In News

The 19th meeting of NTCA was conducted to formulate an action plan for the introduction of the Cheetah in India and strengthen tiger conservation.

About Action Plan

• The action plan that was discussed in the meeting emphasized the introduction of 50 Cheetahs in various parks in 5 years.
• The experts await the 5th cycle of All India Tiger Estimation which is at present underway and will guide policy decisions.
• There are 51 tiger reserves in the country and efforts are made to expand the network as 35 rivers originate from these areas, it becomes crucial in terms of water security.
• Poaching activities in the northeastern states, excessive visits to core areas of the reserves by the tourists are some major challenges that need to be addressed and regulated.
• 14 tiger reserves have been accredited under CA|TS (Conservation Assured | Tiger Standards) categories. The CA|TS is a set of criteria that examines the management of tiger sites to gauge the success rates of tiger conservation.
• A water atlas has been launched to map the water bodies in the tiger bearing areas of India.

About CATS

• This has been a tiger reserve accreditation tool developed by the global coalition of Tiger Range Countries (TRC) including the inputs of the tiger and protected area experts.
• There are 13 Tiger Range Countries such as India, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal, Cambodia, China, Indonesia, Lao, Malaysia, Myanmar, Russia, Thailand and Vietnam.
• The Global Tiger Forum (an NGO working on tiger conservation) and the World Wide Fund are the two implementing partners of NTCA for CA|TS assessment in India.