Posted on 06 July
2010
Jakarta, Indonesia – On 12-14 July 2010,
Indonesia will host the Pre-Tiger Summit
Partners’ Dialogue Meeting, a crucial meeting
to be attended by senior government officials
from the 13 tiger range countries (TRCs)
– Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, India, Indonesia,
Cambodia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal,
Russia, Thailand and Vietnam.
World tiger experts
and representatives from NGOs, the Global
Tiger Initiative (GTI)/World Bank, and donor
agencies such as USAID, AUSAID and GEF,
will also attend. Held in Bali, the meeting
is a prelude to the Heads of Government
Tiger Summit, scheduled to be held in St.
Petersburg, Russia from 15-18 September
2010.
The Bali meeting is
expected to produce a draft Global Tiger
Recovery Programme and a “Leaders Declaration”
which will be discussed at the Tiger Summit
in Russia. The Global Tiger Recovery Programme
will be based on national plans developed
by the TRCs. Indonesia’s Ministry of Forestry
has, with the support of partners, developed
the country’s National Tiger Recovery Programme.
“We hope the Bali meeting
will generate a strong draft Global Tiger
Recovery Programme,” said Ir. Darori, MM,
Director General of Forest Protection and
Nature Conservation for Indonesia’s Ministry
of Forestry. “This will demonstrate our
desire and resolve to come up with solutions
to address the threats faced by the world’s
remaining wild tiger population — including
those faced by Indonesia’s Sumatran tiger
— as well as double their population by
2022. We also hope we can map our partners’
commitments and financial support to protect
this charismatic species.”
This pre-Tiger Summit
meeting in Bali is a follow up to earlier
governmental meetings on tiger conservation.
The first in Kathmandu, Nepal in October
2009, recommended a series of 15 global
actions that need to be taken to change
the trajectory of tigers from extinction
to recovery, as well as commitments from
several tiger range countries. The Kathmandu
meeting was followed by the first Asian
ministerial conference on tiger conservation
held in Hua Hin, Thailand in January 2010,
and which adopted the goal of doubling the
number of wild tigers by 2022, the next
Year of the Tiger.
Tigers are in a dire
situation. The global wild population is
reduced to an estimated 3,200 individuals.
From nine tiger sub-species, only six exist
today — the Sumatran, Bengal, Amur, Indochinese,
South China and Malayan tiger. Threats to
the tiger include massive habitat fragmentation
and destruction, loss of prey, poaching
and illegal trade. Tigers are also lost
due to retaliatory killing when they come
into conflict with villagers living around
tiger habitat.
With 400 Sumatran tigers
left, or 12 percent of the global tiger
population, Indonesia has a key role to
play in the global tiger recovery programme.
The Sumatran tiger habitat
has declined by 50 percent in the last 25
years. About 70 percent of the remaining
habitat are located outside conservation
areas, and in at least 20 patches of forests
that are fragmented and isolated. This means
that most of the remaining tiger population
are not getting enough space to roam and
also more highly exposed to threats.
”It is urgent for Indonesia
to work together with other tiger range
countries and partners, and to take concrete
actions to save the Sumatran tiger, so that
it will not go extinct as happened to the
Bali and Javan tiger sub-species,” said
Hariyo T. Wibisono, Chairman of Forum HarimauKita.
“Conserving the remaining
forest habitat, restoration of critical
areas, and land-use planning to support
sustainable development – which will provide
the Sumatran tiger with sufficient range
while at the same time minimizing potential
conflicts with humans — should be undertaken
jointly by all government agencies and partners,”
said Dr. Efransjah, WWF-Indonesia’s CEO.
“These efforts are also in line with the
Indonesian government’s commitment to reduce
carbon emissions from deforestation and
forest degradation as part of the global
climate mitigation programme”.
”By saving tiger, we
will save so much more,” said Darmawan Liswanto,
Indonesian Programme Director of Fauna &
Flora International. “A viable tiger population
is a good indicator of a healthy forest.
A healthy forest in Indonesia provides benefits
and prosperity for millions of people in
the surrounding area by supplying drinking
water, food and medicine, and also contributes
to mitigating global climate change and
increasing knowledge of the world we live
in.”
“The 13 Tiger Range
Countries alone cannot implement the global
tiger recovery programme,” said Dr. Noviar
Andayani, Director of WCS Indonesia. “They
need the support of other countries, especially
those who are destination or transit points
for the illegal tiger trade. This meeting
is therefore very important and strategic
in creating opportunities for developing
and strengthening international partnerships
in addressing the decline of the tiger population,
in Indonesia and other range countries.”
”The role of the ordinary
citizen in conserving the Sumatran tiger
through education and awareness is also
important, in addition to their support
on conservation of tiger habitat in the
wild from deforestation, encroachment, loss
of prey, and illegal poaching,” said Tony
Sumampaw of Taman Safari Indonesia. ”Zoos
can also help by providing a medium for
education, awareness, research and rescue
of captured tigers to ensure they stay alive
after coming into conflict with humans.”
