Corbett Tiger Reserve

Context:

The Forest Survey Institute (FSI) has accused the Uttarakhand Forest Department of “defending wrongdoings” by questioning its assessment of illegal tree felling in the Corbett Tiger Reserve for its Pakhro tiger safari project.

Relevance:

GS III: Environment and Ecology

Dimensions of the Article:

1. About Corbett National Park
2. About the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA)
3. Project Tiger
4. Project Tiger Reserves of India

About Corbett National Park:

• Jim Corbett National Park is the oldest national park in India and was established in 1936 as Hailey National Park to protect the endangered Bengal tiger.
• It is located in Nainital district and Pauri Garhwal district of Uttarakhand and was named after hunter and naturalist Jim Corbett.
• The Park was the first to come under the Project Tiger initiative.
• The Park encompasses the Patli Dun valley formed by the Ramganga river.
• Ramganga, Sonanadi, Mandal, Palain and Kosi are the major rivers flowing through the Corbett National Park.
• The national park is a protected area covered by the World Wide Fund (WWF) for Nature under their Terai Arc Landscape Program.

About the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA)

• The National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) was established in December 2005 following a recommendation of the Tiger Task Force, constituted by the Prime Minister of India for reorganised management of Project Tiger and the many Tiger Reserves in India.
• The Wildlife Protection Act of 1972 was amended in 2006 to provide for constituting the National Tiger Conservation Authority responsible for implementation of the Project Tiger plan to protect endangered tigers.
• The National Tiger Conservation Authority is set up under the Chairmanship of the Minister for Environment and Forests.
• The Authority will have eight experts or professionals having qualifications and experience in wildlife conservation and welfare of people including tribals, apart from three Members of Parliament of whom two will be elected by the House of the People and one by the Council of States.
• The Authority, interalia, would lay down normative standards, guidelines for tiger conservation in the Tiger Reserves, apart from National Parks and Sanctuaries.
• It would provide information on protection measures including future conservation plan, tiger estimation, disease surveillance, mortality survey, patrolling, report on untoward happenings and such other management aspects as it may deem fit, including future plan for conservation.
• The Authority would also facilitate and support tiger reserve management in the States through eco-development and people’s participation as per approved management plans, and support similar initiatives in adjoining areas consistent with the Central and state laws.
• The Tiger Conservation Authority would be required to prepare an Annual Report, which would be laid in the Parliament along with the Audit Report.
• Every 4 years the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) conducts a tiger census across India.

Project Tiger

• Project Tiger is a tiger conservation programme launched in April 1973 by the Government of India.
• The project aims at ensuring a viable population of Bengal tigers in their natural habitats, protecting them from extinction, and preserving areas of biological importance as a natural heritage forever represented as close as possible the diversity of ecosystems across the distribution of tigers in the country.
• The project’s task force visualized these tiger reserves as breeding nuclei, from which surplus animals would migrate to adjacent forests. Funds and commitment were mastered to support the intensive program of habitat protection and rehabilitation under the project.
• The government has set up a Tiger Protection Force to combat poachers and funded relocation of villagers to minimize human-tiger conflicts.

Project Tiger Reserves of India

The Project Tiger Reserves of India is administered by the National Tiger Conservation Authority.

-Source: The Hindu