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Ecology & Environment
Mahesh

04/04/23 06:54 AM IST

Bandipur completes 50 years as Project Tiger Reserve

In News
  • Bandipur completed 50 years as a Project Tiger Reserve recently as it was on April 1, 1973, that the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi launched the flagship conservation programme to arrest the big cat’s dwindling population.
Bandipur Tiger Reserve
  • The Bandipur Tiger Reserve is an important component of the country’s first biosphere reserve – Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve and the landscape spanning Bandipur, Nagarahole, Mudumalai, and Wayanad complex 
  • Is home not only to the highest number of tigers in the country – about 724 - but is also to the largest Asian Elephant population.
  • The reserve is recognized as one of the Mega Biodiversity Areas in the country and is home to rich floral and faunal diversity.
  • It is situated in two contiguous districts (Mysore and Chamarajanagar) of Karnataka and is located at the tri-junction area of the States Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala.
Project Tiger
  • Project Tiger was launched in 1973, Bandipur was among the first nine reserves to be brought under the flagship programme and it included most areas that were already a protected area as Venugopal Wildlife Park.
  • It was upgraded to a national park and renamed as Bandipur and the adjacent reserve forests were included under it to extend its area to 874.20 sq km.
  • At present, it has an area of 912.04 sq km while the adjoining Nugu Wildlife Sanctuary too has been incorporated under Bandipur, which is recognised as among the prime tiger habitats in the world.
  • Project Tiger has been converted into a statutory authority, National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) by providing enabling provisions in the Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972 through an amendment, via Wild Life (Protection) Amendment Act, 2006.
  • The NTCA addresses ecological and administrative concerns for conserving tigers.
  • It provides a statutory basis for the protection of tiger reserves and provides strengthened institutional mechanisms for the protection of ecologically sensitive areas and endangered species.
Tiger Conservation
  • As of August 2022, 17 Tiger Reserves in the country have got CA|TS international accreditation. This includes 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 of Karnataka, and Mudumalai and Anamalai Tiger Reserve in Tamil Nadu. Further, two Tiger Reserves have got International Tx2 Award.
  • CA|TS or Conservation Assured |Tiger Standards is a globally accepted conservation tool that sets best practices and standards to manage tigers and encourages assessments to benchmark progress.
Source- The Hindu

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