60% Increase in Overall Tiger Population, But Habitat & Biodiversity Loss Threatening Southeast Asian Big Cats

Context:

• Although the status of wild tigers is good in South Asia and Russia, the picture in Southeast Asia is grim, posing challenges to the global tiger population recovery. 

Global Tiger Population Rise

• Countries have submitted tiger population numbers from 2010-2022 to the CITES.
• There has been an overall increase in the tiger population by 60 percent, taking the number to 5,870. 
• However there was a decline in tiger population in the Tiger Range Countries (TRCs) of Southeast Asia. For example, countries like Bhutan, Myanmar, Cambodia, Lao-PDR, and Vietnam.

What are the reasons for the decrease in Tiger population in the South East Asian region?

• Habitat loss and fragmentation
• Deforestation, and illegal logging
• Widespread prey and tiger poaching
• Inadequate patrolling
• Poor monitoring and low investment in wildlife conservation
• Poor wildlife monitoring
• Forest loss for commercial needs
• Proximity to wildlife trade hubs
• Rapid infrastructure development resulting in fragmentation.

What factors contribute to the success of countries in South Asia in increasing the tiger population?

• It is attributed to effective measures taken for habitat conservation and protection. 
• Nepal has tripled the tiger population.

Suggestions for the Revival of the Tiger Population

• Tiger Conservation Landscapes (TCL): It needs to be seen from the perspective of an ongoing human-environmental stress continuum.
  • There are ongoing agro-pastoral as well as other human-induced modifications in several TCLs. 
  • Such stressors impact the availability of welfare factors for major wild herbivores and thereby affect the relative abundance of major carnivores, including the tiger.
  • The report states that if steps on tiger stressors are not taken, a majority of the tiger population in Southeast Asia and small populations in parts of South Asia would be lost.
• Robust policy framework: The grim situation demands a policy framework supported by political will and long-term availability of resources from the government.
• The report emphasized the need for prey population augmentation in some patches.

News Source: DTE

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