BENGALURU: In a conservation success story, India’s tiger population has made a significant recovery over the past two decades, even while sharing territory with some of the world’s most densely populated human settlements, according to a new study published in Science. This, even as global wildlife populations have declined by 73%.
The research, led by scientist and conservationist Yadvendradev V Jhala and colleagues, reveals that tiger-occupied territory in India increased by 30% between 2006 and 2018, expanding at a rate of about 2,929 sq km per year. India now hosts approximately 75% of the world’s wild tigers across an area of roughly 1.4-lakh sqkm.
What makes this achievement particularly noteworthy is that it occurred in regions shared with approximately 60 million people, challenging traditional assumptions about the incompatibility of large predator conservation and human settlement.
“This sets a perfect narrative of wildlife-human co-occurrence,” the researchers note, though they stress that success depends on maintaining protected core areas within socioeconomically prosperous and politically stable regions.
The study, which analysed data collected by 44,000 personnel over multiple years, found that tigers consistently occupied about 35,255 sq km of protected areas rich in prey species. From these strongholds, the big cats successfully colonised nearby habitats, including areas with human settlements.
However, the research also identified key factors that either promote or hinder tiger recovery. Areas experiencing armed conflict, extreme poverty, or extensive land-use changes showed higher rates of tiger extinction or absence. For instance, 47% of areas where tigers disappeared were in districts affected by Naxal armed conflict.
“It is not simply the density of humans but rather their attitudes and lifestyles that determine stewardship for tiger recovery,” researchers explain. Tigers were more likely to thrive in relatively prosperous areas where communities benefit from tiger-related tourism and govt compensation schemes for wildlife-related losses.
The study offers important insights for global conservation efforts. Rather than strictly separating humans and wildlife, the research suggests that both “land sparing” (creating human-free protected areas) and “land sharing” (allowing human-wildlife coexistence in multi-use landscapes) are necessary for successful conservation.
“Protected areas, devoid of humans have allowed sustenance of 85% of breeding populations. These source populations facilitated through corridors and sustainable land-use practices have enabled tigers to disperse and expand into multi-use forests. Tigers now coexist with over 66 million people, proving coexistence possible”, says Jhala, INSA Senior Scientist, NCBS, and Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun.
The tiger’s recovery has had broader ecological benefits. Tiger-occupied areas significantly overlap with the territories of other threatened species, including Asian elephants (59% overlap), leopards (62%), and the Indian gaur (84%), demonstrating the tiger’s role as an umbrella species for biodiversity conservation.
Jhala and his team suggest that their findings could serve as a model for other regions struggling to protect large carnivores. “The success of tiger recovery in India offers important lessons for tiger-range countries as well as other regions for conserving large carnivores while benefiting biodiversity and communities simultaneously,” they write.
However, the researchers caution that continued success requires maintaining strong conservation policies. They warn that weakening existing protective legislation could have “far-reaching ramifications on tiger recovery and biodiversity conservation.”
The study identifies several areas for potential future expansion of tiger populations, particularly in the states of Chhattisgarh, Odisha, and Jharkhand. However, these regions, among India’s poorest, would require significant investment in both conservation infrastructure and community development to support tiger recovery.
“As the world grapples with biodiversity loss and climate change, India’s tiger story reminds us that protecting apex predators is not just about saving one species—it is about securing the intricate web of life that sustains our planet. By prioritizing conservation, sustainable socioeconomics, and a culture of peace and coexistence, we can pave the way for maintaining a biodiverse Anthropocene,” says Jhala.
