CHANDIGARH: In order to reduce human-tiger conflict in the areas outside tiger reserves, the Tigers Outside Tiger Reserves (TOTR) project will be launched soon by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, covering 80 forest divisions in 17 states across the country. Around 30 per cent of the country’s estimated 3,682 tigers are freely moving outside notified reserves.A copy of the final draft of the project, which has been prepared by the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA), is with . It states that the need for this project was felt due to dispersal of tigers from source to sink areas in lieu of doubling of tigers and movement of co-predators towards the periphery, fragmentation of habitat and destruction of corridors. This has led to an increase in the incidents of interface between humans and tigers and other co-predators in the recent past, causing various conflict issues including human deaths, injuries and livestock depredation. To address the issue in a holistic manner, the project will focus on the areas outside tiger reserves.As per the draft proposal the area to be covered under TOTR is a total of 80 forest divisions in 17 states across the country — Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, Orissa, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Goa, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, West Bengal, Assam and Arunachal Pradesh — which have been reported to have tiger utilizing landscapes outside tiger reserves.”Further, out of 58 tiger reserves in 18 tiger range states, 38 tiger reserves have moderate to high density of tigers wherein dispersal of tiger outside tiger reserves is obvious. Based on the data collected from the states regarding human-tiger conflict situations in the last three years, there are around 80 divisions across the country with areas adjoining moderate to high density tiger reserves. On a pilot basis, the project proposal will focus on these areas wherein human-tiger and co-predators conflict is reported,” it states.
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