DOUBLING TIGERS Annual Report 2019 CONTENTS
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DOUBLING TIGERS Annual Report 2019 CONTENTS LOOKING BACK AT 2019 1 FEATURE: RETURN OF THE TIGER 2 MAJOR MOMENTS OF 2019 4 WHERE WE WORK 6 HOW WE WORK 8 FORESTS FIT FOR TIGERS 10 FEATURE: COUNTING TIGERS IN INDIA 16 WITH PEOPLE 20 SAFE FROM POACHING 26 FEATURE: MERAPI AND THE LAST TIGERS 32 NOT FOR SALE 36 DRIVING POLITICAL MOMENTUM 40 WILD AGAIN 44 FEATURE: RETURN OF THE TIGERS 48 TURNING THE VOLUME UP FOR TIGERS 52 THANK YOU 56 WE ARE DOUBLING TIGERS 58 Prepared by WWF Tigers Alive and designed by Kazi Studios Cover photography: © Nitish Madan Published in March 2020 by WWF. Any reproduction in full or in part must mention the title and credit the above-mentioned publisher as the copyright owner. © Text 2019 WWF © Vladimir Cech WWF TIGERS ALIVE ANNUAL REPORT 2019 A GLOBAL MISSION TO CHANGE THE FATE OF AN ICONIC BIG CAT Dedicated mothers: tigresses raise their cubs © Nitish Madan alone, protecting them from predators and teaching them how to hunt. WWF TIGERS ALIVE ANNUAL REPORT 2019 1 WWF’S TIGERS Today, tigers exist in a mosaic of habitats in a human ALIVE INITIATIVE dominated landscape covering LOOKING BACK AT 2019 just 5% of their former range. We celebrate the upward trend of tiger numbers In 2010, data revealed that the in India after the completion of the largest ever tiger survey. global wild tiger population had “At the beginning of the last century the mighty tiger was Today we continue to support tiger conservation in 14 abundant in its historical range. Wandering the vast forests landscapes across 12 countries. We work side by side ©WWF plummeted to an all time low of and grasslands of Asia they could be found as far west as with local partners and the communities who share their Turkey, to the tip of the Russian Far East, and even as far homelands with tigers. We support the biologists using south as Bali. Wherever they roamed, the planet’s largest cat cutting edge technology to monitor our progress, and the 3,200 individuals - a 95% drop incited such awe and wonder they would become woven into rangers in the field who track poachers and deactivate the fabric of Asia’s cultural history - in literature, legends and deadly snares. We amass support from those in the private religion. sector who want to be part of TX2. We sit at the table with since the beginning of the 20th governments and policy makers, helping them to fulfill their In the 21st century the tale of the tiger took a tragic turn. commitments to TX2. Today, tigers exist in a mosaic of habitats in a human century. Their extinction was dominated landscape covering just 5% of their former range. Looking back at 2019 we celebrate the upward trend of tiger In 2010, data revealed that the global wild tiger population numbers in India after the completion of the largest ever had plummeted to an all time low of approximately 3,200 tiger survey. This success paves the way forward, proving imminent in some countries, individuals - a 95% drop since the beginning of the 20th it is possible for large carnivores to survive in a human century. Their extinction was imminent in some countries, dominated landscape, provided human-tiger interaction is and urgent action was needed. and urgent action was needed. managed. But in some countries the road to tiger recovery remains fraught with challenges. Further evidence of the We knew that something could be done, and so that year extinction wave that is sweeping across much of Southeast marked the beginning of one of the greatest single species Asia was seen in Laos, where a five year study revealed conservation and recovery efforts in history. WWF, tiger no evidence of tigers in that country. In Malaysia, 2019 range nations, the World Bank and other partners came marked a turnaround for tigers as the dramatic decline in together at the Tiger Summit in St Petersburg and set an tiger numbers was only checked by the the upscaling of ambitious goal called TX2: to double the global wild tiger community patrols. There has never been a greater urgency population by 2022, the next lunar Year of the Tiger. to take action for tigers in Southeast Asia. WWF has since been supporting tiger range countries to As we head into 2020 we have to build on the hard earned reach that goal. Together, we have been rewriting the tiger gains made to conserve our planet’s most iconic big cat. We narrative through field and policy work incorporating are on a mission to ensure they thrive for generations to come. traditional and international knowledge, and a focus on securing the basic needs of tiger biology. 2016 marked a We’re ready. Are you?” pivotal moment: for the first time in tiger conservation history, research suggested the global wild tiger population Stuart Chapman, stopped declining and had increased. Leader of WWF’s Tigers Alive Initiative WWF TIGERS ALIVE ANNUAL REPORT 2019 3 AUGUST SEPTEMBER NOVEMBER The Convention on International INDIA Updated “Life on the Trade in Endangered Species of TIGERS FOUND AT Frontline 2019” report reveals: MAJOR JUNE Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) NEW HEIGHTS IN THE NEARLY ⅔ OF RANGERS CA|TS-LOG GOES LIVE AGREES STRONGER as a software that captures and HIMALAYAS ‘RARELY’ OR ‘NEVER’ visualises CA|TS (Conservation Assured MEASURES ARE NEEDED Field surveys assessing tiger have access to communication devices MOMENTS Tiger Standards) scores and site based presence in high altitude areas on patrol. information on tiger management and TO STOP TIGER TRADE captured tigers on camera traps MARCH conservation impact. above 3,600m in Uttarakhand THAILAND IN KEY AREAS and above 3,300m in Sikkim. This ROUGHLY 60% JULY initiative was conducted through a including the role of captive breeding collaboration between WWF-India, 2019 ASEAN MINISTERS of Asian big cats. Launched during OF RANGERS INDIA the National Tiger Conservation CALL FOR INCREASED the CITES CoP, the TRAFFIC “Skin & Authority, Wildlife Institute of in tiger range countries have no 2,967 TIGERS Bones: Unresolved” report revealed India, Global Tiger Forum and insurance coverage for cases of serious 2,359 tigers were seized globally in state forest departments. injury or death. REGIONAL COOPERATION One of the world’s most detailed 19 years and highlights where urgent to combat illegal wildlife trade in surveys for a single species found that action is needed to stop tiger trade. India’s wild tiger population estimate the “Chiang Mai Statement” continues to increase. WWF were on the ground supporting over 6,000 camera 67 TIGER SITES Thailand champions tackling illegal trap locations, while training several wildlife trade during its 2019 ASEAN thousand forest department personnel. ACROSS 10 COUNTRIES (Association of Southeast Asian These sites are now using Spatial Nations) Chairmanship. WWF and JULY Monitoring and Reporting Tool TRAFFIC were invited to the special (SMART) technology to help mitigate ASEAN Ministerial Meeting on illegal THAILAND poaching. wildlife trade in Chiang Mai. CUBS ON CAMERA! Three tiger cubs from two mothers were photographed in Mae Wong Klong, Thailand, providing great hope for tigers in the area. DECEMBER RUSSIA AMUR TIGER SEPTEMBER POPULATION ON THE NEPAL OCTOBER RISE TIGERS ON THE RUSSIA in Russia’s Evrieskaya Province, JANUARY according to camera traps SOUTHEAST ASIA’S MOVE THROUGH THE KOMISSAROVSKY TIGER CRISIS PUT ON RESTORED SHIKAARBAS WILDLIFE REFUGE MAY CORRIDOR ESTABLISHED DECEMBER CHINA JULY BHUTAN THE RADAR Camera trap evidence shows tigers in key territory for tigers and 14 leading courier MYANMAR as the 3rd Stocktaking Conference of are dispersing from Nepal’s Chitwan leopards the Global Tiger Recovery Programme and logistics companies and even Parsa National Park CONGRATULATIONS explicitly recognises the crisis while RENEWED HOPE FOR (where tiger numbers have climbed The new protected area in also calling for a “Southeast Asia Tiger SAY “NO” TO ILLEGAL TIGERS from an estimated four in 2008 to Primorsky Region borders two BHUTAN! Revival Consortium”, marking a major 18 in 2018) using a once degraded protected areas in China. The Two sites receive CA|TS accreditation moment in the intergovernmental WILDLIFE TRADE as camera trap surveys show patch of land that has been three areas form an important process toward doubling tigers. This evidence of tiger breeding in restored through years of planning ecological corridor enabling tigers Jigme Singye Wangchuck and Royal was hosted by the Government of signing a “Voluntary Code of Myanmar’s two major tiger and action. The transboundary and critically endangered Amur Manas National Parks, securing the India, in partnership with Global Tiger Practice to Refuse Delivery of landscapes: Upper Chindwin and Shikaarbas Corridor is now teeming leopards to move between China future for tigers in a critical landscape. Forum and WWF. Illegal Wildlife Trade Products”. Dawna Tenasserim. with wildlife. and Russia. WWF TIGERS ALIVE ANNUAL REPORT 2019 5 12 COUNTRIES AMUR HEILONG 14 TIGER LANDSCAPES ILI-BALKHASH Around 83% of wild tigers live in WWF supported landscapes. These landscapes constitute 60% of the current tiger range. The network of sites and corridors that make up the GREATER MANAS landscape can be seen as a mosaic of areas identified for their potential role in the recovery and expansion of tiger TERAI ARC populations. WWF is working to secure these critical habitats and to restore sites in Kazakhstan and Cambodia so that tigers can be returned to two of their ancestral homes. BRAHMAPUTRA WESTERN INDIA Freedom to move SUNDARBANS For tigers, for people CENTRAL INDIA More than half of WWF supported tiger As well as harbouring the entire global wild tiger landscapes straddle population, the majority of the world’s people live in Asia.