Global Importance of the South Asia Bioregion:
India's ten level I Tiger Conservation Units (TCUs) span a broad range of
climate zones and form a mosaic of tropical moist evergreen and deciduous
forests, tropical dry forests, subtropical forests, and mangroves. India is an
intriguing place biogeographically because of its dual-origin flora. Millions of
years ago, India was part of Gondwanaland, the vast supercontinent that also
contained modern-day Australia, South America and Africa. As Gondwanaland split
apart, India drifted northward, colliding with Asia to create the Himalayas, and
bringing with it an array of plant species that have an affinity with plant
groups found in the tropics of its former southern hemisphere neighbors. Today
these coexist with species that migrated in after India joined the Asian
mainland.
With an estimated population of 2,500 to 3,700 tigers, India may hold as many
as two-thirds of the world's wild tigers. WWF began working with India to save
its tigers in 1969. In 1973 WWF helped the Indian government launch Project
Tiger, which aims to conserve key tiger habitat and has led to the establishment
of 23 tiger reserves. India thus occupies a paramount position in WWF's tiger
conservation planning. WWF is targeting a number of key sites with exceptional
conservation potential, particularly Level I TCUs such as Manas-Namdapha and
Rajaji-Corbett.
The Conservation Challenge:
Its population hurtling toward one billion people, India is among the world's
most crowded nations. As people penetrate deeper into once undisturbed wildlife
habitat, they clear forests and hunt for food, fragmenting the tiger's habitat
and reducing its prey base. Tigers have larger home ranges than any other
terrestrial mammal, and many of the reserves set aside by the Indian Government
are too small to support stable tiger populations over the long term.
To further confound matters, tiger bones and other parts command high prices
in the traditional Chinese medicine trade, providing a powerful incentive to
poachers. Staving off poaching requires the constant vigilance of adequately
paid, trained, and equipped protected areas staff. India, like most tiger range
countries, has limited resources for such efforts, and civil strife in some
regions has made protecting reserves even more difficult.
