THIRTY-FIVE per cent of India’s tiger ranges are outside protected areas and human-animal conflict affects over 75 per cent of the world’s wild cat species, according to a new report.

The study, which has been done by WWF and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) with contribution from 155 experts from 40 organisations based in 27 countries, also stated that human-wildlife conflict is the greatest threat to animals.

“Currently, 35 per cent of India’s tiger range, 40 per cent of the African lion range and 70 per cent of the African and Asian elephant ranges are outside protected areas,” said the report -- ‘A future for all-The need for human-wildlife coexistence’.

“Marine species, such as turtles and whales, that travel thousands of kilometres annually, are also increasingly interacting with people. With so much overlap, effective HWC (human-wildlife conflict) management becomes increasingly necessary,” it said.

The report said that human-wildlife conflict -- when struggles arise from people and animals coming into contact -- often leads to killing of animals in self-defence or as pre-emptive or retaliatory, which can drive species to extinction.

“Marine and terrestrial protected areas cover only 9.67 per cent of the globe, and most of these protected areas are disconnected from each other. Therefore, many species depend on human-dominated spaces for their survival, and shared landscapes where both humans and wildlife exist outside protected areas play an increasingly important role for the survival of key species such as large predators and herbivores,” the report said.

It said that many other terrestrial and marine carnivore species such as polar bears and large herbivores such as elephants are also getting affected due to HWC.