Co-existing with tigers outside reserves
The Tigers Outside Tiger Reserves (TOTR) initiative aims to build a scientifically grounded, landscape-based framework for conserving tigers found outside formally notified protected areas
The initiative responds to a growing share of India's tiger population dispersing into buffer zones, corridors, and multi-use forest divisions beyond reserve boundaries, driven by rising tiger numbers within reserves and habitat fragmentation
It seeks to balance tiger conservation with human safety and livelihoods in landscapes where people and dispersing tigers increasingly overlap
The approach marks a shift from India's traditional protected-area-centred conservation model toward managing entire landscapes, including forest divisions adjoining high-density reserves
Project Tiger and the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA)
Project Tiger was launched in 1973 with nine reserves, making it one of India's earliest and most successful species-specific conservation programmes. It initially operated as a centrally sponsored scheme without independent statutory backing. The Wildlife (Protection) Amendment Act, 2006 inserted Chapter IV-B into the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972, creating the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) as a statutory body under Section 38L, giving Project Tiger legal teeth and a formal Centre-State coordination mechanism.
Key Details
- NTCA functions under the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC); it approves tiger conservation plans, lays down normative standards for tourism, and can order relocation of villages from core areas
- Section 38V of the Wildlife Protection Act mandates notification of "core" (critical tiger habitat, inviolate) and "buffer/peripheral" areas for every tiger reserve — the buffer allows regulated human activity
- Every four years, NTCA conducts the All India Tiger Estimation using the "Monitoring System for Tigers: Intensive Protection and Ecological Status" (M-STrIPES) protocol, in collaboration with the Wildlife Institute of India
TOTR extends NTCA's mandate beyond the legally notified core-buffer structure of reserves into landscapes and forest divisions that have no such statutory protection, addressing tigers that disperse past the buffer boundary altogether.
Protected Area Categories and the Corridor Concept
Indian wildlife law distinguishes protected area categories by the degree of permitted human activity: a National Park (Section 35, WPA 1972) allows no private rights or human activity; a Wildlife Sanctuary (Section 26A) permits some regulated human activity; a Tiger Reserve (Section 38V) is a special category with a mandatory core-buffer structure that can overlay National Parks or Sanctuaries. "Corridors" are the forested or semi-forested linkages between reserves that allow tiger dispersal and genetic exchange but typically carry no independent legal protection status.
Key Details
- India holds an estimated 70–75% of the world's wild tiger population, spread across 58 tiger reserves (as of the most recent NTCA notifications) in 18 states
- Corridors are recognised in conservation science (e.g., the Wildlife Institute of India's landscape connectivity studies) but are not a distinct legal category under the WPA, 1972 — a frequently tested distinction
- Human-tiger conflict compensation is administered under state-specific ex-gratia schemes, distinct from the Central Sector Scheme for Project Tiger, which funds core reserve management
TOTR effectively formalises conservation attention on corridors and non-reserve forest divisions that lack the legal status (and dedicated funding stream) of a notified core or buffer area, addressing a long-standing gap between conservation law and tiger ranging behaviour.
Human-Wildlife Conflict and the Legal-Compensation Framework
Rising tiger numbers combined with shrinking, fragmented corridors have increased tiger presence in human-dominated landscapes, making human-wildlife conflict management central to any landscape-level strategy. India's compensation and mitigation framework for wildlife conflict operates through a mix of central guidelines and state-specific schemes rather than a single central statute.
Key Details
- The MoEFCC's "Advisory on Human-Wildlife Conflict Mitigation" and state ex-gratia schemes cover livestock loss, crop damage, and human casualties from wildlife, including tigers
- Rapid Response Teams and local outreach/awareness cadres are commonly used as the field-implementation mechanism for conflict mitigation in landscapes outside formal protected areas
- The Wildlife (Protection) Amendment Act, 2022 expanded provisions on invasive species management and strengthened Schedule classifications, relevant background for any landscape-level wildlife management law
The TOTR framework's emphasis on "safeguarding human lives" alongside tiger conservation reflects this compensation-and-mitigation architecture being extended, for the first time in a coordinated way, to non-reserve landscapes.
- Project Tiger launched: 1973, with 9 original tiger reserves
- NTCA established: 2006, under Section 38L (Chapter IV-B) of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972, inserted by the 2006 amendment
- India's share of global wild tiger population: estimated 70–75%
- Core-buffer notification requirement for tiger reserves: Section 38V, Wildlife Protection Act, 1972
- All India Tiger Estimation: conducted every 4 years by NTCA and the Wildlife Institute of India using the M-STrIPES protocol
- Legal protected-area hierarchy: National Park (Section 35) — no human activity; Wildlife Sanctuary (Section 26A) — regulated human activity permitted; Tiger Reserve (Section 38V) — core (inviolate) + buffer (regulated) structure