Rethinking conservation: Why India’s approach to conserving tigers is essentially flawed
Wildlife experts have flagged structural flaws in India's tiger conservation approach, arguing that the focus on maximising tiger population counts has outpaced the capacity of habitats to sustainably support that growth.
Data from the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) shows sharp imbalances: 18 tiger reserves hold fewer than 10 tigers each, including 5 reserves with no tigers at all, while nearly 40% of the national tiger population is concentrated in just 11% of reserves.
A 2025 study published in Science documented local tiger extinctions across roughly 17,992 sq km of habitat between 2006 and 2018, despite the overall national population trend rising.
Reserves such as Palamau, Udanti-Sitanadi and Similipal face critically depleted prey bases; tigers in Palamau Tiger Reserve are described as functionally extinct.
Experts note that nearly half of India's tiger reserves have been declared only in the past decade, often without matching investment in corridor restoration connecting them to source populations.
Project Tiger and the NTCA Institutional Framework
Project Tiger, launched in 1973, is India's flagship tiger conservation programme, initially covering 9 reserves. It was placed on a statutory footing through the Wildlife Protection (Amendment) Act, 2006, which inserted Chapter IV-B into the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972, creating the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) under Section 38L to oversee the programme.
Key Details
- NTCA composition under Section 38L includes the Union Minister of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (Chairperson), the Minister of State (Vice-Chairperson), the Secretary MoEFCC, and other official and expert members, including three Members of Parliament.
- The number of statutorily notified tiger reserves has grown from 9 in 1973 to 58 as of 2025, spread across 18 states.
- Section 38V of the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972 mandates every state government to prepare a Tiger Conservation Plan for each reserve, on NTCA's recommendation, covering habitat protection and ensuring forestry operations in adjoining areas do not conflict with tiger conservation needs.
The critique targets the gap between rapid statutory expansion of reserves (nearly 50% notified in the last decade) and actual on-ground habitat readiness — many newly declared reserves remain effectively empty of tigers, suggesting notification has outpaced ecological preparation.
Core-Critical Tiger Habitat and Buffer Zones
Under Section 38V of the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972, every tiger reserve is legally divided into a "core or critical tiger habitat" — an inviolate zone identified on scientific criteria as essential for tiger conservation — and a surrounding "buffer zone," where regulated human activity and forestry operations can coexist with wildlife movement.
Key Details
- Core/critical tiger habitat is notified by the state government in consultation with an Expert Committee, without displacing the rights of Scheduled Tribes or other forest dwellers unless voluntary relocation is agreed.
- The tiger (Panthera tigris) is listed in Schedule I of the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972 (the highest protection category) and classified as "Endangered" on the IUCN Red List.
- India held an estimated 3,682 wild tigers as per the 2022 All India Tiger Estimation, roughly 75% of the global wild tiger population, up from a low of 1,827 in 1972.
The critique that population growth is being tracked without a matching expansion of usable, high-quality core habitat directly implicates how core-buffer zoning is implemented on the ground — reserves may exist on paper without functioning inviolate cores or adequately managed buffers.
Wildlife Corridors and Landscape Connectivity
A wildlife corridor is a habitat linkage that allows animals to move safely between otherwise isolated protected areas, enabling gene flow, natural dispersal of young males establishing new territories, and long-term genetic diversity — all essential for a viable, self-sustaining tiger metapopulation rather than isolated, inbreeding-prone pockets.
Key Details
- The NTCA and Wildlife Institute of India (WII) map tiger corridors as part of the national tiger estimation exercise, using the M-STrIPES (Monitoring System for Tigers – Intensive Protection and Ecological Status) platform alongside camera-trap and patrol data.
- Corridor degradation from linear infrastructure (roads, railways, mining) and land-use change is repeatedly cited as a leading driver of local tiger population isolation and extinction.
- The National Tiger Conservation Authority periodically identifies critical corridors (e.g., in central India's landscape complex) for priority protection.
Experts flag that over half of India's tiger reserves receive little attention on corridor restoration, meaning tigers in shrinking or degraded reserves have no viable route to recolonise or receive new genetic stock from source populations — a key structural reason cited for local extinctions documented in recent research.
- Project Tiger launched in 1973 with 9 reserves; India now has 58 tiger reserves across 18 states (as of 2025).
- NTCA constituted under Section 38L, Wildlife Protection Act, 1972 (inserted by the 2006 amendment); Tiger Conservation Plans mandated under Section 38V.
- 2022 All India Tiger Estimation: 3,682 wild tigers, about 75% of the global wild tiger population.
- NTCA data: 18 reserves hold fewer than 10 tigers each, including 5 with zero tigers; ~40% of the tiger population is concentrated in 11% of reserves.
- Tiger (Panthera tigris): Schedule I under the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972; "Endangered" on the IUCN Red List.