Themes

Wild tigers are on the verge of extinction.

Poaching, habitat loss and fragmentation have reduced the global population of the tiger to less than 3,500 and the pressures continue to mount. Under the current scenario, it is predicted that the tiger may well be extinct within the coming decade.

The loss of the tiger will have implications much larger than simply the loss of a charismatic animal species. Habitats where wild tigers live are high-value ecosystems that provide vital services to humans, such as carbon sequestration, recreational services, maintenance of hydrological balance, crop pollination, protection from natural disasters and soil erosion and preservation of genetic diversity of plants. As an instance, tourism values from tiger habitats, though still under-priced, run into billions of dollars today and contribute to the livelihoods of millions of people worldwide.

Being at the top of the food-chain, the decline of large predators inevitably leads to over-abundance of herbivores such as deer, which in turn has repercussions on tree regeneration. Such imbalances reverberate through the food-web, causing species losses from fragile habitats. It has been amply demonstrated that lasting benefits from nature depend upon the maintenance of essential ecological processes and upon the diversity of life forms. By allowing tigers to go extinct, we would essentially be depriving future generations of the benefits from biodiversity that has been the bedrock of human progress. Above all, the loss of the tiger would take away the national impetus for saving natural diverse landscapes with intact ecological and evolutionary processes. Today, as an effective umbrella species, the tiger has become a powerful symbol of our ability to conserve wild nature.

The task of saving tigers and their natural habitats is a challenging one. Poaching of tigers continues unabated due to the weak institutional capacity for wildlife law enforcement in most tiger-range countries and the burgeoning global demand for tiger parts. Lack of scientific capacity for wildlife monitoring and management leads to further habitat deterioration in the face of changing and varied threats. Tiger landscapes continue to be fragmented and reduced by the day due to rapid infrastructural and industrial expansion and land use change from forests to plantations. In many cases, such habitat loss takes place far away from the public eye due to poor information flows and lack of communication. Over-exploitation of forest resources by dependent communities, who live well below the poverty line, contributes to the degradation of tiger habitat. Above all, policy-makers remain unaware of the immense economic value of living tigers and their natural habitats (both realized and potential) leading to low prioritization of conservation objectives in national planning.

The Global Tiger Initiative

Deer are the tigers natural prey, but their numbers are dwindling, and with them, the tigers number dwindles also.

The goals of the GTI are as follows:

• To support capacity-building in governments for responding effectively to the transnational challenge of illegal trade in wildlife and for scientifically managing tiger landscapes in the face of mounting and varied threats;
• To curtail international demand for tiger parts and other wildlife that has been responsible for drastic declines in tiger populations;
• To develop mechanisms for safeguarding habitats from development through planning ‘smart, green’ infrastructure and sensitive industrial development;
• To create innovative and sustainable financing mechanisms for tiger landscapes including protected areas;
• To build strong local constituencies for tiger conservation through development of economic incentives and alternative livelihoods for local people;
• To spread the recognition among governments, international aid agencies and the public that tiger habitats are high-value diverse ecosystems with the potential to provide immense benefits-both tangible and intangible.

Achievements So Far

Since June 2008, the GTI has embarked on a mission of deepening the engagement with governments and NGO in tiger-range countries through formal consultations with the aim of further defining policies and programs. Country dialogues have already been undertaken in India, Nepal, Russia and Indonesia. Specific needs in tiger conservation and areas of intervention were discussed and agreed upon with governments and other stakeholders in these countries.

The workshop of the ASEAN Wildlife Enforcement Network (ASEAN-WEN), co-organized by the GTI, in Pattaya, Thailand in April 2009, brought together support from 21 countries to discuss effective means for ending international wildlife trafficking and trade. This was an action-oriented workshop that united a wide range of stakeholders: governments, international organizations, and NGOs around a joint Manifesto on ‘Combating Wildlife Crime in Asia’. This meeting in Thailand also marked the formation of the South Asian Wildlife Enforcement Network (SA-WEN). The Pattaya manifesto was adopted as a pledge by the Conference participants, who vowed to end trade in wildlife parts through coordinated action and strict enforcement.

In 2009, a partnership was developed with the Smithsonian Institution for the establishment of the global Conservation and Development Practice Network, a training and professional support system to improve field conservation and management in tiger-range countries. On June 19th, 2009, a formal agreement between the Smithsonian Institution and the World Bank was signed. Under this agreement, there will be two types of training programs-a Training of Trainers program (TOT) that will build in-country capacity for training in conservation management and a Senior Executive Leadership program that will target policy-makers and implementers in the countries. Over the next 4-5 years (2009-2013), the Conservation and Development Network will unite hundreds of conservation practitioners and many institutions across the tiger range countries. The Network will also link, through the 'hubs-and-spokes' connectivity and joint training programs, the leading knowledge institutions in India, Indonesia, Thailand, China, Russia and other participating Asian countries with globally significant centers of excellence in conservation science and application. The Smithsonian's Conservation and Research Center located in the Shenandoah Mountains in Front Royale, Virginia, USA would serve as one of the initial launch-pads for the Network. One of the aims of the Network is to enable the adoption of the latest technology for wildlife monitoring, research, and communications in remote tiger landscapes, which is necessary for good management of these critical habitats.

During 2009-2010, GTI will further define its conservation agenda through delineating key actions for reviving tiger populations, defining policies and programs and building the necessary institutional mechanisms. The Global Tiger Workshop will be held in Kathmandu from October 27-30, 2009 to frame issues and decide specific actions for implementation. This will be followed by a ministerial meeting of tiger-range countries to be hosted by the Government of Thailand in February 2010. The Kathmandu Workshop will prepare for the Global Tiger Summit, which will be held during 2010, the Year of the Tiger and complement activities associated with the Year of Biodiversity. The Global Tiger Summit aims to cement political commitments to tiger conservation at the highest levels and flag off specific conservation programs in the tiger-range countries.