Context: Recently, the Gujarat Forest Department has announced an increase in the population of Asiatic lions in the Gir forest region.
Key Points

• India has recorded a 29% increase in population of Asiatic lions, living in Gujarat Gir forest, in the past five years — from 523 in 2015 to 674 in 2020.
• The period also saw a 36% increase in the distribution area of the lions from 22000 sq. km in 2015 to 30000 sq. km in 2020.

About Asiatic Lions  

• Asiatic Lion is also called Panthera Leo Leo in India. 
• It is restricted to the Gir Forests of Gujarat. 
• On the IUCN Red List, it is listed under its former scientific name Panthera leo persica as Endangered because of its small population size and area of occupancy. 
• Until the 19th century, it occurred in Saudi Arabia eastern Turkey, Iran, Mesopotamia, and from east of the Indus River to Bengal and Narmada River in Central India. 
• The population of Asiatic lion has steadily increased since 2010. 

Significance of 2020 Count

• The 2015 Census had counted 523 lions, up from 411 in 2010.
• But 12 lions were killed in a flash flood in Amreli just a month after the 2015 Census.
• The deaths of lions in 2015 was followed by deaths of more than two dozen lions in an outbreak of Canine Distemper Virus (CDV) and babesiosis in 2018.
• Babesia is a tiny parasite that infects red blood cells and is usually transmitted by a tick bite. Infection with Babesia is called babesiosis.
• Additionally, the babesiosis outbreak was also reported in Gir in 2020, and around two dozen lions were reported to be killed.

About Poonam Avlokan

• It is a monthly in-house exercise carried out every full moon.
• Field staff and officers spend 24 hours assessing the number of lions and their locations in their respective jurisdictions.
• It was a mechanism developed by the Forest Department in 2014 as part of preparations for the 2015 Lion Census.

How is this ‘observation’ different from a regular census?

• The Lion Census involves larger participation. Around 2,000 officers, experts and volunteers were involved in the 2015 Census. That makes the Census more transparent.
• The lion ‘observation’ was conducted by around 1,400 forest staff and a few experts.
• The Lion Census usually runs for more than two days, including a preliminary census and a final census.
• It is done using the Block Counting Method — in which census enumerators remain stationed at water points in a given block and estimate abundance of lions in that block, based on direct sighting of lions who need to drink water at least once in 24 hours during the summer.
• A ‘lion observation’ is an in-house exercise, conducted only by forest staff.
• The methodology too is different as, instead of remaining stationary at water points, teams keep moving in their respective territories and make their estimates based on inputs provided by lion trackers and on chance sightings.

Asiatic Lion Conservation Project  

• The MoEFCC had launched the “Asiatic Lion Conservation Project” in 2019 with an aim to protect and conserve the world’s last ranging free population of Asiatic Lion and its associated ecosystem. 
• The project is funded from the Centrally Sponsored Scheme- Development of Wildlife Habitat (CSS-DWH) with the contributing ratio being 60:40 of Central and State share. 
• Key aspects of the conservation project include undertaking “habitat improvement” measures, making more sources of water available, creating a wildlife crime cell, and a task force for the Greater Gir region. 
• It would also involve having in place a GPS-based tracking system, which would look at surveillance tracking, animal and vehicle tracking. 
• There would also be an automated sensor grid that would have magnetic sensors, movement sensors and infra-red heat sensors. 

About Gir National Park  

• The Gir National Park and Wildlife Sanctuary is located in the Junagadh district of Gujarat. 
• It is the only natural habitat of Asiatic lions. It was declared as a sanctuary in 1965 and a national park in 1975. 
• It is the largest compact tract of dry deciduous forests in the semi-arid western part of India. 
• It forms a unique habitat for many mammals, reptiles, birds and insect species along with a rich variety of flora. 
• Gir is often linked with “Maldharis” who have survived through the ages by having symbiotic relationship with the lion.