Tiger population dips in Western Ghats: Report

New Delhi/Bengaluru: The tiger population has declined in the Western Ghats, a biodiversity hot spot which is yet to be declared an ecologically sensitive zone, according to the latest estimation report released on Sunday by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Estimation was done in five landscapes across the country.

The report said that tiger populations have also declined in Jharkhand, Odisha, Chhattisgarh, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, even though tigers have been spotted for the first time in Himachal Pradesh and in new areas in Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra.

The National Tiger Conservation Authority, which conducts the estimation, has not released state or tiger reserve-wise estimates, but has provided some state-specific insights in its report.

India since 2006 has been conducting a tiger census every four years. The number of tigers has increased from 1,411 in 2006 to 3,167 in 2022. India is home for 75% of the wild tigers in the world.

The areas under a World Heritage Western Ghats landscape, a large number of which falls in election bound Karnataka, being “most biodiverse” in the country, the overlap between “wildlife and humans” because of developmental activities has led to a fall in the tiger population, the report said.

The Western Ghats tiger landscape is 1,600 km long and covers and an area of about 1,40,000 sq km. It spans six states -- Karnataka, Maharashtra, Goa, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Telangana -- and contains 12 tiger reserves, 20 national parks and 68 wildlife sanctuaries. It is home to several endemic species such as lion-tailed macaque, the Malabar giant squirrel and the Nilgiri tahr.

“As of 2018, the tiger population was estimated at 981 tigers in the region. In 2022, 824 unique tigers were recorded, indicating a decline in some regions and stability in well-protected tiger reserves,” the report said.

Although the Nilgiri cluster that is Nagarahole to Biligiri Rangaswamy Temple hills in Karnataka has the largest tiger population in the world, and has contributed significantly to colonisation of tigers in neighbouring areas, the survey shows decline in numbers in the area.

While tiger populations within the protected areas have either remained stable or increased, the occupancy outside of the reserves significantly decreased in areas such as the Wayanad landscape, BRT Hills, and the tiger areas on Goa and Karnataka border. Most of the decline in tiger population is in Karnataka, where majority of Western Ghats fall.

“The Mookambika-Sharavathi-Sirsi landscape and Bhadra have also experienced a substantial decline in tiger occupancy. Beyond the protected area border of Anamalai-Parambikulam complex, a decrease in tiger occupancy was also observed. Although tiger populations in the Periyar landscape have remained stable, tiger occupancy outside of Periyar has decreased. Local extinctions of tiger populations were noticed in Sirsi, Kanyakumari, and Srivilliputhur,” the report said.

Despite its UNESCO World Heritage Site status, the Western Ghats face several environmental challenges, such as deforestation, habitat loss, and climate change, that threaten the survival of many species due to invasive species and the overall ecological balance of the region, the report said.

The environment ministry’s bid to declare one-third of Western Ghats since 2010 as ecologically sensitive area --- the regulation that prohibits any ecologically damaging activity -- has been opposed by state governments of Karnataka, Kerala and Goa.

“Not doing enough for protecting Western Ghats is showing its impact now,” said Madhav Gadgil, who headed the first committee set up by the environment ministry to demarcate the ecologically sensitive area.

“Vested interests have ensured that the ecology of Western Ghats is not projected. Political parties have rallied around them as they fear loss of vote. In all this, precious ecological value service is being lost,” Gadgil said. “Tiger is the flagship species and if their number has gone down, there is something very wrong with our present approach.”

Reacting to the latest data, conservationist Joseph Hoover said the tiger numbers have not declined, but the population has not grown as estimated. “According to experts, the estimate in 2015-16 was that the tigers will only survive in the Western Ghats. But if you look it, the numbers have not grown significantly at all. We can’t say that it has lessened, but it has not shown the growth that was expected,” Hoover said.

Hoover said as tigers keep dispersing, many projects are coming up in their habitat and a lot of poaching activities have been happening in Karnataka, Maharashtra and Goa.

The forest department in Karnataka is under a lot of political pressure to prevent animals such as tigers and leopards to move out of forests and have declared at least three leopards as maneaters in the past six months following protest by locals, officials said, declining to be named.

On February 23, 2023, the Karnataka government told the state assembly that 41 persons were killed by elephants, tigers and leopards in the past 10 months, with the most number of cases reported from Nagarhole tiger reserve. “In the past few years, government has allowed passage of more vehicles through tiger habitats, resulting in higher conflict,” said a Karnataka forest official.

Hoover said in the past one year, forest officials have caught 11 tigers in Karnataka. “It is difficult to tackle this, unless there is a political will. There is shortage of forest staff and there are not even hiring more people. The central government’s environment budget is not even 2%. How do you protect a forest this way,” Hoover said.