Sahyadrica

  A Commentary on the Decade Past and Decades to Come for Tiger Conservation in India This longform article puts numbers of tigers and allocated budgets of the decade past to protect tigers into perspective with simple math. It proposes a shift in attitude from looking merely at numbers to pockets where numbers can increase and at making this undertaking more participatory in the coming decade. This article focuses solely on Project Tiger’s All India Tiger Estimation and Tiger Reserve allocated budgets, and not the socio-ecological ramifications of this 48 year old project, but discusses the latter as being of paramount importance than merely doubling tigers in the coming decade. This is a part of a larger piece tracing history of wildlife conservation in the context of central India. The opinions in this article are mine; data sourced are cited. Counting tigers In 2018, about 12% of India’s geographic area was scoured for tiger signs – from the periodically inundating mangrove for