Periyar Tiger Reserve [UPSC Notes]

In April 2023, the Centre released the 5th cycle of Management Effectiveness Evaluation (MEE) for tiger reserves alongside the Tiger Census, which has found that the Periyar Tiger Reserve in Kerala is the best-maintained tiger reserve in the country. 

In this context, know more about the Periyar Tiger Reserve, this is an important topic for the UPSC Prelims exam, especially for the environment and ecology segment.

Periyar Tiger Reserve

Periyar Tiger Reserve is located in the state of Kerala, India.

• It covers an area of 925 square kilometres and is part of the Western Ghats.
• The reserve is home to a wide variety of wildlife, including tigers, elephants, leopards, and several species of birds.
• It is famous for its Periyar Lake.
• The reserve is part of the UNESCO World Network of Biosphere Reserves.
• Challenges in the reserve are human-wildlife conflict, poaching, habitat destruction, etc.
• Efforts are being made to address these issues.

Periyar Tiger Reserve in News

The 5th cycle of Management Effectiveness Evaluation (MEE) for tiger reserves ranked Periyar Tiger Reserve in Kerala as the best-maintained tiger reserve in the country. 

• The reserve has received an MEE score of 94.3%. 
• It is followed closely by the Satpura Tiger Reserve in Madhya Pradesh, Bandipur in Karnataka and Nagarhole in Karnataka.
• Satpura and Bandipur came second (93.18%), while Nagarhole was ranked third (92.42%) in the 2022 cycle of MEE.
• The report suggests an overall improvement in the management effectiveness of the tiger reserves in the country.

Management Effectiveness Evaluation (MEE)

• The International Union for Conservation of Nature’s (IUCN) World Commission on Protected Areas provides a framework for assessing the management effectiveness of protected areas through six criteria. 
• It includes existing values and threats, and progresses through planning and allocation of resources as a result of management actions and their impacts. 

Highlights of the MEE Report:

• The MEE results suggest that the management effectiveness of tiger reserves in India has been improving with each subsequent cycle.
• The report highlights that 12 tiger reserves have scored 90% and above in the 5th cycle and, therefore, a new category of “Excellent” has been added. 
• Twenty tiger reserves were ranked in the “Very Good” category, 14 in the “Good” category, and five in the “Fair” category. None of the country’s tiger reserves was graded as “Poor.”
• There are substantial improvements in the subsequent cycles of MEE that demonstrate that there is an enhanced management efficiency in the tiger reserves over the years in terms of complying with the prescriptions proposed in the Tiger Conservation Plans.
• The report points out that the headline indicator “carbon capture and climate change” has received the lowest score in the current cycle, as there is no mandate for it in Tiger Conservation Plans.

Evaluation of Tiger Reserves:

• The government has been using the MEE to assess tiger reserves in India since 2006.
• The country has 998 Protected Areas (PAs), including National Parks, Wildlife Sanctuaries, etc. which cover 1,73,629 sq km or 5.28% of India’s geographical area. 
• Out of these, 53 tiger reserves have been notified, which serve as an additional layer of protection around PAs. 
• However, only 51 tiger reserves, covering a total area of 73,765 sq km, were evaluated as two newly declared tiger reserves, Ramgarh Visdhari and Ranipur have not been included in the current cycle of MEE.

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