Countries plan to restore tiger population

NEW DELHI - Concerned over the dwindling tiger population, the 13 tiger range countries (TRC) here Friday finalised an ambitious global programme for restoring wild tiger population.

The Global Tiger Recovery Program (GTRP) will be adopted by the 13 TRC governments during first of its kind Tiger Summit in St. Petersburg, Russia in November. The summit is to be co-hosted by Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and World Bank President Robert Zoellick.

The two-day workshop, ‘Consensus for Conservation’, was organised here by the Environment Ministry and co-hosted by the Global Tiger Initiative (GIT).

The GTRP has emerged from a year-long consultation process in which TRCs have taken the lead in learning from each other about best practices and for defining priority actions to be taken to deal with the threat to tiger population.

“India is happy to share its expertise and work with the World Bank on further enhancing the capacity of Indian wildlife institutions working with global leaders on this agenda. The decade-long experience of India and its expertise gained through Project Tiger has been a valuable input into the GTRP,” said Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh.

Referring to the poorly understood value of tiger landscapes, Ramesh said: “I would urge our economists and conservationists to come together and help develop a better understanding, including policymakers in other sectors, of the enormous value provided by the tiger landscapes.”

According to GTI, the GTRP has a high probability of success because all 13 TRCs are working in concert, with a high level of political commitment to implement a comprehensive program which will be supported and closely monitored by the global conservation community.