Keep it up

It´s good news that the number of endangered Royal Bengal tigers in Nepal and India is on a steady rise. A report released by the Indian government last week says that the total number of adult tigers in India has risen to a whopping 1,706 from 1,411 over a four-year period. In Nepal the tiger census taken towards the end of last year revealed that there are 155 adults in our jungles. Interestingly, tiger numbers have gone up especially in the conservation areas along the Indo-Nepal border.



In Uttarakhand state of India alone, the number of tigers has reached 54, the largest increase in one particular Indian state in the last four years. The number of tigers in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar together is now 353, up from 297. These states border five of Nepal’s wildlife sanctuaries -- Parsa, Chitwan, Banke, Bardiya and Sukhlaphanta.



With the release of the new figures, the tiger populations in India and Nepal now together account for more than half the total world tiger population, which is estimated to be around 3,400. This is a remarkable achievement for both neighboring countries, especially given the unprecedented rise in illegal tiger parts trade in South Asia. The Indo-Nepal border is a hub for the multi-billion dollar trade in tiger parts, especially the skins and bones, which are exported mostly to China. Tiger bones are used for the production of traditional Chinese medicines.



The robust new tiger numbers are a direct result of the national and international commitment to saving this big cat from the threat of extinction. But most importantly, it shows that nothing is impossible if governments have the will to keep to a goal – the goal here being to protect our environment and save endangered species. In a remarkable show of unity, world leaders came together in 2010, which incidentally was also the year of the tiger, to commit themselves to and motivate everyone else to joining hands in saving this magnificent creature and in fighting off poachers.



The heads of state summit in St Petersberg, Russia was the climax of a year-long initiative under the tiger recovery program adopted by 13 Tiger Range Countries (TRCs) last year. The remarkable work put in by various NGOs, INGOs and other agencies involved in the protection of tigers and their habitats must also be commended.



However, all this is just the first step. States still have a long way to go before they can proudly proclaim that tigers are now safe as a species or even that their numbers have reached a reasonably comfortable level. We must remember that at the turn of the century the global tiger population had dropped to a mere 3,400 from some 100,000 in the not so distant past. The TRCs must keep up the commitment and momentum of 2010. They must keep up the good work. Greater coordination, collaboration, experience-sharing and investment in the required human resources and technology will surely bring much bigger gains in the years to come.

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