By Judy Mills
Wild tigers have gained ground recently — literally as well as politically.
On June 19, World Bank President Robert Zoellick celebrated the first anniversary of the Global Tiger Initiative by announcing a partnership between the Bank and the Smithsonian Institution to build capacity of officials in tiger range countries to better protect wild tigers.
In his remarks at the Smithsonian Castle in Washington DC, Zoellick noted that there now are fewer than 3,500 tigers left in the wild and that losing them would be “an extraordinary tragedy.” He called on the United States and China, the world’s two largest consumers of products from wild animals and plants, to work together to reduce demand for dead tigers and their parts and derivatives.
The Global Tiger Initiative came about because of the Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund-supported Campaign Against Tiger Trafficking (CATT), a project of Save The Tiger Fund. CATT catalyzed formation of the International Tiger Coalition (ITC), an alliance of 40 organizations from the environmental, zoo, animal welfare, traditional Chinese medicine and responsible tourism communities, speaking with one voice against tiger trade from all sources.
“The ITC sought World Bank involvement because we felt it would add a powerful and persuasive voice to the international call to stop tiger farming and trade,” says ITC Moderator Judy Mills. “We are especially pleased that the World Bank’s president takes passionate personal interest in stopping tiger trade.”
The new partnership will support a Conservation and Development Network that will train hundreds of rangers, foresters and other habitat managers in the latest practices in biodiversity management, with a specific focus on preserving and increasing wild tiger populations. The Bank will also dedicate more than $1 million over the next year toward these training efforts.
Tiger experts agree that industrial farming of tigers to supply a potential reopening of tiger trade in counties such as China and Vietnam poses one of the greatest threats to the survival of wild tigers. Due to this looming threat, Parties to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) agreed in 2007 that farming of tigers on a commercial scale for sale of their parts and products should be phased out. However, when CITES officially asked countries with tiger farms to report on their efforts to phase out these farms, none complied. The ITC has asked the CITES Standing Committee to take additional steps to ensure compliance, including site visits by CITES officials.
In other big news for tigers in June, the U.S. government announced that it will forgive nearly $30 million of debt owed by Indonesia in return for increased protection of some of the tiger’s last, best habitat in Sumatra’s forests, an arrangement negotiated and supported financially by Conservation International’s Global Conservation Fund .
The land area involved encompasses 13 important areas, several of which are key to the survival of Sumatran tigers. Many of the areas, such as Gunung Leuser, Kerinci Seblat and Bukit Barisan Selatan national parks, have also been priority sites for Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund investment with gains that will now be sustained with the help of funds from the new deal.
“This combined area in central Sumatra is so important that it is a UNESCO world heritage site for tigers,” says Jennifer Morris, Conservation International vice president for ecosystem finance. “This debt swap will help protect the lush but embattled jungle homes of Sumatran tigers, elephants and orangutans, along with all of their climate-cooling forests, watersheds and medicinal plants that help secure a healthy planet for us all.”