Sathyamangalam Tiger Reserve receives TX2 Awards

Context

India’s Sathyamangalam Tiger Reserve has been awarded the prestigious TX2 Awards after its tiger number doubled since 2010. 

• Apart from India’s Sathyamangalam Tiger Reserve, the Bardia National Park in Nepal has won this year’s TX2 Award for doubling the population of wild tigers since 2010.

About Sathyamangalam Tiger Reserve

• Sathyamangalam Tiger Reserve in the Western Ghats in the Erode district of Tamil Nadu, spread across 1.409 square kilometres and declared a tiger reserve in 2013, is home to about 80 tigers.

Tiger reserves in India

• With 724 tigers, the Nilgiri biosphere landscape that Sathyamangalam Tiger Reserve is part of, is currently the home to the largest tiger population in the world.
• The adjoining areas like Erode forest division, Coimbatore forest division and Malai Mahadeshwara Wildlife Sanctuary are also emerging as important tiger habitats, creating a mosaic that allows the big cats to easily move in search of food and new territory. 
• There are 52 tiger reserves in India.

The award

• The awards are presented by the Conservation Assured Tiger Standards (CATS), Fauna and Flora International (FFI), Global Tiger Forum (GTF), IUCN’s Integrated Tiger Habitat Conservation Programme (ITHCP), Panthera, UNDP, The Lion’s Share, Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) and WWF.
• They celebrate the 10th anniversary of all 13 Tiger Range countries, including India, Nepal, China, Myanmar, Bangladesh, committed to double the global population of wild tigers by 2022.