World Tiger Day: The cats have gone extinct in 3 Southeast Asian countries

World Tiger Day: The cats have gone extinct in 3 Southeast Asian countries

Subject: Environment

Context: As the world celebrates yet another World Tiger Day July 29, 2022, there is sobering news. The International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) recently confirmed that the tiger has gone extinct in Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam

International Tiger Day:

• It is observed every year all over the world on July 29.
• International Tiger Day was introduced in 2010 after it was discovered that 97 percent of tigers had disappeared in the past century, with only about 3,000 remaining.
• The day seeks to protect and expand tiger habitats apart from preserving these species.
• International Tiger Day is observed by many international organizations, including the World Wide Fund for Nature, the International Fund for Animal Welfare, and the Smithsonian Institution.

India, the land of Tigers:

• More than 70% of the world’s tiger population is found in India. India has 15 species of wild cat, accounting for 40% of all species found worldwide. Unfortunately, 9 of these 15 cats are either endangered, vulnerable or near threatened.
• Over the last 150 years, there has been a massive drop of nearly 95% in the global tiger population, making these charismatic animals vulnerable to extinction.
• In the wake of the rapid decline in the global population of the tiger several countries signed an agreement at the Saint Petersburg Tiger Summit in Russia on July, 29, 2010 committing to take concrete measures to preserve the species. This resolution was adopted In November 2010, by the leaders of 13 tiger range countries (TRCs) assembled at an International Tiger Forum in St. Petersburg, Russia
• Global Tiger Forum is an international intergovernmental body exclusively set up for the conservation of tigers in the wild in the range countries. Out of the 13 tiger range countries, seven are currently members of GTF: Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, India, Myanmar, Nepal and Vietnam besides non-tiger range country U.K. The secretariat is based in New Delhi, India. GTF’s goal is to highlight the rationale for tiger preservation and provide leadership and a common approach throughout the world in order to safeguard the survival of the tiger, its prey, and its habitat.
• In India, in the year 1900, we had 100,000 tigers, which went down to just 1,411 by 2006. Owing to the continuous efforts, India’s total tiger population increased to 2967 in 2019
• According to the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), there were about 3,900 tigers across the globe in 2021. This is well short of the 6,000 that was targeted at the St Petersburg Summit for the year 2022

Causes for decline in tiger population:

• Every year more than 100 tigers die due to unnatural issues, many because of habitat destruction which lead to human-animal conflict.
• Due to the depletion of natural habitat, tigers often enter human settlement areas. They attack livestock and occasionally human beings for survival.
• Habitat destruction also leads to prey depletion which in turn leads to health and survival concerns for tigers

Concept:

Tiger Range Countries:

• Historically, tigers once ranged widely across Asia, but in recent decades, populations have been restricted to 13 countries, namely Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia (locally extinct), China, India, Indonesia, Lao PDR (locally extinct), Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, Russia, Thailand, and Viet Nam (locally extinct).
• In 2010, leaders from the 13 countries that currently or recently had tigers came together and set out to achieve an unprecedented goal: doubling the number of tigers in the wild by 2022.
• Partnering with the 13 range country governments and other organizations, WWF played a critical role in creating a shared vision for tiger conservation by committing to the same goal
• Known as TX2, this is probably the most ambitious global recovery effort ever undertaken for a single species and a significant turning point for tiger conservation
• TX2 works across broad landscapes and encourages trans-boundary collaboration through a strategic, long-term approach that increases protection where the tigers are currently, engages local communities as leaders and partners in conservation, maintains or restores wildlife corridors and connectivity between areas, and boosts resources to secure a future where tigers and people can coexist.

Project Tiger

• Project Tiger is a Centrally Sponsored Scheme of the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change launched in 1973 to provide central assistance to the tiger States for tiger conservation in designated tiger reserves in India. The project is administered by the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA).
• National Tiger Conservation Authority
• National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) is a statutory body under the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change.
• It was established in 2005 following the recommendations of the Tiger Task Force.
• It was constituted under enabling provisions of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972, as amended in 2006, for strengthening tiger conservation, as per powers and functions assigned to it.

The National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) has launched the M-STrIPES (Monitoring System for Tigers – Intensive Protection and Ecological Status), a mobile monitoring system for forest guards.