India has begun the sixth round of its tiger reserves management effectiveness evaluation, and this time waste management is part of the test. On 25 September, Union Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav launched the inception workshop in New Delhi. It opened the Management Effectiveness Evaluation of Tiger Reserves (MEE-TR). As a result, all 58 tiger reserves in the country will be assessed.

How the tiger reserves management effectiveness evaluation works

The National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) runs MEE-TR together with the Wildlife Institute of India (WII). The exercise is a systematic, evidence-based check of how well each reserve meets its conservation goals. Besides management actions, it asks whether planning, resources and systems are adequate and whether they deliver results.

India uses a framework adapted from the IUCN World Commission on Protected Areas. The framework assesses six elements: context, planning, inputs, processes, outputs and outcomes. Independent multidisciplinary teams will carry out the assessment. They will identify management strengths and gaps, and the findings will help prioritise actions and resources.

The assessment will cover tiger and prey conservation, habitat management, wildlife crime, fire and disaster management, human-wildlife coexistence, community engagement and tourism management. Landscape connectivity and management planning are included too. Furthermore, the sixth cycle builds on earlier rounds. It puts more weight on field-based evidence, management outcomes, emerging threats and spatial data. A Technical Manual for MEE-TR 2026 was released at the workshop.

Solid waste management becomes a separate criterion

The most visible change is that solid waste management is now a separate evaluation criterion. It will focus on sustainable waste practices inside tiger reserves. In particular, it will look at waste generated at forest chowkis, waste from tourism activities and biomedical waste from wildlife rescue centres. For readers who follow waste management in India, it is a sign that protected forests will be held to the same standards as cities.

What the minister asked of the exercise

Mr Yadav noted that India has demarcated over 85,000 sq km for tiger conservation. A science-based approach, he said, must be guided by compassion, values and vision. That way, forest departments and local communities can engage harmoniously. He also suggested that local ecological and sociological experts help review the MEE reports, and that local youth take part.

Mr Yadav also called for area-based assessment of human-wildlife conflict and measurable conservation outcomes. Therefore, he said, evaluations should lead to site-specific landscape management and adaptive practices that account for local socio-economic needs. Professionalism and objectivity, he stressed, should remain central. Meanwhile, Minister of State Kirti Vardhan Singh praised senior forest officers and called their field experience a valuable repository of institutional learning.

Why tiger reserves management effectiveness matters

Tiger numbers depend on habitat quality, prey and relations with nearby communities, not on headcounts alone. An evaluation that scores management gives the public a yardstick beyond census figures. Moreover, adding waste to the scorecard recognises that a reserve’s footprint counts too. The same logic of independent verification runs through the new Indian Forest and Wood Certification Scheme, whose first PRAMAAN certificates we covered recently. You can find more updates in our India sustainability news and in our environment sustainability section.

Source: Press Information Bureau, Government of India (Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, 25 September 2026). Additional context from India Wildlife News. Images: Bernard Gagnon (CC BY 4.0), via Wikimedia Commons.