Tiger Recovery Efforts Progressing, Urgent Action Still Needed to Fight Poaching

Tiger Recovery Efforts Progressing, Urgent Action Still Needed to Fight Poaching

Tiger range countries in their first meeting to review efforts on doubling the number of wild tigers by 2022 reported significant progress, but recognized that urgent and elevated action is still needed to halt poaching.

In November 2010 at the “Tiger Summit” in St. Petersburg hosted by the Government of Russia and the World Bank, the 13 Tiger Range Governments and partners committed to doubling the number of wild tigers by 2022 (TX2). They presented the Global Tiger Recovery Program (GTRP), which represents the plans towards meeting this goal.

The meeting in New Delhi, held from 15-17th May 2012, was the first time since the Tiger Summit that senior government officials from all 13 countries have met to review progress on implementation of the GTRP and plan the next steps.

During the meeting, TRAFFIC presented new figures from its latest research into the rising number of Tiger part seizures taking place in Asia. With 53 seizures occurring each year, levels remain high. The analysis also identified persistent Tiger trade hot-spots such as Kathmandu, Hanoi and the Russia/Northeast China border.

Poaching of tigers, to feed consumer demand for their body parts and products, is now the main factor reversing the gains made by governments, donors and other partners working towards the 2022 goal.

Nearly all Tiger range countries spoke of the poaching problem and efforts they are taking on the ground to tackle it. These include strengthening capacity and introducing new, innovative law enforcement monitoring tools, such as M-STrIPES and SMART, to better manage protected areas with Tigers. It is essential that a Tiger trade monitoring system be established as information such as this can assist enforcement efforts in the field where it is most needed.

Countries also considered new approaches to reduce consumer demand for Tiger derivatives.

“We are pleased that the approaches we recommended on demand reduction are being considered to support implementation of the GTRP,” said Sabri Zain, Director of Advocacy and Campaigns, TRAFFIC International. 

Posted by George Daniels on Wednesday May 23 2012, 2:03 AM EST. Ref: TRAFFIC. All trademarks acknowledged. Filed under Featured News, Health. Comments and Trackbacks closed. Follow responses: RSS 2.0