New Delhi, June 29 -- Union environment minister Bhupender Yadav on Sunday inaugurated a national workshop on tiger reintroduction and released three publications on tiger conservation and Project Cheetah in Rajasthan's Alwar district. The event was held to mark 18 years since the reintroduction of tigers at the Sariska Tiger Reserve in the state. Yadav described the Sariska tiger reintroduction programme as a historic milestone in wildlife conservation, noting that the area had no tigers in 2008 and 56 currently. He said the project represents the world's first successful scientific reintroduction of tigers into a landscape where the species were locally extinct. Across the country, the number of tiger reserves has increased from 46 to 58 in the last decade. Addressing the workshop, titled "Tiger Re-introduction: Opportunities and Challenges", the minister said tiger conservation was not merely about protecting a single species, but about conserving forests, watersheds and the rich biodiversity that shares the tiger's habitat. "Sariska today serves as a global example of successful species restoration and offers lessons for future conservation initiatives," he said, noting that India has also achieved the St Petersburg Declaration target of doubling its wild tiger population by 2022. According to the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA), the most recent national assessment estimated 3,682 tigers in India in 2022, representing nearly 70% of the global wild tiger population. Yadav also said the government was working on an integrated management plan for all tiger reserves in the country, which will focus on coordination and address issues such as land encroachment. "Our priority is to ensure that our tigers are protected...We are working towards an integrated management plan for tiger reserves, which will include working with different departments," the minister said. Yadav also launched three publications: Road Map on Active Management of Tigers in India, Booklet on Reintroduction and Recovery of Tigers in India, and the Annual Report of Project Cheetah (Sept 2024-Dec 2025)....