About Western Indian tiger landscape
The Western Indian Tiger Landscape (WITL) is spread over an area of 30,000km2 across the states of Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh at the intersection of the Aravalli and Vindhya mountain ranges, the oldest hill ranges of India. It comprises two tiger reserves, two national parks and nine wildlife sanctuaries, all connected to each other through wildlife corridors in the form of territorial forests, reserve forests and tributaries of the river Chambal.
This landscape supports the westernmost population of the Bengal tigers in India, and the world.
The famous Ranthambore Tiger Reserve holds the source population of tigers, which disperse into adjoining national parks and wildlife sanctuaries through the wildlife corridors, in search of new territory, food and mate.
The landscape is a mix of dense forests comprising mostly dhak trees, a species known to withstand long periods of drought and heat, and grasslands on plateaus. Old ruins, palaces and forts form the backdrop of these forests, which were once the private hunting grounds of the Maharajas of Jaipur. While the tiger is the top predator here, other endangered wildlife include, the leopard, striped hyena, caracal, jungle cat and the black buck. The forests and wildlife here are threatened by habitat degradation, habitat fragmentation, encroachment, poaching of tigers and prey species and human-wildlife conflict.
WWF-India has been working in and around the Ranthambore National Park since the 1990s, through the Ranthambore Eco-Development Project, addressing key issues in this area. Having worked in the region for more than a decade, a need was felt to expand initiatives across adjoining forest areas so that protection was extended to other important Protected Areas (PAs) and a larger forest network develop into a safe habitat for wildlife. It was with this in mind that WWF-India defined the Western Indian Tiger Landscape in 2012. The vision was to improve protection, management and connectivity through functional corridors, resulting in the dispersal of tigers and other species, ensuring the demographic and genetic viability of the last remaining western population of tigers in India.
The famous Ranthambore Tiger Reserve holds the source population of tigers, which disperse into adjoining national parks and wildlife sanctuaries through the wildlife corridors, in search of new territory, food and mate.
The landscape is a mix of dense forests comprising mostly dhak trees, a species known to withstand long periods of drought and heat, and grasslands on plateaus. Old ruins, palaces and forts form the backdrop of these forests, which were once the private hunting grounds of the Maharajas of Jaipur. While the tiger is the top predator here, other endangered wildlife include, the leopard, striped hyena, caracal, jungle cat and the black buck. The forests and wildlife here are threatened by habitat degradation, habitat fragmentation, encroachment, poaching of tigers and prey species and human-wildlife conflict.
WWF-India has been working in and around the Ranthambore National Park since the 1990s, through the Ranthambore Eco-Development Project, addressing key issues in this area. Having worked in the region for more than a decade, a need was felt to expand initiatives across adjoining forest areas so that protection was extended to other important Protected Areas (PAs) and a larger forest network develop into a safe habitat for wildlife. It was with this in mind that WWF-India defined the Western Indian Tiger Landscape in 2012. The vision was to improve protection, management and connectivity through functional corridors, resulting in the dispersal of tigers and other species, ensuring the demographic and genetic viability of the last remaining western population of tigers in India.
WWF-India has formulated three major objectives to address the conservation threats faced by this landscape:
- To build a strong network of trained and empowered frontline forest staff for the long-term survival of tigers.
- To assess the functionality of key tiger corridors and generate baseline data.
- To assist the state forest department in managing human-tiger conflict in the corridor areas and generate support for conservation.
