DEHRADUN : Ahead of the third inter-ministerial meeting of 13 tiger range countries of the world which will be held from April 12 and will be attended by PM Modi, a two day meeting of five tiger range countries, namely Nepal, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Bhutan and India concluded in the premises of Wildlife Institute of India on Thursday, where Nepal discussed its poaching menace and Myanmar discussed tiger decline in the country among other issues. India's remarkable performance with regard to tiger growth will be showcased as well good practices adopted by India as per the guidelines and advisory of National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) will be shared with other countries during the April meeting
VB Mathur, director Wildlife Institute of India said, "India is one among the 13 countries which has taken significant steps for tiger conservation. This includes the process of estimation of tiger population, monitoring, management effectiveness evaluation of Tiger reserves in India and M-stripes method of ecological monitoring. The mandate which NTCA has to ensure tiger conservation in India, Global Tiger Forum (GTF) has for the remaining 12 tiger range countries. So NTCA, GTF and many more organization and ministers of these 12 countries will meet to discuss project tiger at international level."
Uttarakhand is the apt choice for the meeting. Rajesh Gopal, secretary general GTF said, "E-surveillance was launched in Corbett for tiger monitoring and protection for the first time anywhere in the world. Even the non-protected areas are doing well with tigers growing well in Uttarakhand."
SP Yadav, deputy secretary general GTF said the South Asia consisting of India, Nepal, Bangladesh gave good results in tiger recovery while East and South East Asia have witnessed surge in illegal tiger organ trade and tiger farming which is a matter of worry.
KeshavVerma, chief executive officer of Global Tiger Initiatives (GTI) Council said that various top-notch business conglomerates such as Reliance, TATA etc are now connected to GTI to pool in finances and resources for the protection of tigers and other wildlife at global level.
The representatives of other countries also discussed their issues. Gopal Prakash Bhattarai, ecologist from Department of National Parks and Wildlife Conservation from Nepal said, "Nepal is afflicted with the problems of poachers so we need big time trans-border cooperation from India to nab these poachers in order to conserve the tigers"
Nepal has 198 tigers and Myanmar only 85. Pe Chit, deputy director of Nature and Wildlife Conservation Division from Mayanmar said it was the tribal community which ruled over the forest area and, detest outsiders entering into them. This created roadblocks for the state forest department in arresting tiger decline.
SangayWangchuk was however contended that Bhutan is on its path to tiger recovery with their number soaring from 70 to 105 in last few years.
