Monitoring system for Tigers’ Intensive Rotection and Ecological status M-STrIPES launched today
Tiger Census Phase I Completed 75 %

A new software monitoring system to improve the effectiveness of all surveillance and ante-poaching interventions in the Project Tiger Reserve areas has been launched here today. This is a tool that has been developed to strengthen the interventions by field directors in order to control poaching and further intrusions into the forests. This will also ensure the patrolling done by the forest guards. Launching the system Minister of Environment and Forests (I/C) Shri Jairam Ramesh said, “There are 39 Tiger Reserves in the country today. This system will ensure that the surveillance activities that are done by field director and his colleagues is based on ground level information. This system has been developed by the Wildlife Institute of India in collaboration with the Zoological Society of London and the National Tiger Conservation Authority.”

3.5 lakh sq. km of forest area of tiger reserves and non-tiger reserves as well as general forest areas is being covered at beat level. Non-governmental expertise is also being involved in the process and in many states many NGOs have been associated in Phase I data collection. In areas prone to left wing extremities, low density of tigers, scat collection would be done to ascertain the minimum population size through DNA analysis. The Phase I area will be forwarded to the Wildlife Institute of India in a customized digital format for carrying out camera trap sessions and distance sampling as part of the Phase III process involving research teams.

Regarding implementation of the new system, the Minister disclosed, “As a pilot initiative, it is proposed to implement the system within two months at six tiger reserves. They are Corbett; Uttaranchal, Ranthambhor; Rajasthan, Kanha; Madhya Pradesh, Bhadra; Karnataka, Annamalai; Tamilnadu and Nagarjunasagar Srisailam in Andhra Pradesh.” Talking about Tiger Census Shri Jairam said, “The tiger census is on which will be completed by November this year.75% of the Phase I Tiger Census has been completed. Some areas in Orissa and Namdapha in Arunachal Pradesh have not been completed. This phase depends on field level information which has been gathered from various tiger reserves. Phase II is also on going. It is based on satellite data and Phase III is based on camera trapping. The most encouraging news on tiger density has been received after a very long time. According to preliminary estimates, the Kaziranga National Park has shown the highest known tiger density so far. Tiger presence has been recently reported in Buxa. In several areas like Nagarjunasagar, Bandipur, Satyamangalam area and Mudumalai in Tamil Nadu, Sahyadri, Radhanagiri tigr sightings have been reported including presence of cubs.In buffer areas of Indravati,tiger evidences have come to light.

Talking about reintroduction plan for cheetah in India Shri Ramesh informed that the feasibility study done by Wildlife Institute of India will be completed by May this year. After this, six locations will be studied as possible habitats for Cheetah reintroduction which include three locations in Madhya Pradesh, two in Rajasthan and one in Gujarat. Negotiations are being done with South Africa about this, he added.

Giving presentation of this software Dr Y V Jhala, a senior scientist from Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun, said the M-STrIPES is an important system developed for providing patrolling protocols recording wildlife crimes and ecological monitoring. It is also customized software for storage, analysis, retrieval and reporting at different spatial scales which includes beat, range, division, state and country. The system will enable field managers to assist intensity and spatial coverage patrols in a GIS domain. It will also provide fore casting of detrimental events-early warnings like poaching or habitat degradation and thus would provide scope for timely safeguards.

KP
(Release ID :60319)