November 2010 Russian Tiger Summit Attempts To Save Species

GreenTracker| In Jan. 2010 the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) put tigers on its list of the 10 most endangered species. In November 2010, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin will host The Tiger Summit, the most significant meeting ever held to discuss the fate of a single non-human species.

The Summit will culminate efforts by the Global Tiger Initiative (GTI), launched in 2008 by Robert Zoellick, World Bank President. Asia’s tiger population appears close to extinction with fewer than 3,500 tigers remaining in the wild and most clustered in fragmented areas making up less than 7 percent of their former range in Asia, a study published in PLoS Biology says. Of these only about 1000 are breeding females.

Current approaches to tiger conservation are not slowing the decline in tiger populations worldwide.

Leaders of 13 tiger range states, supported by international donors and conservationists attending the summit, are being asked to commit to substantive measures to prevent extinction of the world’s last wild tiger populations. Read on: Bringing the Tiger Back from the Brink