Genetics shake-up for India’s tiger conservation plans
3 Sep 2019
A
recent study, by scientists from the Wildlife Institute of India (WII)
in Dehradun, Uttarakhand, states that India needs a paradigm shift in
its tiger conservation approach.
India should stop
“indiscriminately doubling” tiger numbers and extend the focus of its
tiger conservation programmes from selected high-profile reserves to
areas that are currently under-represented but harbour unique genetic
diversity, recommends the study.
Within India, priority areas
for tiger conservation efforts should be north-east India, especially
the hills; Simlipal-Palamau area of Odisha; and the southern Western
Ghats. This would help ensure that their unique evolutionary lineages
are not lost forever, the WII scientists said in the study. “All these
three areas now have low tiger numbers yet harbour unique diversity
that is currently under-represented and not prioritized for
conservation investments,” they noted.
Read
full story here
|
