An urgent and unprecedented initiative to protect one of the world's last major un-fragmented wild tiger populations in eastern Madhya Pradesh State - A collaborative project of The Tiger Foundation and India's Tiger Trust.

PHASE #1: ASSESSING THE SUSTAINABILITY OF A PRICELESS TIGER POPULATION IN THE FORESTED CORRIDOR AREAS BETWEEN BANDHAVGARH AND SANJAY NATIONAL PARKS, IN EASTERN MADHYA PRADESH STATE.

PHASE #2: WORKING WITH MADHYA PRADESH STATE AND FEDERAL GOVERNMENT AUTHORITIES, AND IN COOPERATION WITH INDIAN AND INTERNATIONAL NGOs AND MULTILATERAL AGENCIES, PLANNING A COORDINATED LAND AND RESOURCE MANAGEMENT PLAN TO REDUCE HUMAN - TIGER CONFLICTS, TO AVOID HABITAT FRAGMENTATION AND TO PREVENT POACHING OF TIGERS AND THEIR PREY.

Introduction:

At the dawn of the 21st Century, it is a sad fact that the last wild tigers live in small islands of forest surrounded by a sea of humanity. Nowhere is this more apparent than in India, where less than 3000 tigers coexist uneasily with over one billion humans. Today, habitat fragmentation is undoubtedly the greatest threat to the tiger's survival in the wild. Small tiger populations living in small forests are highly vulnerable to all types of human intrusion, prey depletion, disease and the insidious effects of inbreeding. In central India's Madhya Pradesh State there is still one large semi-contiguous network of forests where a large population of wild tigers offers one of the best chances for the long-term survival of wild tigers.

A jealously guarded network of Indian national parks and reserves is the focal point of virtually all of India's tiger conservation activities. Yet, it is clear that perhaps the most overlooked aspect of tiger conservation in India is that well over half the wild population does not occur inside the tiger reserve protection network. The last all-India tiger census in 1993 estimated that as much as 66% of the tigers were found outside the boundaries of the then 19 (there are now 25) Project Tiger reserves. In the 1997 census of the 'Tiger State' of Madhya Pradesh (then undivided) the total number of tigers reported was 927, out of which 226 tigers were reported to live in State's five tiger reserves and 229 in other protected forests. 472 tigers, or more than 50% of the total, were therefore believed to survive in unprotected areas where law enforcement coverage is light and where human encroachment in the forests is rampant. Clearly, tigers outside the protected area network are extremely vulnerable. They are often fragmented populations that suffer from intense poaching, a diminishing prey base and severely threatened habitat. Despite all this, they are poorly understood and receive little effective protection.