Critical Tiger Habitat CWH

Critical Tiger Habitat – As per the report on tiger census that was released ahead of International Tiger Day on July 29 2020-India has seventy percent of the world’s tiger population and 50 tiger reserves in the country presently. Tigers were observed to be increasing at a rate of 6 percent per annum in India from 2006 to 2018

Importance of tiger conservation

• Tiger is an umbrella species.
• the only natural habitat for the iconic tiger species- the Bengal Tige
• promotes ecotourism
• Tiger needs large healthy forests so tiger conservation leads to forest conservation.
• Tiger conservation boosts in Biodiversity conservation

India Tiger conservation is regarded as a success model in the world. The Indian efforts in this line include

• National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA)
• Tiger census
• Project Tiger
• conservation Assured | Tiger Standards (CA|TS) framework extended to all fifty tiger reserves across the country.
• Providing suitable habitat by declaring Tiger reserves
• Declaration of Core which has the legal status of Wildlife Sanctuary or National Park. These areas are free of all forestry operations and human activities.

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Critical Tiger habitats (CWH)

• Critical wildlife/Tiger habitats (CWH) are defined under the Forest Rights Act, 2006,
• critical wildlife habitat means such areas of National Parks and Sanctuaries which are required to be kept as inviolate for the purposes of wildlife conservation
• It is determined and notified by the Central Government in the Ministry of Environment and Forests after an open process of consultation by an Expert Committee.

Issus with Critical Tiger habitats

• It dilutes the FRA 2006
• New guidelines have superseded free, prior, and informed consent of the gram sabha before declaring Critical Tiger habitats

Wayforward

• Forest rights should be settled before declaring Critical Tiger habitats
• There should be public consultation like in the case of Ecologically Sensitive areas.