Status of Forest Cover in Project Tiger Reserve

The project Tiger was launched on 1^st April, 1973. The objectives of the project were to ensure maintenance of a viable population of tiger in India and to preserve, for all time, areas of biological importance as a national heritage. Project Tiger ensured that top priority given to these areas of rich biodiversity. The project, apart from conserving the tiger, also protects a wide spectrum of species from the lowest invertebrates to the elephant. So has been the case in respect of survival and preservation of floral communities. The effort has been to conserve the total biodiversity with tiger at the apex of the food chain. Even with a vast population and its pressure on national resources, India is the custodian of 60% of the world’s population of tigers. There are many threats to this magnificent animal but it is our endeavor to protect and preserve the species in the vital interests of mankind. To monitor the changes in the vegetation cover of the tiger reserves between the period 1983-89, a study, based on visual interpretation of the Landsat Imagery pertaining to the period 1983 and 1989, was undertaken by the FSI in 1993.

The interpretation of the data revealed the following estimates of the forest cover in various categories.