Wildlife Conservation Efforts in India
In the last few decades, human encroachment was one of the biggest threats to facing India’s wildlife. Indian Government built many National Parks in order to facilitate endangered species up to some extent. The first park was established in 1935; besides, the Project Tiger was also enacted in 1972. At the beginning of the 20th century, there were around 40,000 tigers in India as compared to the tiger consensus of 2008 which revealed only 1,411 tigers remaining. The ‘Project Tiger’ is considered to be the most successful conservation project all throughout India. Currently, there are around 39 Project Tiger wildlife reserves in India encompassing an area of more than 37,761 sq. km. Many rhino’s are survived and conserved in the Kaziranga National Park.
• The Forest Conservation Act 1980 was enacted to lessen the large-scale habitat destruction caused by deforestation.
• India also indorsed the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITIES) in 1976. As a result, ban was imposed on the commercial trading of Asian elephants which involved the export of ivory.
• There has been a significant change in the Forest Department’s planning policy, which not only brought an end to the alteration of first-growth forests into eucalyptus plantations, but it also swung the importance from a commercially-centered forest management to the conservation-centered forest management.
• The elephants have enjoyed an absolute protection in Uttar