Tiger conservation attempts to prevent tigers from becoming extinct and preserving its natural habitat. This is one of the main objectives of the international animal conservation community. The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) has played a crucial role in improving international efforts for tiger conservation.
CITES CITES is an international governance network employing tools and measures which adapt and become more efficient with time.Dickson, B. (2002). International conservation treaties, poverty and development: The case of CITES. ODI Natural Resource Perspectives, 74(January), 4. One measure specifically aimed at protecting the tiger is visible in the network's efforts to ban the trade of tigers or tiger derivatives. CITES members have agreed to adhere to this international trade ban; once a member states ratifies and implements CITES it bans such trade within its national borders.CITES. (2011).
The CITES Secretariat is administrated by the UNEPCITES. (2011). which works closely with NGOs such as The Trade Records Analysis of Flora and Fauna in Commerce (TRAFFIC) to assist member states with the implementation of the convention. States are provided with training and information about requirements (when necessary), and their progress and a compliance are monitored and evaluated.Gemmill, B. and Bamidele-Izu, A. (2010). The Role of NGOs and Civil Society in Global Environmental Governance http://environment.research.yale.edu/documents/downloads/a-g/gemmill.pdf (Accessed 20 March 2011).
In order for CITES to work effectively it requires the involvement of institutions, NGOs, civil society and member states: especially Asian tiger range member countries. The Tiger Range Countries (TRC) – countries where tigers still roam free – are:
(Contains about 70% of tiger population)
While there have been no recent tiger sightings in North Korea, it is the only country listed which has not ratified CITES.CITES (2011). http://www.cites.org/eng/disc/parties/alphabet.shtml
The 13 TRC who are CITES member states recently held a conference in Russia and jointly vowed to double the estimated number of tigers left in the wild (3200).WWF. (2010). http://www.worldwildlife.org/species/finder/tigers/index.html (Accessed 20 March 2011). Poaching, however, remains a very significant problem in all 13 TRC, despite the implementation of CITES regulations within their borders.
In the 15th CITES conference held in Doha, Qatar in March 2010, all party members agreed to stricter agreements between members states to protect the tiger. However the United Nations warned that tigers are still at risk of becoming extinct as members states are currently failing to clamp down hard on the illegal trade of tigers and tiger derivatives within their borders.Black, R. (2010). Tiger decline is 'sign of world's failure'. BBC http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/8568035.stm
Although CITES has been successful in curbing this illegal trade, CITES as an international institution relies on member states to effectively implement conventions within their national borders. The quality of such implementation varies significantly within member states.TRAFFIC. (1997). Tiger Progress? The Response to CITES Resolution Conf. 9.13. Traffic International, Cambridge.TRAFFIC. (1997). Rhinoceros Horn and Tiger Bone in China: An Investigation of Trade Since the 1993 Ban. Traffic International, Cambridge. For example, Thailand implemented CITES policies to a very high standard but the illegal tiger trade is still rife within this country.WWF. (2010). https://wwf.panda.org/who_we_are/wwf_offices/laos/?197018/The-Big-Cat-Trade-in-Myanmar-and-Thailand (Accessed 23 March 2011). A governance structure such as CITES is powerless to control issues such as poaching unless it has the full cooperation of all actors, including the state.
Another reason why CITES seems to be failing could be ascribed to the lucrative nature of the tiger trade. The World Bank estimates that the illegal international trade of wildlife on the black market is worth an estimated $10bn per year. By selling one tiger skeleton, a poacher could make an amount equal to what some labourer would earn in 10 years.Seaworld.org https://www.seaworld.org/animal-info/info-books/tiger/longevity.htm (Accessed 28 March 2011)
A report released by the International Union for Conservation of Nature reported that wild tiger populations were 40% higher than previously estimated, with between 3,726 and 5,578 tigers believed to be in the wild. Despite these improvements, populations of tigers have declined precipitously in Malaysia and are now likely extinct in Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam.
India
Project Tiger started in 1973, is a major effort to conserve the tiger and its habitats in India.Project Tiger Accessed Feb, 2007 At the turn of the 20th century, one estimate of the tiger population in India placed the figure at 40,000, yet an Indian tiger census conducted in 1972 revealed the existence of only 1,827 tigers. Various pressures in the latter part of the 20th century led to the progressive decline of wilderness resulting in the disturbance of viable tiger habitats. At the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN) General Assembly meeting in Delhi in 1969, serious concern was voiced about the threat to several wildlife species, and the shrinkage of wilderness in India from poaching. In 1970, a national ban on tiger hunting was imposed, and in 1972 the Wildlife Protection Act came into force. The framework was then set to formulate a project for tiger conservation with an ecological approach.
Project Tiger aims at tiger conservation in specially-constituted tiger reserves, which are representative of various bio-geographical regions in the country. It strives to maintain viable tiger populations in their natural environment. As of 2019, there are 50 tiger reserves in India, covering an area of .
At the Kalachakra Tibetan Buddhist festival in India in January 2006, the Dalai Lama preached a ruling against using, selling, or buying wild animals, their products, or derivatives. When Tibetan pilgrims returned to Tibet afterwards, his words resulted in the widespread destruction by Tibetans of their wild animal skins, including tiger and leopard skins used as ornamental garments.
In 2010 India signed an agreement, along with 12 other countries with tiger populations, to double its tiger numbers by 2022. India's 2014 tiger census showed a population of 2,226, a sharp increase from its all-time low of 1,411 in 2006 and about a 30% increase from its tiger population in 2011. A comprehensive survey from 2018 showed a tiger population of 2,962, an increase of 33% from the 2014 numbers, although independent researchers and conservation experts have suggested that the promising tiger numbers be used with some caution.
China In China, tigers became the target of large-scale 'anti-pest' campaigns in the early 1950s, where suitable habitats were fragmented following deforestation and resettlement of people to rural areas, who hunted tigers and prey species. Though tiger hunting was prohibited in 1977, the population continued to decline and is considered extinct in southern China since 2001. In northeastern China's Hunchun National Nature Reserve, camera-traps recorded a tiger with four cubs for the first time in 2012. During subsequent surveys, between 27 and 34 tigers were documented along the China–Russia border.
During the early 1970s, such as in the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment, China rejected the Western-led environmentalist movement as an impeachment on the full use of its own resources. However, this stance softened during the 1980s, as China emerged from diplomatic isolation and desired normal trade relations with Western countries. China became a party to the CITES treaty in 1981, bolstering efforts at tiger conservation by transnational groups like Project Tiger, which were supported by the United Nations Development Programme and the World Bank. In 1988, China passed the Law on the Protection of Wildlife, listing the tiger as a Category I protected species. In 1993, China banned the trade on tiger parts, which led to a drop in the number of tiger bones harvested for use in traditional Chinese medicine.
In 2008, the UK newspaper the Sunday Telegraph published an expose on the illegal sale of tiger bones from protect tiger sanctuaries. Subsequently, in 2018, the State Council of the People's Republic of China proposed a new order that would allow for the use of farmed tiger bones in medical research and treatment - this sparked a significant international backlash. While the implementation of the order was delayed, the order itself was not rescinded. On 25 October 2018, the 25-year ban against the use of rhino horn and tiger body parts was lifted.
Tiger trade in Tibet However, as the tiger bone trade was undermined by effective Chinese legislation in the 1990s, the Tibetan people's trade in tiger pelts emerged as a relatively more important threat to tigers. As wealth in the Tibetan areas increased, singers and participants in annual Tibetan horse races began to wear chuba (traditional Tibetan robes) with trimmed with tiger, otter, and leopard fur. Clothing ornamented with tiger pelts became a standard of beauty, and even mandatory at weddings, with Tibetan families competing to buy larger and larger pelts to demonstrate their social status.
In 2003, Chinese customs officials in Tibet intercepted 31 tigers, 581 leopards, and 778 otters, which, if sold in the Tibetan capital of Lhasa, would have netted $10,000, $850, and $250 respectively. By 2004, international conservation organizations such as World Wide Fund for Nature, Fauna and Flora International, and Conservation International were targeting Tibetans in China in successful environmental propaganda campaigns against the tiger skin trade. In the summer of 2005, the Environmental Investigation Agency sent undercover teams to Litang and Nagchu in order to film documentation of Tibetan violations of Chinese environmental law for submission to the Chinese CITES office. In April 2005, Care for the Wild International and Wildlife Trust of India confronted the 14th Dalai Lama about the Tibetan trade, and his response was recorded as "awkward" and "ambushed", with suspicion against the NGOs for trying to "dramatize" the situation as "mak[ing] it seem as if Tibetans were the culprit".
Conservation efforts In 2017, China launched the world's largest protected area, the Northeast China Tiger and Leopard National Park spanning over in the southern part of the Changbai Mountains along the border with Russia and North Korea. Work during the pilot phase included closure of industrial and mining enterprises, removal of fences, buildings, farms, livestock and hunting gear, rescue and release of wildlife, establishment of feeding points for wildlife, and restoration of fragmented habitat. Researchers suggested that the park's capacity is insufficient to support the sustained existence of a Siberian tiger population.
Other areas Forest cover in Vietnam has been reduced to less than 15% of the original extent before the 1940s, due to warfare, illegal logging, and slash and burn agricultural practices. The tiger is legally protected in the country since 1960, but trade of tiger body parts continued to the mid 1990s. Tigers were still present in northern Vietnam bordering China in the 1990s. As of 2015, this population is considered possibly extinct.