ASIATIC LION CONSERVATION PROJECT

A dedicated "Asiatic Lion Conservation Project" was launched by the Central Government & Gujarat government. The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Government of India has launched the “Asiatic Lion Conservation Project” with an aim to protect and conserve the world’s last ranging free population of Asiatic Lion and its associated ecosystem.

Asiatic Lions

They are critically endangered species, under the Schedule 1 of Wildlife (Protection) Act 1972. They are grouped under Appendix I of CITES. On the IUCN Red List it is listed under its former scientific name Panthera leo persica as Endangered because of its small size and area of occupancy. Asiatic lions were once distributed in dry deciduous forests and scrublands from West Bengal in east to Rewa, MP in the west.Currently, the last surviving population of the Asiatic lions is confined to Gir National Park and Wildlife Sanctuary, which is the only habitat of the Asiatic lion. As per the 2015 census, at present there are 523 Asiatic lion in India against about 50 in 1980s.

This conservation project is launched in the urgent need because of rise in number of deaths of Asian Lions due to various unnatural causes in recent years . Estimates shows that, the numbers of deaths of Asiatic Lions are 104 and 80 in 2016 and 2017 respectively. Some reasons cited for their death are the construction of open wells in their habitat, Electrocution and a viral disease called as Canine Distemper Disease. Due to CDD disease majority of Asiatic lion deaths are reported in 2018. Although, Asiatic Lions are long-neglected animal. The allocation for their conservation plan has been very low..

This Project will be a 3-year centrally sponsored scheme funded from CSS-Development of Wildlife Habitat (CSS-DWH) with centre-state contribution ratio of 60:40. It focuses both on protection and conservation of the lion species. This project is based on the concept of ‘species conservation over a large landscape”. Accordingly, Zone Plans and Theme Plans are developed. Zone Plans include expansion of habitat and developing a Greater Gir region including Girnar, Pania and Mitiyala. The Greater Gir region is then divided into Core Zone, the Sanctuary Zone, the buffer Zone for different levels of conservation. Theme Plans include habitat improvement, protection, wildlife health service, addressing to man-wild animal conflict issues, research and monitoring, awareness generation, and ecotourism.

Main features of the project include, Habitat improvement, disease control, veterinary care by construction of veterinary hospitals and increasing the number of lion ambulances, ICT-driven monitoring and surveillance systems including GPS Based Tracking Automated Sensor Grid with multiple sensors, Night vision capability enhancement, GIS based real time monitoring and reporting, wildlife crime cell and a task force for the Greater Gir region.

News Source : PIB

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