The Global Tiger Day 2022 Celebrations held on Friday at Chandrapur Forest Academy, Maharashtra. Speaking on the occasion, Union Minister of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Bhupender Yadav said the Government demonstrated its commitment to tiger conservation by increasing the number of tiger reserves from 9 to 52. MoS for Environment, Forest and Climate Change Ashwini Kumar Choubey also attended the event.
#InternationalTigerDay is observed every year on July 29 to raise awareness about tiger conservation.
The main function in India is being held at #Chandrapur and #TadobaAndhariTigerReserve, attended by Union Environment Minister Bhupendra Yadav. @PIB_India, @MIB_India pic.twitter.com/AuICOlxRsU
— PIB in Maharashtra 🇮🇳 (@PIBMumbai) July 29, 2022
The Ministers visited Tadoba Andhari Tiger Reserve (TATR). They appreciated the diversity of the landscape, its flora and fauna. TATR has a landscape with a high-density of tigers that co-exist with the local population.
Bhupender Yadav lauded the dedication of the staff in carrying out enforcement activities specially the mobile application based smart patrolling called MSTRIPES. He also praised the unique community-based ecotourism model which is providing livelihood opportunities to the locals and has helped win support for the reserve.
Bhupender Yadav congratulated all tiger range countries. He commended India in particular for setting a benchmark in conservation for having and protecting more than 70% of the global tiger population. He said that the Government of India has demonstrated its commitment to tiger conservation by increasing the number of tiger reserves. Earlier it was 9 in 1973 to the current 52, the latest being Ramgarh Vishdhari in Rajasthan. The government is committed towards the well-being of the people who inhabit these tiger bearing landscapes through creation of various livelihood opportunities and interventions.
He commended Maharashtra for implementing the unique Shyama Prasad Mukherjee Jan Van Vikas Yojana which provides for schemes for the welfare of people living in and around tiger reserves.
Evaluation is conducted quadrennially involving outside experts in the wildlife conservation and also the All India Tiger Estimation once in four years and is currently being carried out for the fifth time, the Minister shared. He mentioned with pride that this unique exercise done in 2018 has entered the Guinness book of world record.
He emphasized on promoting low impact sustainable tourism in Tiger Reserves with maximization of visitor satisfaction and direct benefit sharing with locals. He shared that India has taken up a high priority conservation project to bring back Cheetah which went extinct in 1952 by embarking on cheetah introduction programme which is at an advanced stage of implementation. The bilateral agreement with the Namibian Government is already signed and the MoU with South Africa will be signed soon. He appreciated all the field staff for the commitment shown for tiger conservation which has put the country in number one position globally.
Ashwini Kumar Choubey emphasised that the tiger symbolises power, and plays a crucial role in conservation of biodiversity, forest, water and climate security. He stated that it is a matter of great pride that India is a global leader in tiger conservation and is collaborating with countries like Cambodia, China, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal, Myanmar and Russia to come together for the cause of tiger conservation. We should imagine a future of peaceful co-existence of man, animal and nature, said the MoS.
The declaration to celebrate Global Tiger Day was taken on 29th July 2010 at St Petersberg in order to bring all tiger range countries together for increased thrust on tiger conservation and management globally. Since then this day is symbolically celebrated as Global Tiger Day.