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World Bank backs tiger conservation programme

The world’s diminishing population of tigers — which could face extinction within a decade — found a potential saviour on Friday after the World Bank put its weight behind a new international conservation programme. The partnership with the Smithsonian Institution is a personal project of the bank’s president, Robert Zoellick.

The initiative will seek to strengthen and expand a patchy system of tiger reserves across the 13 countries, including India, Indonesia, Thailand, China and Russia, that are home to the world’s rapidly diminishing tiger population.

Experts believe there are only about 3,500 tigers left. A century ago they were thought to number 100,000.

But their survival is threatened by the illegal trade in tiger parts, which are used for traditional remedies in Asia, and intense pressure on land for development.

Across Asia, tiger habitats are shrinking, leaving isolated pockets as official preservation areas that are vulnerable to poachers, and are too far flung to encourage breeding. Last week, Indian authorities said they could no longer find any tigers in one such reserve in Madhya Pradesh.

The joint Smithsonian-World Bank conservation effort will begin by training hundreds of forest rangers in new anti-poaching techniques at the Smithsonian’s centre near Washington, and strengthen ties between countries where tigers live.

Zoellick said reinforcing and expanding a patchy system of reserves could bring lasting benefits to local populations. “This is more than economic. This is about building a sustainable economy. What we are trying to create here is self-interest in tiger preservation. It can range from getting a job as a forest ranger to getting a job in tourism.” The bank has set aside an initial $1m for the project.

Environmentalists see tiger conservation as crucial to saving Asia’s remaining forests. Without the prestige of the tiger, they argue, it will be harder to prevent the destruction of forests for development. — © Guardian Newspapers Limited, 2009

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