Today is World Tiger Day: Conservation remains a challenge!
KATHMANDU: JULY 29 – Today is World Tiger Day. The World Tiger Conference, held in St. Petersburg, Russia in 2010, declared July 29 as International Tiger Day.
Nepal has been celebrating Tiger Day since 2067 BS. Tiger is found in 13 countries of the world including Nepal. The St. Petersburg Conference of Heads of Government and Heads of State of the 13 countries where tigers are found committed to doubling the number of tigers by 2022.
According to the commitment, Nepal had committed to double the number of tigers in Nepal from 121 to 250 adult tigers as per the 2009 census. Which is close to achieving the goal.
According to the latest National Tiger Census 2018, the number of tigers in Nepal has reached 235. Of them, 93 tigers were found in Chitwan National Park, 87 in Bardiya National Park, 21 in Banke National Park, 18 in Parsa National Park and 16 in Shuklaphanta National Park and intermediate and surrounding forest areas. He claimed that the target of 2022 is certain to be achieved in Nepal as the number of tiger cubs seen on camera was not included in the census.
The department had conducted the last tiger census from December 1, 2017, to April 3, 2018, using modern cameras in the Terai region from Parsa to Kanchanpur. The number of tigers in Nepal was 98 in 1995, 109 in 2000, 126 in 2005, 121 in 2009 and 198 in 2013, according to the department.
Of the 16,161 sq km surveyed in the Terai perimeter of Nepal, tigers are present in 11,057 sq km (68 per cent). It is seen that tigers are present in 98 per cent of the protected areas where tigers are found. Statistics show that the species is present in only 60 per cent of the areas where tigers are found outside the protected area.
The country’s commitment to doubling the number of tigers (250 adult tigers) by 2022 is expected to be fulfilled as the country has made promising achievements in the field of biodiversity conservation and the latest results of the tiger census. The shortage also poses a challenge to tiger conservation.
The number of tigers in the world is three thousand 890. According to 2016 figures, India has the highest number of tigers at 2,226, followed by Laos at two. Tiger is found in Indonesia, Cambodia, China, Thailand, Nepal, Bangladesh, India, Bhutan, Vietnam, Malaysia, Myanmar, Russia and Laos.
