At a press meet in the capital on Sunday, WWF disclosed the map, which has depicted Nepal as a global crossroad for illegal trade in tiger skins and bones from South Asia into Tibet and elsewhere in China “coordinated by a covert network of middlemen”. There are 121 adult tigers in Nepal and the number of tigers has plummeted in western Nepal. [break]
There are only an estimated 3,200 tigers left in the wild, and they face increasing threats including habitat loss, illegal trade and climate change, according to the map.
The other trouble spots identified in the map are US, Europe, Indonesia, Malaysia, India, Bangladesh, Russia, China and Vietnam.
WWF also launched its Tx2 campaign with the slogan “Double or Nothing: Save the wild tigers and save so much more!” globally on Sunday. WWF offices in 13 tiger range states as well as key offices outside the region will be campaigning throughout the year from “grassroots awareness efforts to targeted political engagement”.
Speaking on the occasion, Country Representative of WWF Nepal Anil Manandhar, said, “We appreciate Nepal´s commitment to establish Banke National Park expanding the tiger habitat in the west, establish National Tiger Conservation Authority and Wildlife Crime Control Bureau to control poaching.”
In the lead up to the Vladivostok Head of the States Summit in Russia in September, all 13 tiger range countries had recently committed to doubling the number of tigers in the wild by 2022.
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