A Debate Over The Best Way to Protect the Tiger
Experts battle each other over a $350 million plan to keep the tiger from becoming extinct
- By Phil McKenna
- Smithsonian magazine, April 2012, Subscribe
The question of how best to save the tiger population is surprisingly contentious. In 2010, officials gathered for a summit in St. Petersburg, Russia, organized by the World Bank and produced the Global Tiger Recovery Plan, which calls for increasing conservation efforts in existing reserves while developing larger protected areas to connect the sanctuaries. The stated goal: double the world tiger population by 2022.
Nearly two dozen of the world’s leading tiger biologists—including Ullas Karanth and Panthera CEO Alan Rabinowitz— vehemently opposed the plan. They felt it would spread conservation resources too thin, because 70 percent of the world’s remaining tigers are concentrated in small reserves (like Nagarhole) that cover just 6 percent of their current range. Rather than trying to protect massive swaths of forest that harbor few cats, the biologists argued, conservationists have to circle the wagons and protect the last core breeding areas.
“With the limited resources that we have, we need to perform triage on areas with the largest number of remaining tigers,” says Joe Walston, director of Asia programs for the Wildlife Conservation Society and the lead author of the scientific article criticizing the recovery plan. “If we fail at these source sites, all else is insignificant .” And if core populations can be stabilized, he says, they will supply tigers to the surrounding landscape. Karanth’s camera-trapping efforts in Nagarhole and Bandipur national parks have confirmed at least half a dozen tigers dispersing to surrounding forest in recent years.
Smithsonian’s John Seidensticker, an independent adviser for the World Bank initiative, disagrees that small strongholds should be protected rather than larger landscapes with few of the endangered cats. “There is no time left to have one or the other, you have to do both at the same time,” he says.
The World Bank’s global strategy would cost $350 million over the first five years, far more than a strongholds plan. Seidensticker and others are looking into various sources of funding. One approach would link tiger conservation with carbon trading. Polluters could offset their emissions by paying others to keep forests, which absorb carbon dioxide, intact. Forests that contain tigers would receive a premium.
“You’re not going to raise $350 million for tigers alone, you are going to have to link in carbon and likely [fresh] water,” says Eric Dinerstein, World Wildlife Fund chief scientist and a World Bank consultant. “If you do that, you get a triple win: income streams that promote rural livelihood, protecting tigers and improving governance of natural resources.”
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Comments (3)
Thanks, Alesha, for your ideas and enthusiasm. I'm not sure most college kids have much money to donate..but every little bit helps (PS-I'm a Cornell alumnus). I just returned from a 2 week trip to India in February, including a late afternoon and early morning safari into the Ranthambore Tiger Preserve. I was fortunate enough not only to spot a tiger, but to get some fantastic photos. I have always been a lover of wildlife and a supporter of conservation organizations. This experience has made me even more appreciative of the efforts to protect these magnificent cats. I hope the "experts" find a solution soon. Maybe they should just ask the tigers what they want?
Posted by Joel Kurtzberg on April 7,2012 | 09:23 AM
Just to add some hopefully helpful suggestions, I think a good way to help raise $350 million for these fantastic projections would be to send more information on how people can donate and how helpful it is, through social networking! Also, hold fund raisers in different areas (in places like colleges, where students can learn more about the threat of losing wild tigers and how they can directly help!) Through both of these options people become more aware of the situation and are more inclined to help out, especially if they know their support is going directly to Tiger conservation. I would be willing to hold a fund raiser at my university! (Cornell University) Just rough ideas to throw out there! Good luck! Save TIGERS!
Ally
Posted by Alesha Knudson on March 23,2012 | 09:55 PM
1) world bank, smithsonian and panthera - I love you for what you are doing! 2) how can people like myself help best?
Posted by Kirsten Lunoe on March 23,2012 | 04:59 PM