Introduction
During the 1998 Chinese Year of the Tiger, WWF has outlined a series of
urgent and priority actions considered necessary to halt the rapid decline
in tiger populations throughout the world. By making this the Year for the
Tiger, WWF hopes to rally support at all levels - government, NGOs, local
communities, and the public - to work together and save the species
from extinction.
A few years ago WWF developed its Global Tiger Strategy as part of its
focus on some of the most important conservation issues. The strategy
set a series of priority actions for tiger conservation, including:
- suppressing the illegal trade in tiger parts;
- strengthening protected area management and anti-poaching
operations;
- improving the planning of protected areas and other tiger habitat
zones;
- carrying out key surveys and research;
- promoting education and public awareness;
- strengthening international collaboration; and
- developing financial resources for tiger conservation.
Areas known as Tiger Conservation Units (TCUs) now provide the
geographical focus for WWF tiger conservation. If they are protected
and properly managed, they constitute the best guarantee for the
long-term survival of the local tiger populations.
The Year of the Tiger is an opportunity for the WWF network to
complement its continuing tiger projects by committing additional
resources to a few selected activities which we believe are crucially
important - for example:
- setting up a rapid response tiger emergency fund;
- a field mission to survey and propose a tiger management plan for
the Sundarbans of Bangladesh;
- supporting the strengthening of controls on illegal trade in tiger
parts in key countries; and
- worldwide public awareness and education.