Nirooshini Madaven New Straits Times 15 Jul 19;
KUALA LUMPUR: WWF-Malaysia will launch a year-long Malayan Tigers Pledge during the Global Tiger Day celebration this year, in hopes to make protecting Malayan tigers a national priority.
Its executive director/CEO Sophia Lim said the Malayan Tiger Pledge would provide an avenue for Malaysians to symbolically support the establishment of a National Tiger Committee and garner the support of one million people by Global Tiger Day 2020 celebration.
She added that by actively including the civil society as a critical component of the effort, there would still be hope to protect our Malayan tigers for generations to come.
“We can ensure their survival if we act now instead of documenting their extinction,” said Lim at the Malayan Tiger Run 2019-Roar for Life!, launched today.
The 5km run will be held on July 28 from 6am to 12pm at IOI City Mall, Putrajaya. More than 4,000 participants have signed up in support of tiger conservation efforts in Malaysia.
It is hosted by WWF-Malaysia and Maybank, and supported by the Ministry of Water, Land and Natural Resources (KATS) and Department of Wildlife and National Parks, Peninsular Malaysia (Perhilitan).
Lim said the Malayan Tiger Run is aimed at bringing people together to become the voice for Malayan tigers.
“We also hope to raise awareness on the critical state of Malayan tigers in the country – numbering less than 200 – encourage more people to make a stand and speak up in support of on-going tiger conservation efforts,” she added.
In 2016, WWF-Malaysia and Maybank joined hands to support tiger conservation efforts in the Belum-Temengor Forest Complex.
As a result, the Perak State Government announced the registration of Royal Belum State Perak for Conservation Assured|Tiger Standards (CA|TS), an accreditation scheme that encourages tiger conservation areas to meet a set of standards and criteria to assure effective and long-term tiger conservation.
