Forests & Tigers

India's tiger story is one of the world's great conservation successes. Project Tiger, begun in 1973, and the National Tiger Conservation Authority have expanded protected reserves and cracked down on poaching. The wild tiger count rose from 1,411 in 2006 to 2,226 in 2014 and 3,682 in the 2022 census — India now holds around 70% of the world's wild tigers across 58 reserves.

Because tigers need large, healthy habitats, protecting them safeguards entire ecosystems, rivers and prey species — the tiger is an 'umbrella species'. Reserves like Jim Corbett, Bandhavgarh and Kanha also anchor a growing wildlife-tourism economy that supports local livelihoods. India's overall forest and tree cover expanded modestly to about a quarter of its land area.

India protects wildlife through a network of tiger reserves, national parks and sanctuaries, with the tiger as the flagship: save the tiger's forest and you save everything beneath it. Project Tiger funds core protected zones (kept largely free of human activity) ringed by buffer areas, backed by anti-poaching patrols, a rigorous four-yearly camera-trap tiger census, and compensation schemes to reduce human-wildlife conflict at the edges.

India now holds about 3,682 tigers — some 75% of the world's wild tigers — up strongly over the decade, and forest-and-tree cover has edged up to around a quarter of the country. Success brings its own tasks — as tiger numbers grow, so does human-wildlife conflict at reserve edges, and the pressure to balance forests against roads, mining and farming. New efforts (cheetah reintroduction, Project Dolphin, Project Lion) extend the model to other species.

Success brings its own tasks — as tiger numbers grow, managing human-wildlife conflict at reserve edges and protecting habitat quality (not just area) from fragmentation is the ongoing work.

2,226 → 3,682 wild tigers (2014→2022). ~70% of the world's wild tigers. 58 tiger reserves. Forest & tree cover ~25% of land. Sources: NTCA, Wildlife Institute of India, FSI.