{"id":20095762,"date":"2022-07-29T08:00:00","date_gmt":"2022-07-29T02:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thethirdpole.net\/?post_type=opinion&p=95762"},"modified":"2024-04-12T11:51:41","modified_gmt":"2024-04-12T11:51:41","slug":"opinion-celebrate-tiger-population-success-but-huge-task-ahead","status":"publish","type":"opinion","link":"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/nature\/opinion-celebrate-tiger-population-success-but-huge-task-ahead\/","title":{"rendered":"Opinion: Let\u2019s celebrate tiger success, but recognise the huge task ahead"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

2022 is the Year of the Tiger in the Chinese zodiac. In 2010, the last Year of the Tiger, leaders of the 13 countries where tigers were then thought to survive in the wild gathered in St Petersburg, Russia, to make a historic commitment to the future of the species. The aim of the 2010 Global Tiger Summit was to create an action plan to double the species\u2019 global population \u2013 then estimated at around 3,200 \u2013 by the next Year of the Tiger.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now that time is here, has the plan succeeded? As the world marks International Tiger Day today, can those 13 countries celebrate a historic conservation achievement?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The answer, as so often in conservation, is complicated. Some countries<\/a> have achieved genuine success. Last year, conservationists celebrated as Nepal announced<\/a> it had almost reached the goal of doubling its wild tigers, recording an estimated 235 individuals in a 2017-18 survey, up from its 121 estimate in 2009.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cautious numbers, complicated reality<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

One week ago, the International Union for Conservation of Nature \u2013 the world\u2019s premier authority on wild species\u2019 threatened status \u2013 released an updated assessment<\/a> for the tiger. While the species is still classified as \u2018Endangered\u2019, the new assessment, compiled from the latest data, estimates the global wild tiger population at around 4,500 individuals. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a press release<\/a>, the big cat conservation organisation Panthera, which led the new assessment, suggests wild tiger numbers have stabilised, and may be increasing, largely thanks to successful conservation efforts in South Asia. Such conclusions must be cautious because, due to changes in surveying methods, this figure cannot be directly compared to earlier population estimates. Panthera cautioned that the new higher estimate is \u201cpartly due to improvements in or a more complete counting of the species\u201d, and that previous assessments used \u201chighly conservative population estimates or underestimates\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Still, the news is cause for real celebration among conservationists. Wild tiger numbers are growing in protected areas in India, Nepal and Thailand, the result of years of dedication and hard work in the face of unrelenting threats.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"tiger<\/div>
A wild tiger in India’s Ranthambore National Park, where the population is doing well (Image: Alamy)<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Tigers in freefall across Southeast Asia<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

But the new headline population estimate risks masking a sad and often forgotten fact: tigers once roamed from Turkey to Korea; from Pakistan to Bali. Today they survive in pockets of their former range, concentrated in South Asia because they have been driven to extinction almost everywhere else.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Of the 13 countries that pledged to double their wild tigers in 2010, the tiger is now considered extinct in three: Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos. The world\u2019s biggest cat proved no match for unrelenting hunting pressure from those poaching it for its body parts, as well as the indiscriminate snaring<\/a> that threatens the integrity of forest ecosystems across mainland Southeast Asia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"tiger<\/div>
Source: IUCN SSC Cat Specialist Group 2022. Panthera tigris. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species \u2022 Map by The Third Pole<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

The picture is not much rosier in Myanmar or Malaysia. In the former, as few as 22 tigers<\/a> are estimated to survive, despite large areas of intact forest. Poaching has driven Malaysia\u2019s tigers to the brink of extinction, with the current estimate of 100 individuals a steep and tragic fall from an estimated 500 in 2010. Even if this earlier figure was an overestimate<\/a>, the fact that so few tigers survive in Malaysia’s forests is a sad indictment of a failure to stop poaching and quell demand for tiger body parts. These are sold for luxury decorations and jewellery, and for use in traditional medicine, primarily to buyers in China and Vietnam.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A clear government line from consumer countries that buying or using tiger body parts is illegal and unacceptable has been striking in its absence<\/blockquote><\/cite><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

In Russia too \u2013 where Siberian tigers are the northerly surviving outpost of a range that once spanned East Asia \u2013 poaching<\/a> continues to threaten the boreal big cat. In China, aside from a tiny but growing population along the Russian border, wild tigers are essentially extinct.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Undoubtedly the main reason is that there are still people willing to spend significant sums for the body parts of dead tigers. Precedents have shown that properly enforced bans in demand markets, accompanied by clear and well-circulated messaging, can reduce demand for wildlife products \u2013 see the disappearance of big cat skins from fashion runways, and the recovery of the Tibetan antelope after crackdowns on shahtoosh <\/em>(a fine wool made from the antelope\u2019s hair). But this has never truly happened in the main demand markets for tiger parts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The terrible logic of \u2018tiger farms\u2019<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

In China, even after use of tiger bone in traditional medicine was banned in 1993, the government has presided over a huge growth in tiger \u2018farms\u2019, where thousands of tigers are raised in conditions that mean they could never be released into the wild. Several of these \u2018farms\u2019 have been alleged to sell tiger bone wine<\/a>. Then in 2018, a government notice<\/a> appeared to legalise use of tiger bone in medicine. Its status remains unclear.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>
Recommended<\/span><\/span><\/div><\/a>\n\n\n\n

The government of Laos, where illegal trade in captive-bred tigers has flourished, pledged to phase out tiger farms in 2016. This simply hasn\u2019t happened<\/a>. As smuggling of body parts from wild and captive tigers continues, a clear government line from consumer countries \u2013 that buying or using tiger body parts is illegal and unacceptable \u2013 has been striking in its absence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hard work ahead of the Global Tiger Summit<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

There are interesting plans afoot that could, if successful, bring the wild tiger back to parts of Asia where it has been hunted to extinction. Discussions about reintroducing tigers to Cambodia<\/a> have circulated for several years, though the country\u2019s forests continue to face ecological wipe-out from snaring. In Kazakhstan \u2013 decades since the death of the last Caspian tiger \u2013 work is underway to set the stage for the tiger\u2019s return, including the reintroduction<\/a> of potential prey species.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Exciting as these possibilities may be, they should not distract from the hard work needed to ensure wild tiger numbers in South Asia continue to inch upwards. Poaching has not gone away \u2013 the Wildlife Protection Society of India<\/a> counts 56 tigers as having been poached or seized from illegal trade in the country in 2021 alone. Continued investment in protecting habitat and anti-poaching is essential, as recent gains can very quickly be undone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To see Asia\u2019s apex predator surviving in South Asia alone would be a tragedy for ecosystems and cultures across the continent<\/blockquote><\/cite><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Moreover, as they prepare updated conservation plans to be brought to the next Global Tiger Summit later this year, India, Nepal and Bhutan must plan for success. As tiger reserves reach capacity, investment is sorely needed in habitat corridors and community engagement programmes. The needs, safety and perspectives of the people living alongside a potentially deadly predator must be at the forefront of policy design.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Beyond South Asia, tiger range countries must look at what seems to be working: well-protected habitat, well-resourced anti-poaching programmes and a clear message that tigers are worth more alive than dead. To see Asia\u2019s apex predator surviving in South Asia alone would be a tragedy for ecosystems and cultures across the continent. It cannot be allowed to happen. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

With a new, higher global population estimate, there is plenty to celebrate this International Tiger Day. But beyond South Asia, the picture is far from rosy<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":20095808,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","categories":[764],"tags":[523,539,582],"country":[20000111,20000113],"class_list":["post-20095762","opinion","type-opinion","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nature","tag-conservation","tag-endangered-species","tag-protected-areas","country-india","country-nepal"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nOn International Tiger Day, a huge task is still ahead | Dialogue Earth<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"With a higher global tiger population estimate, there is plenty to celebrate on International Tiger Day. 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