Tiger Landscapes, Bioeconomy and Ecotourism: From Fortress Conservation to Landscape-Based Livelihoods Category: Environment, Biodiversity and Sustainable Development | GS: GS Paper III | Date: 2 September 2026
WHY IN NEWS
- An international workshop in New Delhi on 2 - 3 September 2026 placed tiger landscapes, conservation, bioeconomy and ecotourism within a single policy frame.
- It was jointly organised by the International Big Cat Alliance, Asian Development Bank and National Tiger Conservation Authority.
- The central policy shift is from protecting isolated tiger reserve s to manaGIng larger landscapes where wildlife, forests, corridors, villages, tourism, infrastructure and local economies interact.
- The issue is highly relevant to UPSC because tiger conservation is a gateway topic for protected areas, ecoloGIcal corridors, human-wildlife conflict, ecosystem services, community rights, nature finance and sustainable tourism.
TOP DATA & FACTS FOR UPSC
- Workshop theme: Tiger Landscapes - Conservation, bioeconomy and ecotourism for Livelihood and Income Generation.
- Organisers included IBCA, ADB and NTCA under the Ministry of Environment, Forest and climate change ecosystem.
- Tigers are apex predators and umbrella species: conserving viable tiger landscapes protects large habitats and many co-occurring species.
- Project Tiger was launched in 1973, making tiger conservation one of India's longest-running species-focused programmes.
- NTCA is the statutory body associated with tiger conservation under the Wildlife (Protection) Act framework.
- Tiger reserve s are managed through core/critical tiger habitats and buffer/peripheral areas, with landscape connectivity increasingly important.
- EcoloGIcal corridors permit dispersal, gene flow and recolonisation between habitat patches.
- bioeconomy in a conservation landscape can include sustainable non-timber forest produce, nature tourism, restoration employment, local crafts and ecosystem-service-linked livelihoods.