Sathyamangalam Tiger Reserve bags TX2 Award

What’s the news?

Sathyamangalam Tiger Reserve (STR) in Erode district has been given the prestigious TX2 award after its tiger numbers doubled to 80 since 2010.
Apart from the STR, the Bardia National Park in Nepal has won this year’s TX2 award for doubling the population of wild tigers.

News in detail

The awards are presented by the Conservation Assured Tiger Standards (CA|TS), Fauna and Flora International (FFI), Global Tiger Forum (GTF), IUCN’s Integrated Tiger Habitat Conservation Programme (ITHCP), Panthera, UNDP, The Lion’s Share, Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) and WWF.
They celebrate the 10th anniversary of all 13 tiger range countries committed to doubling the global population of wild tigers by 2022.
The award acknowledges the efforts by the State governments and the local communities which have played one of the most important roles to turn a relatively new tiger reserve into one of the source populations of tigers in India.
In 2019, STR bagged the national award for showing the highest increment in the Management Effectiveness Evaluation (MEE) for registering the growth of over 30% in tiger population.
In September this year, tiger range countries will convene at the second Global Tiger Summit in Vladivostok, Russia, to assess progress towards the ambitious TX2 goal.

Additional Details

About Tigers

The tiger is classified into nine subspecies, three of which (Javan, Caspian, and Bali) are extinct. A fourth, the South-China subspecies, is most likely extinct in the wild, with no signs of its existence in the last decade. The existing subspecies are Bengal, Indochinese, Sumatran, Siberian, and Malayan.
Tigers are globally listed as “Endangered” on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. The Malayan and Sumatran sub-species are listed as “Critically Endangered.”
Tigers are found mainly in the forests of tropical Asia, although they historically occurred more widely in drier and colder climes. Some species are also found in cold regions (Siberian Tigers of Russia) as well as marshy lands (Bengal tigers in Sundarbans).
Tiger has been protected under Appendix I of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) since 1975 which means commercial international trade in tiger is prohibited.

It was the first global summit to protect tigers from extinction. It was hosted in 2010.
13 tiger range countries namely India, Laos, China, Vietnam, Russia, Nepal, Bhutan, Myanmar, Cambodia, Indonesia, Bangladesh, Thailand and Malaysia participated in this event.
They adopted a Global Tiger Recovery Program with the aim of Tx2- doubling the number of wild Tigers by 2022, through combating threats, engaging with local communities and improving tiger habitat management.
It also encourages trans-boundary collaboration between countries for tiger conservation.
Note: According to the All India Tiger Estimation Report 2018, India has achieved its target of doubling the number of tigers two years before the committed date of 2022. The tiger population in India now stands at almost 2,970 tigers.

What is TX2?

An ambitious and visionary species conservation goal (12 Year goal) was set by the governments of the 13 tiger range countries: to double the number of wild tigers by 2022.
The wild tiger population has dropped 97% over the last hundred years and the count reduced to 3200.
There are currently 13 tiger range countries Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, Russia, Thailand and Viet Nam.
WWF remains a major driving force behind Tx2

WWF is an international non-governmental organization founded in 1961 that works in the field of wilderness preservation and the reduction of human impact on the environment.

About Sathyamangalam Tiger Reserve

Sathyamangalam wildlife sanctuary was declared a tiger reserve in 2013 and the reserve that spread across 1,411.60 sq km is an important link between the Nilgiris and Eastern Ghats landscape.
It is the fourth tiger reserve located in Erode district of Tamil Nadu as a part of Project Tiger and is the third largest tiger reserve in Tamil Nadu.
The Nilgiri biosphere landscape that this reserve is part of is currently the home to the largest tiger population in the world.
It is connected to other well-established tiger habitats like Mudumalai Tiger Reserve, Bandipur Tiger Reserve and BR Hills Tiger Reserve.

Today Current Affairs Upsc Exam Syllabus & Previous Yearpaper.