VIJAYAWADA: The Management Effectiveness Evaluation (MEE) of the Nagarjunasagar-Srisailam Tiger Reserve (NSTR) has improved from ‘Good’ to ‘Very Good’ over the past two years. According to the Wildlife Institute of India, protected area (PA) management effectiveness evaluation (MEE) is defined as the assessment of how well PAs are being managed. Primarily, whether they are protecting their values and achieving the goals and objectives agreed upon. This was the fifth cycle of MEE for Tiger Reserves in India. The first cycle was conducted in 2006 when NSTR was marked as ‘Fair’.
MEE of Tiger Reserves has paved the way for successfully assessing tiger conservation efforts in the country. Spread across the undivided districts of Guntur, Prakasam and Kurnool districts, NSTR is the largest tiger reserve in the country. It has recorded the presence of 73 of the 75 big cats in the State.
It may be noted that NSTR is one of the 11 tiger reserves that got ‘Very Good’ rating in the Central Indian and Eastern Ghats landscape. NSTR is also one of the five tiger reserves, including Udanti-Sitanadi, Indravati, Palamau and Similipal, which was categorised under the ‘Red Corridor’ due to Left-wing extremism issues, but are now performing well, the report said.
Meanwhile, the Status of Tigers Report 2022 revealed that the Central Indian landscape witnessed an increase in tiger population. “However, it is crucial to record that the local tiger population has become extinct in several areas, including Sri Venkateswara National Park in Tirupati,” it added.
“While the expansion of tiger habitats is a positive development, there is a need to pay attention and act quickly in these areas to reverse the trend of extinction of small populations and avoid negative human-tiger interactions. Serious conservation efforts are needed to help tiger population recovery in AP, besides Jharkhand, Odisha, Chhattisgarh and Telangana,’’ the report concluded.