The last ten years have witnessed many positives for the conservation and protection of tigers. Tiger numbers have increased in many countries, especially in India and Nepal. However, in the next ten years the focus needs to be on a more dedicated approach to securing numbers in countries still struggling to protect the big cats.
Tiger habitat and prey base need an equal share of protection and complacency in any form can be disastrous for the wild tiger, according to a report by TRAFFIC India Office.
“Over the years, tigers increased significantly in some regions but disappeared from others across the globe. Poaching or illegal wildlife trade, prey depletion, and habitat destruction have been the major contributors to the decline,” according to the report Saving the Wild Tiger: A Global Overview authored by Dr Merwyn Fernandes, Coordinator, TRAFFIC India Office, which which was published in TRAFFIC POST.
Globally, there has been more than a century of decline in wild tiger numbers and habitat. Three tiger subspecies, Bali Tiger, Javan Tiger and Caspian Tiger have gone extinct and there is possible extinction of the South China Tiger. The remaining five subspecies; Amur Tiger, Bengal Tiger, Northern Indochinese, Malayan Tiger and Sumatra Tiger are precariously placed.
The latest (2021) assessment of tigers reported extant populations in Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, Russian Federation and Thailand, while the species became extinct in Viet Nam, Lao PDR and Cambodia, the report said.
In 2008, a global alliance of governments, international organisations, civil society, conservation organisations, scientific communities, and the private sector formed the Global Tiger Initiative (GTI) to save wild tigers from extinction. Led by 13 Tiger Range Countries (TRCs) with founding partners such as the World Bank, the Global Environment Facility (GEF), the Smithsonian Institution, Save the Tiger Fund, and International Tiger Coalition, GTI represents more than 40 non-government organisations.
The report states that two years later, in 2010, at the Global Tiger Summit in Saint Petersburg, Russia, the heads of government from the 13 TRCs pledged their support for protecting and conserving wild tigers and their habitat. They adopted an overarching goal to double the number of wild tigers across the geographical area from about 3,200 to more than 7,000 individuals by 2022. They adopted the Global Tiger Recovery Program (2010-2022) that outlined an action plan to strengthen national policies, build institutional frameworks, and secure financial commitments to protect and conserve tigers across its range.