Research overview: India's Project Tiger and the reserve network

This overview examines the science and management history of India's Project Tiger, launched in 1973, and the expanding network of tiger reserves it created. Researchers have studied how core-buffer zoning, village relocation from cores, anti-poaching patrols, and prey protection shaped tiger recovery across reserves with very different outcomes. Some reserves rebuilt strong source populations, while others lost tigers entirely before later recolonization or reintroduction. Analyses link success to enforcement intensity, prey density, habitat connectivity, and reduced human pressure. India now holds the majority of the world's wild tigers, making its reserve system a central case study in big cat conservation. The overview surveys what the Indian experience reveals about governance, funding, and the trade-offs of strictly protected cores embedded in densely populated landscapes.