Among 14 Tiger Reserves in India to bag Global Conservation Assured Tiger Standards Accreditation

Mysore/Mysuru: The Bandipur Tiger Reserve has received the Global Conservation Assured Tiger Standards (CATS) accreditation for meeting a set of standards for effective conservation of big cats. An international group of experts and protected area managers have created the criteria.

In a statement, the Ministry of Environment and Forests said that out of 51 Tiger Reserves in India, 14 have got CATS accreditation. CATS is a globally accepted conservation tool that sets best practices and standards to manage tigers and assessments to benchmark progress.

Habitats which support tiger populations are the building blocks of wild tiger conservation and effectively managing them is essential for long-term survival of wild tigers. CATS is being implemented across 125 sites in seven tiger range countries and India has the highest 94 sites, out of which assessment was completed for 20 tiger reserves this year.

The accreditation has been granted to 14 reserves in India, one each in Nepal, Bhutan and Russia. The 14 reserves in India are Manas, Kaziranga and Orang (Assam); Sundarbans (West Bengal); Valmiki (Bihar); Dudhwa (Uttar Pradesh); Panna, Kanha, Satpuda and Pench (Madhya Pradesh); Anamalai and Mudumalai (Tamil Nadu); Parambikulam (Kerala) and Bandipur (Karnataka).

Union Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav said, all the 51 Tiger Reserves should try to achieve the status. “Tiger conservation involves saving the entire ecosystem, not just the tiger. Tiger is a symbol. Topography or tiger landscape and tiger corridors also need to be protected. Tigers also use international corridors with neighbouring countries. We should renew dialogues with these countries. Finally, public participation is very important and Forest Departments should recognise local conservation practices,” he said.

“We have to be cautious about the impact of ecotourism. Ecotourism will increase but with improved sensitivity for nature,” the Minister added. 

Interestingly, the three most popular tiger reserves — Bandhavgarh, Corbett and Ranthambore — are not on the list of reserves that have been granted accreditation and one of the factors might be the highest tourist footfalls to the Tiger Reserves.

Bandipur Director reacts

Reacting on CATS accreditation, the Director of Bandipur Tiger Project S.R. Natesha told Star of Mysore that the recognition would enable Bandipur to procure funding from Global Tiger Fund, for conservation purposes.

“It has been certified that Bandipur is meeting internationally set standards for the conservation of big cats in terms of environmental quality, the eco-system needed for tiger habitat, prey availability, man-tiger conflicts, health of the big cats and the management standards,” he said.

There are other parameters like the documentation practiced in Bandipur about tigers, field visit data and recordings and as the documentation is perfect, Bandipur has got CATS recognition. “The exercise has been on since the last four to five months and a team had visited Bandipur to assess all the standard parameters,” Natesha added.