Tiger 'rescue plan' to be drafted in Indonesia

Yahoo News 6 Jul 10;

JAKARTA (AFP) – Representatives from 13 "tiger-range countries" will draft a global recovery plan at a meeting in Indonesia next week in a bid to rescue the big cats from extinction, officials said on Tuesday.

The plan to be drafted on the Indonesian resort island of Bali will be used as the basis for discussion at a "tiger summit" scheduled to be held in St. Petersburg, Russia, from September 15 to 18.

"We hope the Bali meeting will generate a strong draft Global Tiger Recovery Programme," Indonesian Forestry Ministry conservation director Darori said in a statement released by environmental group WWF.

"This will demonstrate our desire and resolve to come up with solutions to address the threats faced by the world?s remaining wild tiger population -- including those faced by Indonesia?s Sumatran tiger -- as well as double their population by 2022."

Two of Indonesia's three tiger species are already extinct -- the Javan and Balinese -- with only around 400 Sumatran tigers left in the wild.

Several are killed every year by poachers and villagers who compete with them for dwindling forest resources.

WWF says the global, wild population of tigers of all species has fallen from about 100,000 to an estimated 3,200 over the past century.

Countries invited to attend the St. Petersburg summit are Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, India, Indonesia, Cambodia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, Russia, Thailand and Vietnam.

The pre-summit talks in Bali from Monday to Wednesday next week will hear details of each country's tiger protection plans and funding proposals, officials said.

Indonesian conservation official Harry Santoso said Jakarta would ask for more than 175 million dollars in foreign aid to implement its plan to double the Sumatran tiger population to 800 by 2022.

"If we do nothing, tigers around the world, including Indonesia, will be extinct by 2035," he said.

"Our programme will focus on mitigation of human-animal conflict and law enforcement to stop tiger poaching. We will impose stricter punishments for criminals," he said, adding that habitats would also be protected.

Human-animal conflicts are a rising problem in the massive archipelago as forests are destroyed for timber or to make way for palm oil, forcing animals such as elephants and tigers into closer contact with people.

Santoso said funds were expected to come from donors including the United States, Australia, Germany, the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank.

Indonesia needs other countries to save its tigers
Antara 7 Jul 10;

Jakarta (ANTARA News) - Indonesia should increase its tiger population through cooperation with neighboring countries which have been used to smuggle the endangered species, a chief conservationist said.

Cooperation with neighboring countries is one effort to increase the tiger population and to prevent the smuggling of the endangered species, Director of Fauna and Flora International Indonesia Programme, Darmawan Liswanto, said here on Tuesday.

He said that cooperation with other countries could be agreed at a high level forum on the World Tiger Rescue Meeting in Bali on July 12 to 14, 2010.

At the forum titled "Pre Tiger Summit Partners Dialogue Meeting" 13 countries with a tiger population are expected to draw a world tiger population recovery plan.

However, according to Director of WCS-Indonesia, Noviar Andayani, safeguarding tigers cannot rely merely on 13 countries. "Countries that have tiger population cannot do tiger salvaging without the support of other countries. The meeting in Bali is important to serve as a place to discuss ways how to overcome the decline in tiger population," said Noviar.

Meanwhile, Darori, director general of forest protection and nature conservation (PHKA)of the Ministry of Forestry, said that damaged forests contributed to the decline of the tiger population.

Darori said that the Ministry of Forestry was doing its best to double the number of the population of wild tigers whose number now was only 400 heads.

Executive Director of WWF Indonesia Efransjah said the Ministry of Forestry had been making tiger conservation efforts such as restoring the critical areas of Sumatran tiger`s habitat.

With regard to the funds to conserve tigers the government has calculated the needed one at US$170 million, he said.

In the meantime, the funds available at the PHKA only amounted to Rp15 billion for the overall conservation effort, which included safeguarding tigers.