CHENNAI: The Tamil Nadu Global Tiger Summit, which was scheduled to be held in Chennai in October, is likely to be postponed to next year to coincide with the 50th anniversary of Project Tiger, a major wildlife conservation project launched by the Union government in 1973.
In July, Chief Minister MK Stalin announced that Tamil Nadu will organise TN Global Tiger Summit in partnership with the Union government from October 17 to 19 as a fitting tribute to TN’s pioneering efforts in tiger conservation. Tamil Nadu is home to 264 tigers nearly 10% of India’s tiger population, as per the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA).
However, sources told TNIE that both the NTCA and the Union Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change (MoEF&CC) requested the State to organise the tiger summit in April next year, commemorating the golden jubilee of Project Tiger. Project Tiger was launched in April 1973 by the Centre during Prime Minister Indira Gandhi’s tenure.
Recently, Additional Chief Secretary to government (Environment, Climate Change and Forests Department) Supriya Sahu was in New Delhi to discuss Tamil Nadu’s plans to host the summit in October. She met Union Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav and NTCA officials, who opined that the global summit may be organised next April. Sources said the Centre reportedly offered full support to Tamil Nadu towards making the summit truly global.
A senior official in the State forest department said, “Nothing is finalised yet, but in all probability, the Global Tiger Summit will be postponed to sometime next April. This will also give us more time to invite representatives from all the tiger range countries.”
The population of tigers has witnessed a steep increase in Tamil Nadu, in fact, more than tripled since 2006. From 76 tigers in 2006, the number of big cats shot up to 264, as per the last national tiger status assessment in 2018-19, thanks to strict vigil and conservation efforts taken by the forest department.
Tamil Nadu’s Management Effectiveness Evaluation (MEE) score was also second-best in the country. Only Kerala scored higher. The mean MEE score of the State was 82.03%, an aggregate of the four existing tiger reserves, while Kerala scored 90.23%.
There are five tiger reserves in the State. Four old and the new one is Srivilliputhur Megamalai Tiger Reserve. All four old tiger reserves were rated ‘very good’ with Anamalai Tiger Reserve scoring the highest MEE score of 89.06%, while Kalakad-Mundanthurai scored 83.59%, Sathyamangalam 79.69% and Mudumalai 75.78%. Overall, the Western Ghats landscape comprising TN, Kerala, Karnataka and Goa has 981 tigers, out of the total 2,967 in India. The Mudumalai Tiger Reserve has the highest tiger population of close to 110 in Tamil Nadu.