Will Asian Governments move fast enough to save the Tiger?
17 February, 2008
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Will Asian Governments move fast enough to save the Tiger?
By Nirmal Ghosh
(Article first published on Feb 17 in The Straits Times)
Not very far from Singapore in increasingly quiet jungles, a sad and lonely drama is being played out.
At the rate Sumatran tigers are being killed, skinned and butchered and sold part by body part, after the south China tiger, it is probably the most likely to disappear from the face of the Earth.
Seemingly inexorably, Asia is losing its tigers.
Refined census techniques show a sharp drop in the number of tigers left in the wild in India.
The south China tiger is probably functionally extinct - meaning that, in a genetic dead-end, the population is too small and scattered to breed.
Last week, from Jakarta to New Delhi, officials and conservation organisations have been struggling to catch up with the escalating crisis.
Indonesia has already lost two races of the tiger - the Javan and Balinese. Now, it is in the process of losing the last - the Sumatran.
In Sumatra, there are now only 400 to 500 tigers left.
'It doesn't take a mathematician to work out that the Sumatran tiger will disappear like the Javan and Bali tigers if the poaching and trade continues,' said Ms Julia Ng, programme officer with TRAFFIC South-east Asia, which monitors trade in illegal wildlife.
Habitat conversion - in short, the destruction of once-pristine forests to make way for highways, plantations, towns and industry - is the overall driver of the tiger's extinction across Asia. But what is proving the final straw is the direct removal of individual animals by poachers supplying the Chinese and other Far Eastern markets with tiger products.
A TRAFFIC report on trade in Sumatra released last Wednesday - co-authored by Ms Julia Ng - states:
'Tiger body parts, including canine teeth, claws, skin pieces, whiskers and bones, were on sale in 10 per cent of 326 retail outlets surveyed during 2006 in 28 cities and towns across Sumatra.
Outlets included goldsmiths, souvenir and traditional Chinese medicine shops, and shops selling antique and precious stones.'
Based on the number of canines seen, the survey conservatively estimated that the products offered accounted for 23 tigers killed.
While this was down from an estimate of 52 killed in a previous study over 1999-2000, that is more a reflection of the difficulty of finding the increasingly rare tigers than to a decline in demand, Ms Ng said.
TRAFFIC's surveys have for several years pin-pointed Medan, the capital of North Sumatra province, and the smaller adjacent town of Pancur Batu, as the main hubs for the trade of tiger parts.
But 'despite TRAFFIC providing the authorities with details of traders involved, apart from awareness-raising activities, it is not clear whether any serious enforcement action has been taken'', the report states.
'We have to deal with the trade,' admits Dr Tonny Soehartono, director for Biodiversity Conservation in Indonesia's Ministry of Forestry, in a press release issued with the report.
'Currently we are facing many other crucial problems which, unfortunately, are causing the decline of Sumatran tiger populations.' He cited land-use changes and habitat fragmentation, which often drive tigers closer to humans, and poverty, as problems which lead to human-tiger conflict.
Such conflict is the core of the problem.
Many scholars of human society and ecology have pointed out that from around the time of the Industrial Revolution, man has increasingly seen himself and his destiny as outside nature and controlling it, rather than of nature and part of it.
And nature is only valued in the short-term sense of its use for humans.
Tigers in particular have suffered from two mutually reinforcing factors: ignorance and fear. Thus they have more often than not been killed off by people when they have the means to destroy them.
But the ethical argument is only part of the picture. When tigers disappear, it is the clearest indication that the forest they inhabited is not what it once was. Our version of the Arctic's now-iconic polar bears, stranded by global warming on melting ice floes, is the tiger.
In India, the number of tigers - excluding in the Sunderbans delta which may have a few dozen - has sunk to just over 1,400, confirming the most pessimistic estimates of conservationists who have been struggling for years to challenge and assist a government in denial or paralysis.
In an echo of Sumatra, protection staff, where they exist at all, are middle-aged, under-funded, under-equipped and under-motivated - and often up against young poachers run by sophisticated international criminal syndicates.
India now has an ambitious, US$154 million (S$218 million) plan to move human habitation out of core tiger habitats and create eight new tiger reserves.
But most of the money will go to relocation of villages, potentially leaving protection again neglected. And there are still plans to build highways through tiger habitats. Indonesia launched a 'Conservation Strategy and Action Plan of Sumatran Tiger 2007-2017' at last year's Climate Change Convention in Bali.
But 'there is no effective enforcement on the ground', notes Kuala Lumpur- based Chris Shepherd of TRAFFIC.
'It boils down to lack of resources. Wildlife crime isn't viewed as a high priority in Indonesia or anywhere in South- east Asia.'
There is an ongoing attempt by China's State Forestry Administration to open up the trade in tiger parts.
The rationale offered is that a flood of supplies from farmed tigers - of which China has upwards of 5,000 - will drive prices down and eliminate incentives for poachers.
But the push to open the trade has more to do with making money for farmers than saving wild tigers.
It costs around US$4,000 to raise a tiger to adulthood in a farm, but less than US$20 to have one killed by a poacher in the wild. The price differential, which is impossible to bridge, is only one reason why the propaganda of the farmers collapses.
But scientists of the US-based Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) and the British-based Panthera Foundation tabled plans in New Delhi last Thursday - and in effect challenged governments - to create an 8,000-km corridor extending from Bhutan through India, Myanmar, Thailand, Malaysia, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam for tigers.
It is a grand scheme strewn with obstacles, but it is possible - and could save the tiger on the Asian mainland.
Noted Dr Alan Rabinowatz, director of science and exploration at the WCS: 'We're not asking countries to set aside new parks to make this corridor a success.
'This is more about changing regional zoning in tiger range countries to allow tigers to move more freely between areas of good habitat.'
MORE DETAILS :
- 8,000 km corridor for tigers?
New Delhi, Feb. 14: Tigers from eight Asian countries may be able to intermingle through an 8,000km corridor proposed by international conservation organisations to reduce the risk of inbreeding.
The US-based Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) and the UK-based Panthera Foundation have announced they would create a corridor for tigers to roam freely in Asia. The corridor would extend from Bhutan through northeast India, Myanmar, Thailand, Malaysia, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam.
“We’re not asking countries to set aside new parks to make this corridor a success,” said Alan Rabinowatz, director of science and exploration at the WCS. “This is more about changing regional zoning in tiger range countries to allow tigers to move more freely between areas of good habitat,” he said.
Wildlife scientists said the corridor would allow tigers to move from one area to another, and facilitate genetic exchange between what would have been isolated populations under threat of inbreeding.
“This corridor is intended to address the genetic consequences of the fragmentation of tiger habitat,” Ulhas Karanth, director of the India chapter of the WCS, told the daily The Telegraph.
A study by the World Wildlife Fund and other leading conservation organisations two years ago had found that tigers currently occupy 7 per cent of their historical range.
The study, commissioned by the Save The Tiger Fund, had found that although the number of tigers had gone down, Southeast Asia held the promise of sustaining healthy tiger populations.
A senior Indian wildlife official said India supported the concept of a genetic corridor.
“We’re still in the process of negotiating a bilateral agreement with Bhutan to facilitate this,” said Rajesh Gopal, the Project Tiger director. “We’ll need a formal agreement for free movement of animals with both Bhutan and Myanmar,” he said.
India’s Project Tiger officials estimated earlier this week that India had no more than 1,657 tigers left, but asserted that India had the largest number of tigers in the world.
The eight-nation corridor, announced by the two conservation organisations at a UN meeting this year, would represent the largest remaining tiger habitat. “It is feasible if it finds sufficient enthusiasm from the heads of states of each of these countries,” he said.
- India’s Tiger Population confirms worst fears, less than 1500
Feb 13, NEW DELHI (Reuters) - The number of tigers in India has plummeted to around 1,411, nearly half the previous estimate, as humans either kill them for their body parts or encroach on their habitat, according to a government survey.
The estimate comes from the latest tiger census by the government-run National Tiger Conservation Authority, and is based on a more complex counting method.
The previous census, carried out in 2001 and 2002, said there were 3,642 tigers. A century ago there were 40,000.
"The tiger has suffered due to direct poaching, loss of quality habitat, and loss of its prey," Rajesh Gopal, a member of National Tiger Conservation Authority, said in a statement released late on Tuesday.
Conservationists say thousands of forest guard posts lie empty. Guards that do exist are badly paid and underarmed, giving them little incentive to tackle poachers. Tiger body parts are considered a potent ingredient in some folk medicines, especially in China.
It is unlikely that dwindling populations will ever recover, said Valmik Thapar, a conservationist and advisor to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on wildlife affairs.
Thapar blames this on "bad governance, a ridiculously brainless bureaucracy, a ministry of environment and forests that has malfunctioned for the last five years, and a prime minister who had honourable intentions but was badly advised by his own office."
In 2005, the government announced that there were no tigers left in Sariska Tiger Reserve, more than 30 years after it had set up Project Tiger, a national effort to protect the species.
Critics see this as an example of India's perennial difficulty in turning good intentions into ground reality.
But India says it is not giving up. The government recently said it will spend around 6 billion rupees over the next five years -- four times as much as the previous budget.
Some of that money will be spent on shifting villages and tribal communities away from tiger habitats. But the Recognition of Forest Rights Act, passed in 2006 to guarantee forest access to certain communities, has muddied this strategy.
The new survey's margin of error puts the number of tigers as low as 1,165 or as high as 1,657.
The survey did not include the Sundarbans, a vast marshy mangrove forest straddling the border with Bangladesh where tigers are still sometimes spotted, because the terrain requires a different counting methodology.
- Body part by body part, Sumatran Tigers being sold into extinction
Cambridge, UK; Gland, Switzerland: Laws protecting the critically endangered Sumatran Tiger have failed to prevent tiger body parts being offered on open sale in Indonesia, according to a TRAFFIC report launched today.
Tiger body parts, including canine teeth, claws, skin pieces, whiskers and bones, were on sale in 10 percent of the 326 retail outlets surveyed during 2006 in 28 cities and towns across Sumatra. Outlets included goldsmiths, souvenir and traditional Chinese medicine shops, and shops selling antique and precious stones.
The survey conservatively estimates that 23 tigers were killed to supply the products seen, based on the number of canine teeth on sale.
“This is down from an estimate of 52 killed per year in 1999–2000”, said Julia Ng, Programme Officer with TRAFFIC Southeast Asia and lead author on The Tiger Trade Revisited in Sumatra, Indonesia. “Sadly, the decline in availability appears to be due to the dwindling number of tigers left in the wild”.
All of TRAFFIC’s surveys have indicated that Medan, the capital of North Sumatra province, and Pancur Batu, a smaller town situated about 15 km away, are the main hubs for the trade of tiger parts.
Despite TRAFFIC providing authorities with details of traders involved, apart from awareness-raising activities, it is not clear whether any serious enforcement action has been taken.
“Successive surveys continue to show that Sumatran tigers are being sold body part by body part into extinction”, said Dr Susan Lieberman, Director of WWF International’s Species Programme. “This is an enforcement crisis. If Indonesian authorities need enforcement help from the international community they should ask for it. If not, they should demonstrate they are taking enforcement seriously”.
The report recommends that resources and effort should concentrate on effective enforcement to combat the trade by arresting dealers and suppliers. Trade hotspots should be continually monitored and all intelligence be passed to the enforcement authorities for action. Those found guilty of trading in tigers and other protected wildlife should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law.
“We have to deal with the trade. Currently we are facing many other crucial problems which, unfortunately, are causing the decline of Sumatran Tiger populations” explained Dr Tonny Soehartono, Director for Biodiversity Conservation, Ministry of Forestry of Republic of Indonesia. “We have been struggling with the issues of land use changes, habitat fragmentation, human–tiger conflicts and poverty in Sumatra. Land use changes and habitat fragmentation are driving the tiger closer to humans and thus creating human–tiger conflicts”.
As a recent show of commitment, the President of the Republic of Indonesia launched the Conservation Strategy and Action Plan of Sumatran Tiger 2007–2017 during the 2007 Climate Change Convention in Bali.
Sumatra's remaining few tigers are also under threat from rampant deforestation by the pulp and paper and palm oil industries. The combined threats of habitat loss and illegal trade—unless tackled immediately—will be the death knell for Indonesian tigers.
“The Sumatran tiger is already listed as Critically Endangered on IUCN’s Red List of Threatened Species, the highest category of threat before extinction in the wild,” said Jane Smart, Head of IUCN’s Species Programme. “We cannot afford to lose any more of these magnificent creatures”.
“The Sumatran tiger population is estimated to be fewer than 400 to 500 individuals. It doesn’t take a mathematician to work out that the Sumatran Tiger will disappear like the Javan and Bali tigers if the poaching and trade continues” Julia Ng adds.
As Indonesia currently chairs the ASEAN-Wildlife Enforcement Network, TRAFFIC National Co-ordinator Dr Ani Mardiastuti suggested the country “demonstrate leadership to other ASEAN countries by taking action against illegal trade, including in tiger parts.”
Contact:
Richard Thomas
Communications Co-ordinator, TRAFFIC,
t + 44 1223 279068, m + 44 77434 82960,
email
Jan Vertefeuille
Communications Manager, WWF Asian Elephant, Rhino and Tiger Programmes
t +1 202 861-8362, m +1 202 492-0597,
email
Sarah Halls, Media Relations Officer, IUCN,
t +41 22 999 0127 m +41 79 528 3486
email
NOTES:
• The full report The Tiger Trade Revisited in Sumatra, Indonesia can be downloaded here
• TRAFFIC, the wildlife trade monitoring network, works to ensure that trade in wild plants and animals is not a threat to the conservation of nature. TRAFFIC is a joint programme of IUCN and WWF. TRAFFIC published an earlier report on Sumatran tiger trade, Nowhere to hide: the trade in Sumatran Tiger by Chris R. Shepherd and Nolan Magnus, in 2004. The English and Indonesian versions of that report can be downloaded from the TRAFFIC website, here.
In Indonesia, wild tigers Panthera tigris sumatrae are found only on the island of Sumatra following the extinction of the Bali Tiger P.t. balica and the Javan Tiger P. t. sondaica last century. The Sumatran Tiger is listed as Critically Endangered on the 2007 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, is in Appendix I under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), and is a Protected species under the Act of the Republic of Indonesia No.5 of 1990 Concerning Conservation of Living Resources and their Ecosystems.
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