Kathmandu: Nepal on Wednesday sought cooperation
from its neighbours, including India, for trans-border
conservation efforts to save tigers and its natural habitat,
even as the country grapples with smuggling of illegal
wildlife products to China.
"The government is committed to conserve biodiversity of
nature and strengthen trans-border cooperation with the
neighbouring countries," Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal
said while addressing the inaugural session of the four-day
Global Tiger Workshop 2009 in the capital.
"Poaching and habitat loss are the primary problems
facing the conservationists," he said.
The Nepalese premier stressed on effective trans-border
cooperation to ensure better conservation in these areas.
There has been no trans-boundary meeting between Nepal
and India since 2003 at the national level, though local level
meetings regularly take place to address other issues.
Around 250 scientists, tiger experts, policy makers,
conservationists and government officials from 20 countries,
including India, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal, Thailand, China,
have gathered to find ways to protect the striped cat.
The tiger population in the wild has now declined to
3,500, which was estimated at more than 7,000 in 2000.
Habitat loss, poaching and illegal trade in wildlife are
some of the major threats to conservation of tiger, Nepal`s
Minister for Forest Dipak Bohara said.
"We must make a serious pledge to fight against poaching
and illegal trade of wildlife parts," he said.
China remains the largest market for various parts of the
striped cat and tiger skins are illegally trafficked there
from India via Nepal, according to experts.
Nepal is set to sign a MoU with China next month to stop
illegal trade of wildlife and promote joint efforts in
conservation.
Bohara had earlier admitted that Nepal was becoming the
hub of international wildlife traders who have used the
country as a transit point to export wildlife products to
third country such as China.
Tigers are no exception to the fact that animals were the
losers in animal-human conflict, Nepalese tiger expert Latifa
Rana said, while blaming the increasing demand for tiger parts
as the main cause of failure for tiger conservation.
Vice Minister for Natural Resource Management of Thailand
Pimuk Simkarj stressed on the need for promoting wildlife
tourism saying well managed wildlife tourism will help
conservation efforts.
During the workshop the Tiger Range Countries` updated
strategies that include actions to mitigate immediate threats,
to integrate tiger conservation into the broader development
objectives, to make wild tiger conservation economically
sustainable, and to enhance better global support.
According to experts, tiger population has declined by 95
per cent over the past one century. In the beginning of the
19th century, around 1,00,000 tigers roamed in Asia.
The number has now further declined to less than 4,000
due to encroachment of habitat, loss of prey and increasing
poaching.
Of the eight sub-species of tigers that existed until
1950s, five remains -- a point attributed to human-animal
conflicts.
USA and China are known to have the largest number of
tigers in captivity, where some 5,000 to 6,000 tigers are bred
in farms.
Bureau Report
