International meet on tiger begins

KUALA LUMPUR - An international summit, attended by experts from 13 countries including India, began discussions Monday in Bali island on how to prevent tigers from becoming extinct.

The meet, organised by the World Bank’s Global Tiger Initiative programme, is being attended by experts from India, Bangladesh, China, Cambodia, Bhutan, Indonesia, Laos, Myanmar, Russia, Thailand and Vietnam and a few other countries.

The number of tigers in the world now stands at 3,200 among six sub-species including the Sumatran, Royal Bengal, Amur, Indo-China, Southern China and Malayan, Xinhua quoted programme chairman Keshav Varma as saying.

“It would take political will from the governments whose territories are inhabited by tigers to respond to this animal’s extinction issue,” Varma said.

Governments must disseminate information or knowledge to the public about the importance of providing a proper habitat for tigers to breed and to live, he said.

There needs to be more efforts to tackle tiger poaching and illegal trading of tiger parts, he said, adding that the extinction of the Balinese tiger must be regarded as a lesson to pay more attention to the issue.

A bigger international summit on the issue will be held in St Petersburg, Russia, from Sep 15 to 18 this year, he said.