The Tigers Outside Tiger Reserves (TOTR) Project
Kartavya Desk Staff
Source: HT
Context: During Wildlife Week 2025 celebrations at the Forest Research Institute (FRI), Dehradun, Union Environment Minister launched five major conservation projects and four national-level wildlife monitoring programmes.
About The Tigers Outside Tiger Reserves (TOTR) Project:
What it is?
• The Tigers Outside Tiger Reserves (TOTR) is a new national-level initiative by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) and the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA).
• The project will be implemented over 2025–28, with a total outlay of ₹88.7 crore, coordinated centrally by NTCA and executed through state forest departments.
• To reduce human–tiger conflicts in non-reserve landscapes by ensuring safe coexistence between people and dispersing tigers.
• To protect tigers that move beyond reserve boundaries due to habitat fragmentation, growing populations, and shrinking corridors.
• To foster a landscape-level conservation approach, balancing ecological sustainability with human safety and livelihoods.
Key Features of the Project:
• Geographical Coverage:
• Encompasses 80 forest divisions in 17 tiger-range states, including Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Uttarakhand, Assam, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, and Arunachal Pradesh.
• Focuses on buffer and corridor areas adjoining high-density tiger reserves.
• Scientific Monitoring & Technology Use: Deployment of AI-based early warning systems, camera traps, GPS-enabled patrolling, and data analytics for wildlife tracking.
• Community & Youth Involvement: Formation of Rapid Response Teams (RRTs) with local youth, equipped with rescue tools, tranquilization gear, and vehicles.
• Launch of “Bagh Mitra” (Tiger Friends) outreach programmes and jungle camps for students to promote coexistence.
• Institutional Mechanism:
• NTCA will oversee project implementation.
• Chief Wildlife Wardens (CWLWs) and State CAMPA authorities will manage funds and execution at the ground level.
About Other Conservation Projects Launched:
• Project Dolphin (Phase II): Conservation of river and marine cetaceans, including the endangered Ganga River Dolphin and Indus Dolphin.
• Project Sloth Bear: Establishing the first-ever national conservation framework for sloth bears, which face habitat loss and poaching threats. Features: Habitat protection, mitigation of bear–human conflict, rescue and rehabilitation centres, and awareness campaigns.
• Establishing the first-ever national conservation framework for sloth bears, which face habitat loss and poaching threats.
• Features: Habitat protection, mitigation of bear–human conflict, rescue and rehabilitation centres, and awareness campaigns.
• Project Gharial: Strengthening recovery of the critically endangered gharial population in river ecosystems such as the Chambal and Gandak.
• Centre of Excellence for Human–Wildlife Conflict Management (CoE–HWC)
• Location: Sálim Ali Centre for Ornithology and Natural History (SACON).
• Role: Serve as a research and policy hub to develop AI-based conflict prediction models, field-based mitigation tools, and capacity-building for forest officials and communities.