Manas Tiger reserve bags excellence in conservation award

Manas National Park, the World Heritage Site of the World which was declared by UNESCO in 1985, has been conferred with another award for conserving tiger. The National Park received the 'Ecxcellence in Conservation'.

Guwahati:Assam's Manas National Park, the UNESCO Natural World Heritage site, has bagged the prestigious "Ecxcellence in Conservation" award for conserving tigers.

Global Tiger Forum, an international organization supported by the governments of all the countries for tiger conservation purposes, conferred Manas National Park (Manas Tiger Project) and Royal Manas National Park of Bhutan jointly the Tiger Conservation Excellence Award.

The award was conferred during a virtual function on November 23. Due to Covid 19 circumstances virtual prize was given to Manas Tiger Project in presence of the officers of Manas National park.

Speaking to reporters here, Amal Sarma, Project Director, Manas Tiger Project, said, "The target for this award was to double the tiger population in ten years but we could tripple the figure. All the stakeholders including the forest officials to NGOs to casual workers to the local people must be credited for this achievement."

"This is not only for the forest department but all theose involved in the conservation efforts in Manas including the NGOs as well as the people in fringe areas must be credited for the conservation success story," Sarma said.

"This is for the first time that Manas national park and tiger reserve has received such a prestigious international award. We thank all the people, forest officials who had worked hard to achieve this success in conservation," Sarma added.

Notably, the park has tripled the number of tigers from mere 10 in 2000-2002 to 30 in the last ten years making a significant stride towards conservation. The park could also improve the number of one horned rhino population from zero to 44 at present.