Poaching Tigers for their body parts is rapidly driving the species to extinction Click photo to enlarge / Julia Ng / TRAFFIC   Kathmandu, Nepal, 30 October 2009–More than 250 experts, scientists and government delegates from Tiger range States and elsewhere have called for immediate action to save wild Tigers, citing the urgent need for increased protection against Tiger poaching and trafficking in Tiger parts.

Organizers of the week-long Global Tiger Workshop in Kathmandu stated in closing remarks that “without immediate, urgent, and transformative actions, wild Tigers will disappear forever.”

There are only about 3,200 tigers left in the wild, and Tiger populations are declining in the face of massive poaching for illegal wildlife trade, habitat loss and fragmentation, and conflict with people.

The recommendations from the workshop include support for implementing a resolution relating to Tigers in the Convention on the International Trade of Endangered Species of Wild Flora and Fauna (CITES), and to avoid financing development projects that adversely affect critical Tiger habitats.

“I am convinced we are on the right road to saving Tigers,” said Dr Eric Dinerstein, WWF’s Chief Scientist, in his closing remarks to delegates from 20 countries at the conclusion of the meeting. “We will look back on this meeting as the dramatic turning point for conserving this magnificent species, its habitats, Asian biodiversity, and the billions of people who depend upon healthy natural landscapes for which Tigers are the talisman.”

The Kathmandu Global Tiger Workshop is the first in a series of political negotiation meetings occurring throughout the year and leading up to a final Heads of State Tiger Summit in September 2010, which is the Year of the Tiger.

The workshop was hosted by Nepal’s Ministry of Forests and Soil Conservation, Government of Nepal, and co-organized and co-sponsored by the CITES Secretariat, Global Tiger Forum, Global Tiger Initiative, Save The Tiger Fund, and the World Bank.