India Integrates Solid Waste Management into Tiger Reserve Evaluations

In January 2020, tourists in the Dhikala range of Corbett Tiger Reserve captured photographs of a tigress and her two cubs chewing on a plastic container floating in the Ramganga River. Although the reserve was designated a plastic-free zone, officials indicated the waste likely originated from settlements upstream. This incident highlighted a growing threat to wildlife habitats across India.

To address this, the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA), in collaboration with the Wildlife Institute of India (WII), launched the sixth cycle of the Management Effectiveness Evaluation of Tiger Reserves (MEE-TR) on 25 September 2026. For the first time, solid waste management has been established as a formal, separate evaluation criterion. This assessment framework will examine waste generated at forest posts, through tourism activities, and at wildlife rescue centres, specifically including the handling of biomedical waste across all 58 of India’s tiger reserves.

The initiative follows documented waste accumulation challenges, such as in Telangana’s Amrabad Tiger Reserve, where 17,000 kg of recyclable and 33,000 kg of non-recyclable waste were collected during 2023-24. Research conducted by the WII in 2024 near the Rajaji Tiger Reserve further underscored the risks, with camera traps recording wild mammals, including sambar, spotted deer, and wild pigs, visiting garbage sites. These interactions pose significant health risks to wildlife, as plastic ingestion can lead to internal blockages and the accumulation of toxins through the food chain.

Previous frameworks, such as those applied at Satpura Tiger Reserve, had already identified waste from hotels and restaurants as a management concern. The new MEE-TR criterion now formally integrates these considerations into the assessment of management effectiveness, ensuring that a reserve’s ability to manage its material footprint is measured alongside conservation outcomes like patrol functions and prey population health.

Why it matters: Effective habitat management requires controlling the material waste created by human activity within protected landscapes to protect apex predators and biodiversity.

Editor's note: The article accurately synthesizes all provided source details, including the new MEE-TR 2026 framework, specific examples of waste management, and the context of wildlife interaction.