Lion the king of Forests rules Gujrat forests

 Saving the King Asiatic Lion: Gujarat leads India’s wildlife revival

By: Dr VK Bahuguna

(The writer is former Director-General in the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Government of India)

 Lion with its majestic looks in Manes and elan and Tiger with its grace and gorgeous persona have made the wild world awe-inspiring and beautiful and India is fortunate to have them both thanks to our culture and nature loving people. The Gujarat Forest Department recently announced the results of 16th Lion census carried out earlier this month in May 2025. The population of Lions in last five years jumped from 674 in 2020 to 891 now. It is an incredible increase of 32%. Out of this 384 are in Gir National Park, Gir and Panis Sanctuary in Sasangir spread over 1410 sq. km area (258.7 sq. km in National Park and 1051.6 sq. km in Sanctuary). The rest 340 almost 44% Lions now live outside the Gir protective area network. The success of Tiger, Lion and elephant is a remarkable example of conservation of wildlife in the world and proves the professional mettle of foresters specially the field foresters who never hog the limelight and work silently difficult interior areas devoid of basic civic amenities. The journey of conserving this majestic animal shows that Amreli District has shown the highest count of 257 lions. For the first time 17 Lions were noticed in Barda sanctuary also. For past 26 years from 205 in 1979-80, Lions now we have a very viable population of 891 which opens up doors for scientific discussions so that its future management can be ensured with the support and cooperation of communities. The large increase in population will pose a management challenge of creating new habitats in next 10 years when the population may go up sizably. The recent killing of a forest ranger by a Tiger in Ranthambhor National Park has thrown a challenge to wildlife and forest experts on how to deal with the increasing population of carnivores like Tigers and Lions when we breach their habit of natural hunting instinct of searching for the prey. 

The wildlife and forest conservation received a big boost after the enactment of Wildlife Act 1972 and Forest Conservation Act 1980. The ‘Project Lion’ launched in the year 2020 has helped in big rise in Lion population and specially with 27% increase in female population the chances of further rapid increase in population is expected. Under the Project Lion the Gujarat Forest department focused on improving the habitat, Global positioning systems, use of magnetic sensor grids and use of radio collar and camera traps thus monitoring the population effectively. The Lion census (unlike in case of Tiger census where pugmark and camera traps are used), is more authentic because direct Beat Verification was carried out by the staff by using robust scientific methods and dividing the area into regions, zones and sub-zones. 

For the future management of wildlife, it is necessary to analyze the geographic reach of Asiatic Lion. It was widely spread in Asia from Saudi Arab to Iran to Pakistan to Central and Western India and Bengal till the 19th century. In 1900 only about 100 Lion were surviving.  But this courageous animal living in groups called ‘prides’ was mercilessly easily hunted by cowards as they were easy targets to proclaim their so-called bravery in killing animals like Tigers and Lions. The Princely states used to invite Britishers for hunting expeditions and these people decimated a large population of Lions and Tigers. The Prides live in a well-defined territory and defend it. Over the years the habitat of the Lion in India deteriorated and the population shrunk to only around a dozen in Gir Forest of Gujarat which was a part of the hunting area of Nawab of Junagarh.  The 400 species of flora of deciduous scrub/forests (the best habitat for Lion) and perineal rivers like Hiran, Shetranji, Shingoda, Dhatarwadi have played a crucial part along with Maldharies in conserving Lion in Sasangir area. A few years ago, government of India tried to create another habitat for the Lion in Madhya Pradesh but the Gujarat government did not agree for the translocation. 

The country has made name for itself in international arena in conserving its bio-diversity heritage despite a population of more than 143 billion. We have all the ecosystem flagship species like Lion, Tiger, leopard and now the Cheetah. As the population of these carnivores is increasing, we need to ensure that the prey base for these species in forest areas do not shrink and the habitat is not fragmented. The euphoria of Tiger and Lion census can not hide the precarious conditions of our natural forests as the Forest Survey India’s 2023 State of Forest Report has candidly shown that regeneration in 48 % of the natural forests in inadequate and almost 46,000 hectares of forests have no tree growth. 

One of the direct impacts of forest degradation is in shrinking water levels in rainfed rivers like Narmada, Godavari which survive on good natural forests. The use of water for irrigation and hydel projects is also reducing water in rivers. Ground water recharge of aquifers also is affected by lack of regeneration and deforestation. Similarly, the shrinking Glaciers are reducing waters in our glacier fed rivers like Ganga. According to Global Forest Watch, India had lost 2.3 million hectares of forest since 2000. This includes 4,14,000 hectares of humid primary forest from 2002 to 2023 and in 2024, India lost 18,200 hectares of primary forest.  The forest officers though working hard enough barring few young officers have been succumbing to bureaucratic and political pressures. The politicians regard them as road blockers in their vision of satisfying their vote bank and in governance without genuine political backing no cadre can work independently.  One fine example is the way Forest Rights act 2006 is being implemented by Tribal affairs Ministry without having any cap on date of application. It means you continue to encroach forests and we are here to regularize it under the Act. This is not only detrimental to conservation ethos but to genuine tribal interests. They are creating a frank stein in tribal areas. On the contrary they should along with forest department draw up a scheme for the development of vested lands for livelihoods of tribals.1054 words