BIG CAT, BIG CONSERVATION EFFORT
Tiger conservation began in the 1970s, with the establishment of the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), which chose the charismatic creature as a flagship species and began efforts to consolidate tiger protection efforts. Still, tiger numbers steadily plummeted from continued habitat loss and hunting for the deplorable trade in tiger parts.
By 2010, wild tiger numbers were estimated at just 3200, a 97 percent decline from the 1900s. I was a young officer working for WWF when top brass decided it was time for drastic action.
Since renamed the World Wide Fund for Nature, WWF came up with an ambitious programme called Tx2 or “Tigers Times Two” -- to double the number of wild tigers from 3000 to 6000 by the next year of the Tiger in 2022.
WWF convened the governments of the 13 remaining countries where wild tigers still lived: Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, Russia, Thailand and Vietnam. At the historic Saint Petersburg Tiger Summit, a global tiger recovery plan was crafted. This was a concrete plan for each country to meet its specific Tx2 targets.
After eight years of hard, uphill conservation work, the world’s tiger population is slowly recovering -- the first time in a century. From 3200, numbers are rising, with 3900 today and more born yearly. Nepal alone doubled its wild tigers in less than a decade -- the first tiger range country to do so.
“This is a pivotal step in the recovery of one of the world’s most endangered and iconic species,” said WWF’S Ginette Hemley for a Time Magazine interview. “But much more work and investment is needed if we are to reach our goal of doubling wild tiger numbers by 2022.”