New Delhi: Minister of Environment, Forest and Climate Change Prakash Javadekar on Tuesday said the country will take up the leadership role in terms of supporting global tiger conservation by extending all possible guidance, training, capacity building roles to the thirteen nations with the big cats and support their conservation steps.
Mr Javadekar said that the country is leading globally in terms of the overall tiger population housing 70 per cent of the world's tiger population and has in the past several years been able to increase their number by creating a better environment.
Elaborating about the situation of tiger reserves in the country, he said that we have 50 such reserves across the nation and all are in good shape while none of them is of poor quality, he added.
In the year 1973, there were just nine tiger reserves, the Minister said adding that tigers are a very important and priceless beings in nature and there presence signifies a balance in a forest's ecosystem.
''Despite having just 2.5 per cent of world's total land mass, only 4 per cent of the world's total fresh rain water resource, 16 per cent of the total human population and 16 per cent of cattle, despite all the limited resources, we have 8 per cent of the World's bio-diversity,'' he said.
He also mentioned that India has over 30,000 elephants, 3,000 plus single horned-rhinos and over 500 lions along with diverse flora and fauna which is the country's strength on the global platform.
''All this is possible as our culture teaches and tells us to have all living beings , plants and animals as part of lives and promotes co-existence.''
'' I have hardly seen any where that plants, birds, animals are worshipped like they our in our country,'' which clearly indicates how it is a part of lives to promote environment and conserve the flora and fauna, the Minister said.
Mr Javadekar, along with his Minister of State Babul Supriyo, also released a report of tiger census here with on the eve of the International Tiger Day on Wednesday.''All the pictures in these posters tell the story of 50 Tiger reserves'', he said.(UNI)