15 the government notified the revised guidelines for the 41 tiger reserves to be followed by States.

A Bench of Justices A.K. Patnaik and Swatanter Kumar said: “This court passed an order on July 24 that till final guidelines are issued, core areas won’t be used for tourism. Now that the National Tourism Conservation Authority [NTCA] has notified the comprehensive guidelines under the Wildlife Act for tourism in and around tiger reserves, we modify the interim order and direct that henceforth tourism activities will be strictly in accordance with the guidelines.”

The court said, “All concerned authorities will ensure that the guidelines shall be strictly in accordance with notification and requirements of guidelines are complied with before commencing tourism.” The Bench directed the States to prepare a tiger conservation plan within six months from today (Tuesday) and submit it to the NTCA.

Fresh guidelines

After the ban, several States and other stake holders urged the Centre to revisit the guidelines and sought the lifting of the ban. Accordingly, the Centre filed an application seeking modification of the order. Subsequently, the court asked the Centre to hold consultations with the States and others and come out with fresh guidelines. Accordingly, the NTCA formulated fresh guidelines.

The Comprehensive Guidelines on Strategy, Tiger Conservation and Tourism in and around Tiger Reserves envisaged that 20 per cent of the core reserve area should be permitted for tourism. Shifting the focus from wildlife tourism to eco-tourism, the NTCA had recommended that a maximum of 20 per cent of the core/critical tiger habitat usage (not exceeding the present usage) for regulated, low-impact tourist visitation might be permitted by the court. It said, “In case the current usage exceeds 20 per cent, the Local Area Committee may decide on a time frame for bringing down the usage to 20 per cent. Such area may be demarcated as tourism zone and there should be strict adherence to site-specific carrying capacity.”

Other suggestions are: “The States should enact law to regulate tiger tourism — tourist facilities; tour operators should not cause disturbance to animals; tourism infrastructure must be environment-friendly like usage of solar energy, waste recycling and rainwater harvesting etc; permanent tourist facilities located inside the core areas should be phased out in a time frame and 10 per cent of the revenue generated from pilgrim centres located in tiger reserves must be used for development of local communities.”

RHINOS

In Assam, the death of 39 rhinos in and around the world-famous Kaziranga National Park in less than 10 months , has brought to the fore the threat faced by the endangered animal.

The threat comes from poachers, who kill the rare one-horned rhinoceros for its prized horn whose price in the international market varies from 40 lakh to 90 lakh rupees, and also from flood which is an annual occurrence in Assam. Early last month, the poachers killed five rhinos in four days, taking advantage of the flood waters that submerged 90 per cent of the UNESCO world heritage site.

The poachers in the most gruesome act, removed the animals’ horns and left them to bleed to death while the forest guards failed to have an inkling. The poaching is blamed mostly on illegal Bangladeshi migrants while not ruling out the involvement of militants of the Karbi Peoples’ Liberation Tigers. Coupled with the rampant poaching, is the lack of adequate staff in the heritage sanctuary and equipment with the state forest department.

The Kaziranga National Park boasts of a 2,290-strong rhino population as per the last census conducted this year. Assam Forest Minister Rakibul Hussain confirmed the killing of 11 rhinos by poachers, including six inside the park, and five in the neighbouring Karbi Anglong district where the animals shifted to escape the flooded forest. He also said that another 28 rhinos drowned in the floods during the year. Mr. Hussain said, the state government has taken adequate steps to deal with the spurt in poaching which include recommending a CBI inquiry into poaching cases during the last three years and deployment of Army and central para military forces in areas adjoining the national park to foil the attempts of poachers.

He said that a hundred-member team of the elite Assam Forest Protection Force for the protection of the animal has been sent to the Park.

 

Mangroves for the Future

The National Environment Policy, 2006 recognizes that mangroves are an important coastal environmental resource. The Ministry of Environment & Forests is at the forefront in regard to the conservation and management of mangroves, which provide habitats for marine species; protection from extreme weather events and a resource base for sustainable tourism. The Government seeks to sustain mangroves in the country by both regulatory and promotional measures.

What are Mangroves?

Mangroves are plants that survive high salinity, tidal regimes, strong wind velocity, high temperature and muddy anaerobic soil – a combination of conditions hostile for other plants. The mangrove ecosystems constitute a symbiotic link or bridge between terrestrial and marine ecosystems. They are found in the inter-tidal zones of sheltered shore, estuaries, creeks, backwaters, lagoons, marshes and mud-flats. Mangrove vegetation has been reported in all the coastal States/UTs. India is home to some of the best mangroves in the world. West Bengal has the maximum of mangrove cover in the country followed by Gujarat and Andaman & Nicobar Islands. However, not all coastal areas are suitable for mangrove plantation as mangrove requires an appropriate mix of saline and freshwater, and soft substrate like mudflats to be able to grow and perpetuate. The Government has identified 38 mangrove areas on a country wide basis for intensive conservation and management. In Tamil Nadu, Pichavaram, Muthupet, Ramnad, Pulicat and Kazhuveli mangrove areas have been identified.

Mangroves Protect the Coast

Mangrove ecosystems are rich in biodiversity and harbour a number of floral and faunal species (both terrestrial and aquatic) many of which, e.g. the tiger, gangetic dolphin, estuarine crocodile etc. are endangered. They also act as nurseries for fin fish, shell fish, crustaceans and mollusks. Mangrove forests are regarded as the most productive ecosystems in the world on account of the large quantities of organic and inorganic nutrients released in the coastal waters by these ecosystems.

The mangroves besides providing a number of ecological services also play a major role in protecting coastal areas from erosion, tidal storms and surges (tsunamis). They help in land accretion by trapping the fine debris particles. They are also an important source of honey, tannins, wax, besides fish. Presently, these are one of the most threatened ecosystems on account of both anthropogenic factors (reclamation of land, discharge of waste etc) and natural factors like global warming.

Intensive Conservation in Eight States

The current assessment shows that the mangrove cover in the country is 4,662.56 sq km. The mangrove plantation with an average, annual target of 3,000 hectares is undertaken on a country wide basis. The areas supported are among the 38 areas as already identified by MoEF for intensive conservation. During 2010-11, financial assistance to the tune of Rs. 7.10 crores had been distributed among West Bengal, Orissa, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka, Goa and Gujarat for conservation and management of mangroves.

The project entitled “Mangroves for Future (MFF): a strategy for promoting investment in Coastal Ecosystem Conservation” is being coordinated by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) covering, initially, eight countries, including India.

-PIB

Science Express- Biodiversity Special

India is recognised as one of the mega-diverse countries, rich in biodiversity and associated traditional knowledge. With just 2.4% of the land area, India accounts for nearly 7% of the recorded species even while supporting almost 18% of human population. India has a long history of conservation and sustainable use of natural resources and is a party to many international environmental conventions including UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD).

The current decade (2011-2020) has been declared as United Nations Decade on Biodiversity and United Nations Decade for Deserts and the Fight against Desertification. With India hosting the 11^th meeting of Conference of the Parties (CoP-11) to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), during 8-19 October 2012 in Hyderabad, it is an opportune time to showcase the wide array of biodiversity in the country, the threats to this rich biodiversity and the conservation measures adopted thereof.

This CoP-11 assumes immense importance considering that it is being held in the 40^th anniversary year of Stockholm Conference, 20^th anniversary year of Rio Earth Summit and 10^th anniversary year of World Sustainable Summit held in 2002.  This would also be the first CoP in the UN Decade on Biodiversity.

Science Express – Biodiversity Special (SEBS)

In an effort to create widespread awareness on the unique biodiversity of the country, Ministry of Environment & Forests (MoEF), in a unique partnership with Department of Science & Technology (DST) has launched a special exhibition train- ‘Science Express Biodiversity Special (SEBS)’ that will cover over 100 stations in two years of running across the country in two phases.

‘Science Express’, a train rake with 16 air-conditioned coaches was originally custom-made for DST by Indian Railways. Since 30 October 2007, when it was flagged off by the Prime Minister of India and German Chancellor, DST organised four tours across India, the last one culminating on 16 June 2011.

Of the 16 coaches of the Science Express- Biodiversity Special, eight are solely dedicated to showcasing the myriad biodiversity spread across the bio-geographical zones. These include the Trans-Himalaya & the Himalayas, the Gangetic Plains, North East India, the Desert & Semi-Arid Zone, the Western Ghats, the Deccan Peninsula, the Coasts & Islands. These eight coaches also focus on range of Biological diversity, critically endangered species (IUCN Red list), biodiversity hotspots, domesticated biodiversity (agriculture, animal husbandry), biodiversity & livelihoods, bio-culture; threats/challenges (climate change, other anthropogenic), conservation measures, success stories & unique experiences. The exhibition also covers various other facets like marine, coastal, forest, microbial, agro biodiversity and their linkage with livelihoods besides challenges of conservation.

In the rest of the rake, three coaches have exhibits on Climate Change, Energy and Water conservation. The legacy of ‘Science Express’ showcasing the most popular exhibits from the previous four phases has been exhibited in another coach. A conference room-cum-training facility is also provided in that coach, primarily for the purpose of capacity building of teachers.

Science Express- Biodiversity Special (SEBS) was flagged off on 5 June 2012 from Delhi Safdarjung by Smt.  Sheila Dixit, Chief Minister of Delhi and Smt. Jayanti Natarajan, Minister of State (I/C), (MoEF). The ongoing phase will culminate in Gandhinagar on 22 December 2012. During this tour, the train will be stationed at Secunderabad during 9-19 October 2012 so that the COP delegates and dignitaries from about 190 countries are able to experience the rich biodiversity of our country.

The Journey

Since its launch on 5 June 2012 and till 31 July 2012, this only-of-its-kind  train has made halts of 3-4 days duration each at  16 locations in the Eastern and North Eastern India and over 6 lakh visitors, mostly students and teachers have been able to enjoy the interesting and informative exhibits. The SEBS has got overwhelming response, and the purpose of creating wide spread awaress on Biodiversity issue is being served quite well.  The train is now on its onward journey to Southern, Western and Northern India and will eventually travel almost 18,000 km in the first phase to cover 52 locations. The exhibition is expected to be visited by more than 15 lakh visitors but indirectly it is likely to engage over 50 lakh people.

Reaching Out

Wherever the train travels, activities have been planned before hand to engage visitors across different age groups to reinforce the message of SEBS and specific Outreach Programme are conducted at local schools and institutions associated with the National Environment Awareness Programme (NEAC) and National Green Corps (NGC) of MoEF and associate & partners of DST. In addition, a variety of  informative take-away material is made available for wider distribution among visitors.

Partners

The train reflects the dedication, diligence and dynamism of the knowledge partners who have contributed immensely to bring forth the essence of ‘biodiversity’ and conservation practices as well as issues of ‘climate change’ in our country. Vikram A Sarabhai Community Science Centre (VASCSC) and Centre for Environment Education (CEE), Ahmedabad along with the lead knowledge partners. Bombay Natural History Society, Centre for Ecological Sciences, Indian Institute of Science, G. B. Pant Institute of Himalayan Environment and Development, Indian Council of Forestry Research and Education, National Centre for Sustainable Coastal Management, National Museum of Natural History, Wildlife Institute of India and Wildlife Trust of India, and several others have contributed to give final touches to this unique exhibition on wheel. HSBC, the Swiss Embassy, Nestle, PCRA and Indus Towers have supported some of the exhibits and complementary activities.
-PIB

Saving The Tiger

The country level tiger population, estimated once in every four years using the refined methodology, has shown an increasing trend with a population estimate of 1706, lower and upper limits being 1520 and 1909 respectively in the recent all India estimation (2010), as compared to the last country level estimation of 2006, with an estimate of 1411, lower and upper limits being 1165 and 1657 respectively.

Initiatives Taken by the Government

 

Legal Steps

·      Amendment of the Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972 for providing enabling provisions towards constituting the National Tiger Conservation Authority and the Tiger and Other Endangered Species Crime Control Bureau.

·      Enhancement of punishment in cases of offence relating to a tiger reserve or its core area.

Administrative Steps

·         Strengthening of antipoaching activities, including special strategy for monsoon patrolling, by providing funding support to Tiger Reserve States, as proposed by them, for deployment of antipoaching squads involving ex-army personnel/home guards, apart from workforce comprising of local people, in addition to strengthening of communication / wireless facilities.

• Constitution of the National Tiger Conservation Authority with effect from 4.09.2006, for strengthening tiger conservation by, interalia, ensuring normative standards in tiger reserve management, preparation of reserve specific tiger conservation plan, laying down annual audit report before Parliament, constituting State level Steering Committees under the Chairmanship of Chief Ministers and establishment of Tiger Conservation Foundation.

·         Constitution of a multidisciplinary Tiger and Other Endangered Species Crime Control Bureau (Wildlife Crime Control Bureau) with effect from 6.6.2007 to effectively control illegal trade in wildlife.

• The in-principle approval has been accorded by the National Tiger Conservation Authority for creation of five new tiger reserves, and the sites are:, Pilibhit (Uttar Pradesh), Ratapani (Madhya Pradesh), Sunabeda (Orissa) and Mukundara Hills (including Darrah, JawaharSagar and Chambal Wildlife Sanctuaries) (Rajasthan) and Satyamangalam (Tamil Nadu).  Final approval has been accorded toKudremukh (Karnataka) for declaring as a Tiger Reserve.   Besides, the States have been advised to send proposals for declaring the following areas as Tiger Reserves: (i) Bor (Maharashtra), (ii) Suhelwa (Uttar Pradesh), (iii) Nagzira-Navegaon (Maharashtra), (iv) GuruGhasidas National Park (Chhattisgarh), (v) Mhadei Sanctuary (Goa) and (vi) Srivilliputhur Grizzled Giant Squirrel / Megamalai Wildlife Sanctuaries / Varushanadu Valley (Tamil Nadu).

• The revised Project Tiger guidelines have been issued to States for strengthening tiger conservation, which apart from ongoing activities, interalia, include funding support to States for enhanced village relocation/rehabilitation package for people living in core or critical tiger habitats (from Rs. 1 lakh/family to Rs. 10 lakhs/family), rehabilitation/resettlement of communities involved in traditional hunting, mainstreaming livelihood and wildlife concerns in forests outside tiger reserves and fostering corridor conservation through restorative strategy to arrest habitat fragmentation.

• A scientific methodology for estimating tiger (including co-predators, prey animals and assessment of habitat status) has been evolved and mainstreamed.  The findings of this estimation/assessment are bench marks for future tiger conservation strategy.

• An area of 34070.46 sq. km. has been notified by 17 Tiger States as core or critical tiger habitat under section 38V of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972, as amended in 2006.

Financial Steps

• Financial and technical help is provided to the States under various Centrally Sponsored Schemes, viz. Project Tiger and Integrated Development of Wildlife Habitats for enhancing the capacity and infrastructure of the States for providing effective protection to wild animals.

International Cooperation

• India has a bilateral understanding with Nepal on controlling trans-boundary illegal trade in wildlife and conservation, apart from a protocol on tiger conservation with China.

·         A protocol has been signed in September, 2011 with Bangladesh for conservation of the Royal Bengal Tiger of the Sunderban.

·         A sub-group on tiger/leopard conservation has been constituted for cooperation with the Russian Federation.

·         A Global Tiger Forum of Tiger Range Countries has been created for addressing international issues related to tiger conservation.

·      During the 14^th meeting of the Conference of Parties to CITES, which was held from 3^rd to 15^th June, 2007 at The Hague, India introduced a resolution along with China, Nepal and the Russian Federation, with directions to Parties with operations breeding tigers on a commercial scale, for restricting such captive populations to a level supportive only to conserving wild tigers.  The resolution was adopted as a decision with minor amendments. Further, India made an intervention appealing to China to phase out tiger farming, and eliminate stockpiles of Asian big cats body parts and derivatives.  The importance of continuing the ban on trade of body parts of tigers was emphasized.

·      Based on India’s strong intervention during the 58^th meeting of the Standing Committee of the CITES at Geneva from 6^th to 10^thJuly, 2009, the CITES Secretariat has issued a notification to Parties to submit reports relating to compliance of Decisions 14.69 and 14.65 within 90 days with effect from 20.10.2009 (Progress made on restricting captive breeding operations of tigers etc.).

Reintroduction of Tigers

·      As a part of active management to rebuild Sariska and Panna Tiger Reserves where tigers have become locally extinct, reintroduction of tigers / tigresses have been done.

·      Special advisories issued for in-situ build up of prey base and tiger population through active management in tiger reserves having low population status of tiger and its prey.

Creation of Special Tiger Protection Force (STPF)

• The policy initiatives announced by the Finance Minister in the Budget Speech of 29 February, 2008, interalia, contains action points relating to tiger protection. Based on the one time grant of Rs. 50.00 crore provided to the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) for raising, arming and deploying a Special Tiger Protection Force, the proposal for the said force has been approved by the competent authority for 13 tiger reserves.  Rs. 93 lakhs each has been released to Corbett, Ranthambhore & Dudhwa Tiger Reserve for creation of STPF during 2008-09. Since then, the guidelines of the STPF have been revised for deploying forest personnel in place of Police as an option-II, with scope for involving local people like the Van Gujjars.  During the year 2010-11 and 2011-12, an amount of Rs. 270 lakhs has been provided to the Similipal Tiger Reserve for raising, arming and deploying the STPF.  The States of Karnataka and Maharashtra have already deployed the STPF.

• In collaboration with TRAFFIC-INDIA, an online tiger crime data base has been launched, and Generic Guidelines for preparation of reserve specific Security Plan has been evolved.

Recent Initiatives

·         Implementing a tripartite MOU with tiger States, linked to fund flows for effective implementation of tiger conservation initiatives.

·         Rapid assessment of tiger reserves done.

·         Special crack teams sent to tiger reserves affected by left wing extremism and low population status of tiger and its prey.

·         Chief Ministers of States having tiger reserves affected by left wing extremism and low population status of tiger and its prey addressed for taking special initiatives.

·         Steps taken for modernizing the infrastructure and field protection, besides launching ‘M-STrIPES’ for effective field patrolling and monitoring.

·         Steps taken for involvement of Non-Governmental Experts in the ongoing all India tiger estimation.

·         Initiatives taken for improving the field delivery through capacity building of field officials, apart from providing incentives.

·         Action initiated for using Information Technology to strengthen surveillance in tiger reserves.

·         The second round of country level tiger status assessment completed in 2010, with the findings indicating an increase with a tigerpopulation estimate of 1706, lower and upper limits being 1520 and 1909 respectively, as compared to the last country level estimation of 2006, with an estimate of 1411, lower and upper limits being 1165 and 1657 respectively.

·         The second round of independent assessment of Management Effectiveness Evaluation of Tiger Reserves done in 2010-11 for 39 tiger reserves based on globally used framework.

• Increase in the allocation for Project Tiger with additional components.

·         Providing special assistance for mitigation of human-tiger conflicts in problematic areas.

·         As an outcome of the fourth Trans-border Consultative Group Meeting held in New Delhi, a joint resolution has been signed with Nepal for biodiversity / tiger conservation.

·         Regional Offices of the National Tiger Conservation Authority sanctioned at Nagpur, Bengaluru and Guwahati.

• Launching of Phase-IV tiger reserve level monitoring.