Last Stronghold of Endangered Tigers Identified

Charles Q. Choi LiveScience.com Yahoo News 14 Sep 10;

Scientists have identified the last strongholds for tigers - 42 sites scattered across Asia where the species' roughly 1,000 remaining breeding females could potentially restore populations of the endangered big cats.

The number of wild tigers has never been lower. Fewer than 3,500 tigers remain in the wild, and they are now clustered in less than 7 percent of the roughly 580,000 square miles (1.5 million square kilometers) of suitable habitat remaining for them in Asia. This dire situation is the result of overhunting, habitat loss and the wildlife trade. The demand for tiger body parts used in traditional medicines is driving most of the decline.

"The tiger is facing its last stand as a species," said John Robinson, the Wildlife Conservation Society's executive vice president for conservation and science.

The newly identified tiger strongholds currently hold nearly 70 percent of the world's remaining wild tigers.

"The team brought together probably all the people working with tigers in the various range states - the 13 countries where tigers have historically occurred - and identified the areas where there were significant populations of tigers, and provided estimates of tiger population densities within those areas," Robinson explained. "In some cases, those estimates were based on censuses of tigers, and in some other cases they were based on censuses of prey animals - there's a very tight correlation between the number of prey and tiger populations."

Researchers suggest these areas, which altogether encompass about 35,000 square miles (90,000 square kilometers) - less than a half-percent of the species' historical range - offer the last hope and prime concern for the conservation and recovery of the world's largest cat.

"While the scale of the challenge is enormous, the complexity of effective implementation is not," said researcher Joe Walston, director of the Wildlife Conservation Society's Asia program. "In the past, overly ambitious and complicated conservation efforts have failed to do the basics - prevent the hunting of tigers and their prey."

With so many of the remaining tigers clustered in a small area, Walston said "efforts need to focus on securing these sites as the number one priority for the species."

Each of these sites is able to maintain more than 25 breeding females and is located within a larger region that has the potential to support more than 50 breeding females. They are also located in areas that already possess conservation infrastructures and legal mandates for tiger protection.

Eighteen of these sites are in India, holding roughly 1,000 tigers, which the researchers said made India the most important country for the species. Sumatra held another eight, while the Russian Far East contained six. There is no longer any evidence of breeding populations of tigers in Cambodia, China, Vietnam and North Korea.

The scientists calculated the total required annual cost of effectively managing these strongholds at $82 million, which included the cost of law enforcement, wildlife monitoring, getting the community involved in their protection and other factors. Although that might seem a large price tag, $47 million of that is already provided by the governments of the areas where the sites are located, supplemented by international support, the researchers said. The $35 million shortfall is needed to intensify proven methods of protection and monitoring.

"$35 million is less than what [New York Yankees baseball player] Alex Rodriguez made last year in salary and endorsements," Robinson told Our Amazing Planet. "There's quite a bit of money floating into protected areas at this time - the shortfall is not huge." Robinson noted he was recently in talks in Washington, D.C., with representatives of some multilateral government agencies to talk about this funding for tigers.

The researchers detailed their findings online Sept. 14 in the journal PLoS Biology.

Pricetag set for tiger conservation
Richard Black, BBC News 14 Sep 10;

The cost of keeping tigers alive in the wild is about $80m (£50m) per year, say conservationists - but only about $50m (£30m) per year is being pledged.

The figures come from a new assessment that suggests targeting efforts in 42 selected breeding sites.

Building tiger populations in these sites would enable other areas to be re-populated later, the researchers report in the journal PLoS Biology.

About 3,500 tigers remain in the wild, and only about 1,000 breeding females.

Although conservation programmes are operating in some countries, notably India, the tiger has virtually disappeared from vast tracts of Asia where it used to live.

Once found from Turkey to the eastern coast of Russia, it is now concentrated in pockets of South and East Asia, though even here it is extinct in some countries such as Pakistan and down to fewer than 50 individuals in others, including Cambodia, China, Laos and Vietnam.

The animals are found in only about 7% of their historical range.

But the new study suggests conservation would benefit from concentrating efforts into still smaller areas - specifically, into 42 "source sites" that make up only about 6% of the tiger's current range, or about 0.5% of the area it used to span.

"The long-term goal is to conserve an Asia-wide network of large landscapes where tigers can flourish," said Nigel Leader-Williams from Cambridge University, one of the scientists on this study.

"The immediate priority, however, must be to ensure that the few breeding populations still in existence can be protected and monitored. Without this, all other efforts are bound to fail."
Summit issue

The figure of $82m per year is the cost of safeguarding and monitoring populations in these 42 key sites.

All but 10 lie in India, Sumatra and the eastern extremities of Russia.

"A number of these source sites are already in protected areas," noted John Robinson, executive vice-president for conservation and science with the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS).

"However, in many of them the protection is weak, and it would not take much to push them over the edge," he told BBC News.

More than half of the figure is already being provided by the range states themselves, by international donors and by conservation groups.

But the shortfall is about $35m (£23m) - and unless the money is found, this study concludes the tigers will not endure across what remains of its range.

The big hope this year is the Tiger Summit, to be hosted by Russia's Prime Minister Vladimir Putin in St Petersburg.

Orignally slated for this week, it has been postponed until November in the hope of attracting a greater number of national leaders.

One of the facts they will consider is that there are now many more tigers in captivity than in the wild.

While that might seem to indicate how far the creature is from its natural place in the world, Dr Robinson prefers to find a glimmer of optimism.

"It says something about the fact that tigers can breed easily, if you can protect them," he said.

"They do this in captivity; and if we can protect them in the wild too, they can bounce back."

Last strongholds for tigers identified in new study
42 source sites scattered over Asia represent last hope for world's biggest cats
Wildlife Conservation Society EurekAlert 14 Sep 10;

NEW YORK (Embargoed until September 14, 2010: 5:00 p.m. U.S. Eastern Time)— A new peer-reviewed paper by the Wildlife Conservation Society and other groups reveals an ominous finding: most of the world's last remaining tigers—long decimated by overhunting, logging, and wildlife trade—are now clustered in just six percent of their available habitat. The paper identifies 42 'source sites' scattered across Asia that are now the last hope and greatest priority for the conservation and recovery of the world's largest cat.

The securing of the tiger's remaining source sites is the most effective and efficient way of not only preventing extinction but seeding a recovery of the wild tiger, the study's authors say. The researchers also assert that effective conservation efforts focused on these sites are both possible and economically feasible, requiring an additional $35 million a year for increased monitoring and enforcement to enable tiger numbers to double in these last strongholds.

The study—published online by PLoS Biology—is authored by: Wildlife Conservation Society researchers Joe Walston, John Robinson, Elizabeth Bennett, John Goodrich, Melvin Gumal, Arlyne Johnson, Ullas Karanth, Dale Miquelle, Anak Pattanavibool, Colin Poole, Emma Stokes, Chanthavy Vongkhamheng, and Hariyo Wibisono; Urs Breitenmoser of the IUCN/SSC Cat Specialist Group; Gustavo Fonseca of the Global Environment Facility (GEF); Luke Hunter and Alan Rabinowitz of Panthera; Nigel Leader-Williams of the University of Cambridge; Kathy MacKinnon of the World Bank; Dave Smith of the University of Minnesota; and Simon Stuart, Chair of the IUCN's Species Survival Commission

"While the scale of the challenge is enormous, the complexity of effective implementation is not," said Joe Walston, Director of the Wildlife Conservation Society's Asia Program and lead author of the study. "In the past, overly ambitious and complicated conservation efforts have failed to do the basics: prevent the hunting of tigers and their prey. With 70 percent of the world's wild tigers in just six percent of their current range, efforts need to focus on securing these sites as the number one priority for the species."

According to the paper, fewer than 3,500 tigers remain in the wild, of which only about 1,000 are breeding females. Walston and his co-authors identified 42 tiger source sites, which were defined as sites that contain breeding populations of tigers and have the potential to seed the recovery of tigers across wider landscapes.

India was identified as the most important country for the species with 18 source sites. Sumatra contains eight source sites, and the Russian Far East contains six.

The authors calculate the total required annual cost of effectively managing source sites to be $82 million, which includes the cost of law enforcement, wildlife monitoring, community involvement, and other factors. However, much of that is already being provided by range state governments themselves, supplemented by international support. The shortfall—$35 million—is needed to intensify proven methods of protection and monitoring on the ground.

"The tiger is facing its last stand as a species," said Dr. John Robinson, Executive Vice President of Conservation and Science for the Wildlife Conservation Society. "As dire as the situation is for tigers, the Wildlife Conservation Society is confident that the world community will come together to save these iconic big cats from the brink for future generations. This study gives us a roadmap to make that happen."

Dr. Gustavo Fonseca, team leader of natural resources at the Global Environment Facility, said: "A key goal for us is to help identify the most efficient path forward so countries can achieve their global biodiversity conservation objectives. The GEF is pleased to have been able to contribute to this initial assessment focusing on the highest priority sites for the future of this magnificent species"

Alan Rabinowitz, President and CEO of Panthera, said: "We know how to save tigers. We have the knowledge and the tools to get the job done. What we are lacking is political will and financial support. The price tag to save one of the planet's great iconic species is not a high one."

The authors say that in spite of decades of effort by conservationists, tigers continue to be threatened by overhunting of both tigers and their prey, and by loss and fragmentation of habitat. Much of the decline is being driven by the demand for tiger body parts used in traditional medicines.

Tiger "clusters" seen as last hope for species-study
Reuters AlertNet 15 Sep 10;

SINGAPORE, Sept 15 (Reuters) - Asia's tiger population could be close to extinction with fewer than 3,500 tigers remaining in the wild and most clustered in fragmented areas making up less than 7 percent of their former range in Asia, a study says.

The study in the latest issue of the online journal PLoS Biology says saving tigers living in 42 sites across Asia from poachers, illegal loggers and the wildlife trade is crucial to prevent the species becoming extinct in the wild.

The cost of achieving this would be an additional $35 million a year in funding for law enforcement and monitoring, the report's lead authors from the U.S.-based Wildlife Conservation Society say.

The World Bank, global conservation organisation IUCN and Panthera, a big cat environmental group, also contributed to the study.

"The tiger is facing its last stand as a species," John Robinson, executive vice president of conservation and science for the Wildlife Conservation Society, said in a statement.

Of the tigers remaining in the wild, only about 1,000 are breeding females.

The authors said in spite of decades of efforts by conservationists, much of the decline was being driven by demand for tiger body parts used in traditional medicine. Overhunting of prey and destruction of hunting grounds were other reasons.

Lead author Joe Walston from WCS and his co-authors identified 42 tiger "source sites" that contained breeding populations of tigers and which had the potential to seed the recovery of tigers across wider areas.

India had 18 sites, the Indonesian island of Sumatra eight and the Russian far east six, with others in Malaysia, Thailand, Laos and Bangladesh.

"Based on available data, no source site was identified in Cambodia, China, North Korea or Vietnam," said the study. And it added that there was no evidence of breeding populations of tigers in Cambodia, China Vietnam or North Korea.

Most of the 42 source sites were small, under pressure from encroachment and with small tiger populations.

"Only five, all of which are in India, maintain tiger populations close to 80 percent of their estimated carrying capacity," the study says.

"Thus, the recovery of populations in source sites alone would result in a 70 percent increase in the world's tiger population."

The study was issued ahead of a major U.N. conference in Japan next month at which nations are expected to agree on new targets to try to halt the decline in the loss of plant and animal species.

The authors calculate the annual cost of managing the source sites at $82 million, which included the cost of law enforcement, wildlife monitoring, community involvement and other factors. (Reporting by David Fogarty; Editing by Sugita Katyal