World Bank Group and the Global Environment Facility (GEF) together with tiger conservationists, scientists and celebrities from around the world have formed an alliance to help save wild tigers.

The new Tiger Conservation Initiative, launched June 9,2008 at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo in Washington D.C., brings together many of the global experts who have been studying the decline of tiger populations and the many national and international NGOs which have been fighting to save tigers.

Tiger numbers have declined from more than 100,000 a century ago to around 4,000 today. The decline is driven by a loss of prey and habitat due to uncontrolled development and poaching for the black-market trade in tiger skins and bones.

The Tiger Conservation Initiative will start with a series of dialogues in tiger range countries to find out what has worked locally to protect the tigers. The World Bank and its partners will assess the financing needs of tiger conservation and work with governments and the private sector to find innovative funding sources and mobilize new resources for the species’ protection.

Wildlife Conservation Nepal (WCN) is a partner of the Tiger Conservation Initiative.

More information on the initiative can be found at: http://www.worldbank.org/tigers

World Bank has also released a new report on future of wild tigers.

Abstract: Tigers are the religious and cultural icons of Asia, serve as the national animal in some countries, and figure prominently on the flags of others. Their charismatic appeal is used to sell everything from gasoline to sporting goods and confectionary. Yet, paradoxically, wild tigers are on the brink of extinction. Tigers are an umbrella species and symbolize the plight of wildlife across Asia. Poised as they are at the top of the ecosystem, loss of tigers indicates ecosystems under stress. Within a century wild tiger numbers have plummeted from over 100,000 to below 4,000 animals. The existing wild populations inhabit fragmented and isolated patches of land constituting a meager 7 percent of their historic range. If current trends persist, tigers are likely to be the first species of large predator to vanish in historic times. Tiger subspecies and populations have already disappeared from Java, Bali, and Central Asia and throughout much of China. The only region in which populations have recovered is the Russian Far East, where habitats are secure and poaching pressures are modest. The challenge of saving wild tigers has become a global one and calls for a global solution and commitment. The successful conservation of wild tigers and the natural capital that sustains them are among the key indicators of sustainable development and require greater global resources and attention

Table of Contents:
Chapter 1. Introducing the Problem
I. Introduction
II. Why Are Wild Tigers in a Precarious State?
III. The Tiger Trade
IV. Conclusions
Chapter 2. The Current State of Tiger Conservation: Challenges and Opportunities
I. Introduction
II. The Conventional Approach to Wildlife Management: “Fences and Fines”
III. Is Funding for Protected Area Management Adequate and Effective?
IV. An Assessment
V. From Punitive to Participatory Approaches: Integrated Conservation and Development Projects
VI. Conclusions
Chapter 3. Options for the Way Forward
I. Introduction
II. Creating Direct Incentives: Environmental Service Payments
III. Ecotourism
IV. Strengthened and Cost-Effective Management of Protected Areas
V. Biodiversity-Sensitive Infrastructure: Are Trade-Offs Inevitable?
VI. The Trafficking of Wild Tigers
VII. Conclusions
Chapter 4. Conclusions
I. An Action Plan
II. The Role of the World Bank

The report can be downloaded from here.