Global Tiger Day

Context

Global Tiger Day is celebrated every year on July 29^th as a way to raise awareness about this magnificent but endangered big cat.

The Heads of the Governments of Tiger Range countries at St. Petersburg, Russia, had resolved to double tiger numbers across their global range by 2022.
- The countries thereby signed the Petersburg declaration on tiger conservation.
- It was also decided to celebrate July 29 as Global Tiger Day across the world.
India’s fulfilment of its resolve to double tiger numbers, four years in advance to the target year of 2022.
India now has nearly 70% of the global tiger population.

Aims at conserving India’s national animal i.e. Tiger.
Launched in
The tiger reserves are constituted on a core/buffer strategy.
- The core areas have the legal status of a national park or a sanctuary, whereas the buffer or peripheral areas are a mix of forest and non-forest land, managed as a multiple use area.
- The Project Tiger aims to foster an exclusive tiger agenda in the core areas of tiger reserves, with an inclusive people oriented agenda in the buffer.
It is a Centrally Sponsored Scheme of the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change providing central assistance to the tiger States for tiger conservation in designated tiger reserves.
The National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) is a statutory body of the Ministry, with an overarching supervisory / coordination role, performing functions as provided in the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972.

India is the land of royal tigers and the current tiger population stands at 2967 which is 70% of the global tiger population.
Madhya Pradesh has the highest number of tigers at 526, closely followed by Karnataka (524) and Uttarakhand (442).
The National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) has launched the M-STrIPES (Monitoring System for Tigers – Intensive Protection and Ecological Status), a mobile monitoring system for forest guards.
The Project Tiger, launched way back in 1973, has grown to more than 50 reserves amounting to almost 2.2% of the country’s geographical area.