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.
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 10thanniversary 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.
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. 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.
A release from WWF India said that the adjoining areas like Erode Forest Division, Coimbatore Forest Division and Malai Mahadeshwara Wildlife Sanctuary were also emerging as important tiger habitats, creating a mosaic that allows the big cats to easily move in search of food and new territory.
Ravi Singh, Secretary-General and Chief Executive Officer, WWF India, said,“The TX2 awards celebrate the remarkable contributions made by government bodies, NGOs, and local communities to strengthen tiger conservation. To honour a recently notified tiger reserve like Sathyamangalam with the award is a step forward to inspire others to work towards preserving this magnificent species and its habitats.”
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, i.e. double the number of tigers in the wild, and identify tiger conservation priorities for the next 12 years. The release said that the TX2 goal was one of the most ambitious conservation goals ever set for a single species in the world.
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.
