Guwahati: The National Committee of Conservation Assured Tiger Standards (CATS) recommended proposals for Assam's four tiger reserves, Kaziranga, Manas, Nameri and Orang Tiger Reserves, for CATS accreditation on Wednesday.
The CATS assessment has been conducted by the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) in 27 Tiger Reserves in the first phase and 24 to be carried out in the second phase.
"All the four Tiger Reserves of Assam under Phase 1 have got CATS accreditation. Only seven proposals were recommended by the National Committee at a meeting held in New Delhi on Wednesday," said PCCF and Head of Forest Assam, AM Singh.
Besides four Tiger Reserves of Assam, Kanha, Panna and Sundarbans Tiger Reserves were also awarded CAT accreditation.
"The CAT accreditation accorded to the four Tiger Reserves of the state is a most welcome development and good news for conservationists and animal lovers alike.
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The CATS certificate will go a long way in further strengthening and improving management interventions insofar as conservation of big cats in Assam is concerned," said Assam's Minister for Environment and Forest, Parimal Suklabaidya.
"The NTCA that sets a benchmark for managing conservation sites through a set of minimum standards based on 17 parameters (F3 element-wise) ranging from social, cultural and biological significance to infrastructure/equipment and from management planning to human-wildlife conflict (HCW) management have given scores of 81.25 per cent to Kaziranga, 78.49 per cent to Manas, 71.21 per cent to Nameri and 74.01 per cent to Orang Tiger Reserves," he said.
Launched in 2013 with tigers as first species selected for the initiative, the conservation tool vis-a-vis CATS was developed in collaboration with field managers, tiger experts and government agencies engaged in tiger conservation.
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