|
WHAT NEEDS TO BE DONE
![]()
Scientists closely involved in managing tigers at the local level, Hemendra S Panwar of India and Hemanta Mishra of Nepal, pointed out an important lesson more than a decade ago: unless local community needs are met, national park and reserve systems will perish and conservation of the tiger will not succeed. Therefore, conservation programmes must reconcile the interests of people and tigers. This includes people living in or near tiger reserves as well as people who use, and whose ancestors used, tiger parts for centuries. Effective substitutes must be ident ified within the oriental medicinal community and their use promoted by practitioners of traditional oriental medicine. Technical assistance must be given to consumer countries particularly in China, Taiwan, and Korea, to help customs officials and police to enforce national legislation and international agreements such as CITES. The current international economic situation puts considerable stress on tiger range states, undermining their capacity to enforce legislation or to manage resources within their borders. These negative forces come from the falling real prices of agricult ural products on world markets, the difficult economic conditions brought about by structural adjustment programmes, and growing debt burdens. Helping reform the world economic system and reversing the huge flows of financial resources from the tiger rang e states to the affluent North are also needed to ensure the long-term conservation of tigers and their diversity rich habitats.
|