WWF Warns that Tigers May be Extinct in Ten Years
4/1/93
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RELAYED TEXT STARTS HERE:
Topic 168 WWF WARNS THAT TIGERS MAY BE EXTINC
deliavilla Preservation Of Natural Diversity 1:46 am Apr
1, 1993
From: Delia Villagrasa
Subject: WWF WARNS THAT TIGERS MAY BE EXTINCT IN TEN YEARS
Embargoed for 1 April 1993 20/93
For more information, contact Someshwar Singh at (22)
3649566. For copies of the tiger video news release, contact
Michiel van de Zeeuw at (3404) 20499.
WWF WARNS THAT TIGERS MAY BE EXTINCT IN TEN YEARS
GLAND, Switzerland -- WWF-World Wide Fund for Nature today warned
Asian governments that unless effective protective measures are
adopted, wild tigers could be on the verge of extinction in less
than ten years. Poaching and shrinking habitats in Asia have
reduced the world population of wild tigers to just around 7000.
Twenty years ago, WWF supported the Government of India to launch
Project Tiger, then one of the world's biggest species
conservation projects. The project helped to maintain and even
increase the wild tiger population in the Indian subcontinent.
But in most of its remaining Asian habitats, tiger numbers have
declined sharply to less than 2000.
Since the 1940s, three of the eight tiger sub-species have become
extinct. A fourth is on the verge of extinction. It is to the
credit of Project Tiger, launched on April 1, 1973, that India
today is the custodian of about 65 per cent of the world's
remaining wild tigers.
Originally, tigers were hunted almost to extinction for sport.
Today, the driving force comes from the demand for tiger bones for
traditional medicine in East Asia.
Destruction of tiger habitats poses another major threat. Tiger
reserves are fast becoming an oasis as surrounding forests are
rapidly degraded. Increasing human and livestock populations,
commercial logging and agriculture are the main factors. In India,
armed insurgents occupy 7 of its 19 tiger reserves.
"The solution lies in creating for people living in and around
reserves a genuine stake in protecting these areas. This can come
only from clearly perceivable, direct benefits flowing to the
people from conservation and development programmes associated
with the reserves," said Thomas Matthew, Secretary General of WWF
India. "Firm and equitable enforcement of reserve management could
go hand in hand with eco-development programmes"
Recently, tiger specialists from around the world met in New Delhi
to mark the 20th anniversary of Project Tiger. They adopted a new
strategy, called "The Delhi Declaration", to save the remaining
tigers and their habitats.
"WWF urges governments to transform the political will they
expressed in the Delhi Declaration into action in the field," said
Dr. Chris Hails, Director of WWF's Asia-Pacific Programme. "More
financial and human resources are needed for park managers. Eco-
development projects are also needed to reduce the present
conflicts between people and protected areas."