The meet to be attended by 13 tiger range countries including India aims at "empowering them to address the entire spectrum of threats, domestic as well as trans-boundary, and working towards increased sustainability through the integration of conservation objectives into development."
However, the death of one of the five translocated big cats in Sariska national park in Rajasthan has exposed gaping loopholes in the conservation efforts, claim wildlife experts who have accused the government of not taking sufficient corrective measures to save the species.
"It is certainly going to be a major issue of discussion at the global meet from 21-24 November, overshadowing all our positive efforts in the tiger conservation," a senior environment ministry official said.
"The incident is a major jolt to the first-ever bid to re-establish tiger population by relocation in Sariska and only confirmed the incapability of authorities to protect the predators," the official said
Tiger expert Belinda Wright minced no words as she said, "the Rajasthan government has a poor track record in saving tigers as has been evident in the past in 2005 when all the native species were killed by poachers and it was sitting with eyes closed."
She pointed out that Sariska continues to be vulnerable to human disturbance due to existence of national highways, villages and influx of pilgrims.
Soon after the tiger death, Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh was quick to accept responsibility for the tragedy while Rajasthan government suspended two officials for dereliction of duty.
The meet, the first of its kind, will see participation by leaders of the 13 Tiger Range Countries (TRCs) in St Petersburg in Russia who will endorse Global Tiger Recovery Program (GTRP) to address issues posing threat to the predator.
Currently, it is estimated that some 3,200 tigers survive in the wild, compared to 100,000 a century ago, due to habitat loss, declining prey-base, conflict with humans and illegal poaching. PTI AJSariska incident may overshadow maiden global tiger summit
New Delhi, Nov 17 (PTI) The death of a translocated tiger in Sariska has come as a rude shock for conservationists readying to meet at the maiden global tiger summit in Russia next week to find ways to ensure that population of the endangered animal doubles from existing 3,200 over the next decade.
The meet to be attended by 13 tiger range countries including India aims at "empowering them to address the entire spectrum of threats, domestic as well as trans-boundary, and working towards increased sustainability through the integration of conservation objectives into development."
However, the death of one of the five translocated big cats in Sariska national park in Rajasthan has exposed gaping loopholes in the conservation efforts, claim wildlife experts who have accused the government of not taking sufficient corrective measures to save the species.
"It is certainly going to be a major issue of discussion at the global meet from 21-24 November, overshadowing all our positive efforts in the tiger conservation," a senior environment ministry official said.
"The incident is a major jolt to the first-ever bid to re-establish tiger population by relocation in Sariska and only confirmed the incapability of authorities to protect the predators," the official said
Tiger expert Belinda Wright minced no words as she said, "the Rajasthan government has a poor track record in saving tigers as has been evident in the past in 2005 when all the native species were killed by poachers and it was sitting with eyes closed."
She pointed out that Sariska continues to be vulnerable to human disturbance due to existence of national highways, villages and influx of pilgrims.
Soon after the tiger death, Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh was quick to accept responsibility for the tragedy while Rajasthan government suspended two officials for dereliction of duty.
The meet, the first of its kind, will see participation by leaders of the 13 Tiger Range Countries (TRCs) in St Petersburg in Russia who will endorse Global Tiger Recovery Program (GTRP) to address issues posing threat to the predator.
Currently, it is estimated that some 3,200 tigers survive in the wild, compared to 100,000 a century ago, due to habitat loss, declining prey-base, conflict with humans and illegal poaching. The Global Tiger Recovery Program has emerged after a two-year-long consultation process in which TRCs have taken the lead in learning from each other about best practises and defining priority actions to be taken to deal with the threat of tiger extinction.
Most importantly, the Global Tiger Forum (GTF), of which India is a founding member, and the Global Tiger Initiative (GTI) launched by World Bank President Robert B Zoellick have inked a pact to work together for the cause of worldwide tiger conservation.
Hailing the consultative knowledge-based process undertaken by the World Bank president, Ramesh had recently said that the initiative has brought all TRCs on a single platform to protect the big cats.
Keshav Varma, the GTI Programme Director, has said that India with its project tiger programme is now setting the stage for a global recovery of wild tigers and protection of the economic and biodiversity values of these habitats.
Other tiger range countries such as Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, China, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmmar, Nepal, Russia, Thailand and Vietnam are expected to attend the global meet to be hosted by Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.