The map comes as many Asian countries and the world prepare to celebrate the start of the Year of the Tiger, which begins on Feb. 14.
However, there are only an estimated 3,200 tigers left in the wild, and they face increasing threats including habitat loss, illegal trade and climate change, according to the map.
There is hope though, as tiger range countries, conservation groups and organizations such as The World Bank will gather in Russia in September to lay out an ambitious agenda for saving wild tigers at a special summit.
Tiger © Micky Maher, from the surfbirds galleries.
“Tigers are being persecuted across their range – poisoned, trapped, snared, shot and squeezed out of their homes,” said Mike Baltzer, Leader of WWF’s Tiger Initiative. “But there is hope for them in this Year of the Tiger. There has never been such a committed, ambitious, high-level commitment from governments to double wild tiger numbers. They have set the bar high and we hope for the sake of both the tiger and people that they reach it. Tigers are a charismatic species and a flagship for Asia’s biological diversity, culture and economy.”
In the lead up to the summit, all 13 tiger range countries recently committed to the goal of doubling tiger numbers in the wild by 2022 at a 1st Asian ministerial conference on tiger conservation in Hua Hin, Thailand.
The map is designed to raise awareness of these issues and help tiger range states achieve this crucial goal.
Additional threats to wild tigers highlighted in the map include:
• Pulp, paper, palm oil and rubber companies are devastating the forests of Indonesia and Malaysia with critical tiger populations;
• Hundreds of new or proposed dams and roads in the Mekong region will fragment tiger habitat;
• Illegal trafficking in tiger bones, skins and meat feeds continued demand in East, Southeast Asia and elsewhere;
• More tigers are kept in captivity in the U.S. state of Texas than are left in the wild -- and there are few regulations to keep these tigers from ending up on the black market;
• Poaching of tigers and their prey, along with a major increase in logging is taking a heavy toll on Amur, or Siberian, tigers;
• Tigers and humans are increasingly coming into conflict in India as tiger habitats shrink;
• Climate change could reduce tiger habitat in Bangladesh’s Sundarbans mangroves by 96 percent.
Already, three tiger sub-species have gone extinct since the 1940s and a fourth one, the South China tiger, has not been seen in the wild in 25 years.
Tigers live in 40 percent less habitat since the last Year of the Tiger in 1998, and they occupy just seven percent of their historic range. But they thrive in the wild when they have strong protection from poaching and habitat loss and enough prey to eat.
“We know that wild tigers need protection, prey and secure habitat, but these alone will not save the big cats”, said Amanda Nickson, Director of the Species Programme at WWF International. “What is also needed is sustained political will from the highest level of government in the tiger range states and this Year of the Tiger, and at the summit, these countries will have the chance to commit to making tiger conservation work.”
A glimpse of hope
Although the map shows many trouble spots, there is still hope for wild tigers. New camera trap photos of a tigress and one of her cubs obtained from a selectively logged-over forest in Malaysia show that tigers may be able to persist in such altered habitats.
The photo shows the tigress checking out a WWF camera trap with one of her two cubs. Researchers from WWF-Malaysia working in the area have caught the same female tiger on camera several times during the last several years, but this was the first time they saw that she had become a mother.
The photos, taken around September 2009, were from a camera trap retrieved last month, and set on a ridge of about 800 meters in elevation.
“This is really encouraging to see a mother with her cub,” said Mark Rayan Darmaraj, senior field biologist, WWF Malaysia. “Such rare photographic evidence of breeding success magnifies the importance of this habitat for tiger conservation in Malaysia.”
To view and/or download the map, please visit:
www.worldwildlife.org/tigertroublespots
Top 10 Tiger Trouble Spots in 2010 – The List
India: Tigers and Humans Come Too Close for Comfort
The combination of habitat degradation, the loss of connectivity between tiger habitats and a growing human population has inevitably resulted in tigers and humans coming into conflict with each other. This is common across the country around most tiger reserves, including Corbett, Dudhwa, Kaziranga, Kanha and Bandipur. The consequence is losses for both sides. For people, the situation leads to loss of life and livestock. For tigers, it leads to retaliatory killing, poaching for trade and loss of prey.
Bangladesh: Scuba Gear May Be the Only Hope for Sundarbans Tigers
A new study led by WWF predicts that sea level rise may cause the remaining tiger habitat in Bangladesh’s Sundarbans mangrove forest to decline by 96 percent this century. This will result in tiger numbers reaching a level that is not viable for their long-term survival. This population of tigers is already under extreme pressure from poaching and human encroachment on their habitat. If their mangrove forest home disappears, they will join the polar bear as early victims of climate change-induced habitat loss.
Russia: Illegal Logging and Poaching Take a Heavy Toll on Amur Tigers
An increasing global demand for Korean pine and Mongolian oak has fueled a massive logging increase in Russia’s remaining temperate forests and a resulting loss of habitat for Amur tigers. As much as 70 percent of all hardwood exports from the Russian Far East are tainted by illegal logging. Sustainable production is beginning to take hold along with increased antipoaching efforts, but tiger populations are still under threat.
China: Demand for Tiger Parts Persists
Despite efforts to stop the demand for tiger parts, Chinese demand for illegal tiger products is among the highest in the world. Due to their high demand, some entrepreneurs are stockpiling and breeding tigers in anticipation of a possible opening of the domestic market. Hopefully that day will not come.
Last February, the Chinese government reiterated its commitment to prohibiting trade in tiger parts under its obligations to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES). And in December 2009, China’s State Forestry Administration issued a directive calling for stronger enforcement against the illegal tiger trade, along with habitat management to increase protection of wild tigers. China is also eager to work with its neighbors on cross-border tiger conservation.
Vietnam: Ancient Traditions Are Bad Medicine for Wild Tigers
The discovery last October of two dead frozen tigers in suburban Hanoi may be the tip of the iceberg when it comes to tiger trafficking. Seizures by authorities of tiger parts have been on the increase in Vietnam and throughout Asia. This reflects a greater demand for tiger parts to be used as ingredients for health tonics and some traditional Asian medicine, meat for restaurants and skins for fashion. While many schools of traditional Asian medicine have phased out the use of tigers and other endangered species, the lucrative black market trade has thrived. The trade even occurs in some big cities in Europe and the U.S.
United States: Captive Tigers Pose Dangers to Their Wild Cousins
There are more tigers alive in captivity in the U.S. (more than 5,000) than there are in the wild. Numerous loopholes in U.S. federal and state law create openings for black market trade in captive tiger parts. This further endangers wild tigers because a steady supply of parts from captive-bred tigers may fuel the demand for parts from wild tigers, which are considered even more valuable. Texas has the highest number of captive tigers, and in many states the laws on keeping dogs as pets are more stringent than those on keeping tigers.
Europe: Huge Appetite for Palm Oil Fuels Destruction of Tiger Habitat
European countries currently have an annual import of around 5.8 million tons (5.3 million metric tons) of palm oil, an ingredient used in making countless everyday foods and products, from lipstick to ice cream to biofuels and detergents. Rain forests are often leveled to make way for palm oil plantations, and much of that destruction is taking place in Indonesia and Malaysia, home to Sumatran and Malayan tigers. Efforts to require that palm oil be produced from sustainable sources that don’t destroy forests are gaining ground, but much more needs to be done to save these two tiger subspecies.
Nepal: A Global Crossroads for Illegal Trade
Nepal is a major crossroads for illegal trade in tiger parts from South Asia into the Tibetan Autonomous Region and elsewhere in China. Tiger skins for traditional Tibetan costumes, tiger bones for traditional medicine, and a host of other illegal wildlife products
taken from India and Nepal’s tiger reserves are ferried through the country by a covert network of middlemen from Kathmandu and elsewhere.
Mekong Region: Poorly Planned Dams and Roads Push Tigers to the Brink
Growth in the Greater Mekong region (Cambodia, China, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam) is moving at an unprecedented pace, with hundreds of proposed new dams and roads. If not properly planned with environmental criteria in mind, these dams and roads will damage watersheds, increase access for poachers and further fragment large wilderness areas that are critical for the long-term survival of tigers, humans and countless other species. A recently published WWF report, Tigers on the Brink, states that tiger populations in this region have plummeted to about 350.
Indonesia and Malaysia: Pulp, Paper, Palm Oil and Rubber Leave Tigers in Limbo
Indonesia’s only tiger, the Sumatran, is critically endangered, with fewer than 400 alive in the wild. Also home to orangutans, elephants and rhinos, Sumatra’s forests are being cleared fast – to make way for plantations to feed a world hungry for paper and palm oil. The island lost half (31 million acres or 12.5 million hectares) of its natural forest between 1985 and 2008. More than a third of that loss happened in Riau Province, pushing its globally unique biodiversity, including tigers and elephants, to the brink of extinction.
Palm oil and pulp and paper industries have been driving the natural forest loss to make the province the number one producer of both commodities in Indonesia. Companies such as Sinar Mas Group’s Asia Pulp and Paper and Raja Garuda Mas’ APRIL operate in Riau and export their products globally. In Peninsular Malaysia, the federal government’s ambitious goal of doubling the population of Malayan tigers to 1,000 by the year 2022 is challenged by the state governments’ plans for increased timber extraction and forest conversion to rubber and oil palm plantations, and by their simple lack of participation in federal plans for enhanced enforcement within tiger habitats.
Christian Lindholm is Managing Partner and Director atconvergence design agency Fjord and a long-time developer of mobile products.
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