India, May 22 -- In an era of fast-eroding biodiversity, the rise of the Asiatic lion population by a third is certainly heartening. Gujarat, the lone state playing home to the animal, saw numbers rise from 674 (2020) to 891. This rapid rise, of course, can be attributed to Project Lion, which was launched by the Union government in 2020, and focused on habitat restoration, prey-base enhancement, and mitigating human-animal conflict.

But, the fact that, of the 891 Asiatic lions in India, only 384 were resident in protected areas while 507 lived outside, in revenue areas and lion corridors, underscores the skewed impact of conservation efforts. Given research pegs the natural home ranges of Asiatic lion prides and individual animals (soli...