Tiger Forum Aims to Reverse Loss, Protect Biodiversity
IN SHORT
* World Bank President, heads of state to discuss strategy to save endangered tigers at International Tiger Conservation Forum next week.
* In 2010, fewer than 3.200 tigers remain in the wild. The tiger’s habitat has shrunk alarmingly in the last decade.
* Five-year, 350 million US dollar Global Tiger Recovery Program to better manage tiger habitats, step up enforcement along smuggling routes, and increase penalties and conviction rates for poachers.
STORY
WASHINGTON DC, 18th November, 2010: For centuries, the shrill calls of song birds and langoor monkeys have announced the presence of tigers in the dense rain forests of Asia.
More often now, though, the forest’s voices are falling silent.
The tiger, the king of the Asian jungle, is disappearing – a victim of poachers, encroaching development, and deforestation. In 2010, the Year of the Tiger, fewer than 3.200 of the iconic animals remain in the wild – down from 100.000 a century ago.
The tiger’s habitat has shrunk by 40 per cent in the last decade alone.
Next week, leaders from 13 countries where tigers still live will gather in St. Petersburg, Russia for an unprecedented event – the first high-level meeting ever to save an endangered species.
The November 21-24 International Tiger Conservation Forum, hosted by the government of the Russian Federation, aims to turn up the heat on illegal trade in tiger parts while protecting the rich biodiversity of the tiger’s forest home.
– We want to see poachers behind bars, not tigers, says World Bank President Robert Zoellick.
– The 13 tiger range countries have come together with specific recovery plans to double the number of these iconic cats by 2022, the next year of the tiger. We aim to support them, noted he.
At next week’s Tiger Forum, Zoellick will join heads of state and ministers from the 13 tiger-range countries, in addition to Germany, Japan and Korea.
Representatives from the United Nations, Global Environment Facility, Asian Development Bank, European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the Islamic Development Bank, and global and regional ecological conservation organizations are also expected to attend.
– We are looking for the highest level of political will. We have to take very effective, sharp action to stop the bleeding, says Keshav Varma, program director of the Global Tiger Initiative at the World Bank.
Halting Biodiversity Loss
Læs videre på (og se flot video på)
http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/NEWS/0,,contentMDK:22769636~pagePK:34370~piPK:34424~theSitePK:4607,00.html
