為了幫助拯救亞洲極度瀕危的野生虎,美國野生動物保育協會(WCS)22日在聖彼得堡「國際老虎論壇」會議中承諾,未來10年要花費5000萬元,每年500萬美元。
此次由俄羅斯總理普丁主辦的國際老虎論壇是史無前例的,這是第一次,各國領導人共同聚焦在拯救單一的物種上。
在論壇之前,13個有老虎分佈的國家,先進行了一系列部長級會議,每個國家都寫出他們自己的老虎復育計劃。這些1國家花費一年以上時間,寫下全球老虎復育計劃(Global Tiger Recovery Programme),這是一套全面性的行動,以幫助世界上倖存的3200隻野生老虎,從數十年的狩獵、偷獵和清除它們的森林棲息地等威脅中恢復。
全球老虎復育計劃的目的是,在2022年的虎年之前,野生老虎的數量至少增加一倍到達7000隻。
各國領袖和部長們在聖彼得堡會議批准該項計劃,估計第一個5年階段將耗資3.5億美元。
世界銀行集團自復甦以來一直支持這老虎復育計畫。世界銀行集團行長佐利克(Robert Zoellick)18日在聖彼得堡表示,「老虎正在消失,這次峰會可能是老虎最後一次機會了。如今在野外僅剩3200隻,他們曾經生存的野地僅剩7%。」
「我們知道導致野生老虎數量下降的原因是甚麼,是非法偷獵、轉運販賣、缺乏棲地。好消息是,虎的數量可以恢復,但我們要保護它們的棲息地和生活領域,打擊非法貿易,並找出活老虎比起死老虎還可以造福人們的好處。關鍵的是,我們需要看到偷獵者身陷囹圄,不是老虎。」佐利克承認,「旁人無法為他們做這些,如果你不是當地人,事情是沒辦法進行的。」因此,世界銀行由下而上,支持13個有老虎生存的國家,發展老虎恢育工作。
「民間社會和其他地方的夥伴一起合作,世界銀行的目的是支持老虎分佈國家實現他們設定的目標。」佐利克說。
因為老虎不知道國界,佐利克說,解決區域跨邊界問題是最重要的。去年訪問中國,他和國家林業局合作建立中國北方的保護區,此保護區橫跨中俄邊境可使西伯利亞虎有更廣泛的分佈範圍。
尼泊爾則試著在11個國家級保護區建立一些生態走廊,使老虎有機會增加和擴大族群數量。
印度、尼泊爾和中國在執法方面相互合作,例如在尼泊爾和印度共同保護老虎族群。
「WCS的重點是為老虎分佈國的合作夥伴在財政和後勤支援方面,提供技術協助和支持。」羅賓遜說,迄今為止,在柬埔寨、中國、印度、印尼、寮國、馬來西亞、緬甸、俄羅斯和泰國等老虎分佈國,WCS已經回應該協定,承諾負責保護老虎。
全球保育組織世界自然基金會的利普(James Leape)提醒,迅速行動是必要的,否則世界上大部分的野生老虎將在一年內消失。「這是一個幾乎瀕於滅絕的物種,我認為,如果我們沒有成功,如果目前的趨勢繼續下去,不到明年,老虎將只剩零星數量,將會絕跡。」
威脅老虎生存的因素很多。野生動物貿易監控組織TRAFFIC的一份新報告說,沿著緬甸、泰國和中國的共同邊界的黑市,在促進非法貿易老虎和其他瀕危物種扮演關鍵角色。
11月9日發佈的WWF-TRAFFIC的聯合報告顯示,過去10年在老虎分佈國至少查獲老虎部位1069件。
「虎皮與虎骨查緝報告」(Reduced to Skin and Bones)指出,從2000年1月至2010年4月,13個老虎分佈國其中的11個國家,查獲的老虎部位介於1069件和1220件間,每年平均有104至119隻動物。
根據該報告,在11個國家中,印度、中國和尼泊爾查獲老虎部位的數量最高,報告指出,印度查獲最高的老虎部位有276件,代表469和533隻老虎。而查獲量第二高的中國有40件,代表介於116和124隻老虎;尼泊爾緝獲39件,介於113和130隻老虎。
老虎交易部位範圍從完整的虎皮、骨骼、活的整隻動物、死的整隻動物、虎骨、虎肉、虎爪,虎牙、頭骨、虎鞭、身體其他部位。它們被用於裝飾和傳統藥物。
在緬甸的克欽發展網絡集團(Kachin Development Networking Group),自2007年起一直在偏遠Hugawng谷監測世界上最大的老虎保護區。該組織的報告說,該國權勢最強大的富豪Htay Myint為了種甘蔗和木薯,正在清除保護區。
Htay Myint的Yuzana公司帶來了整隊的推土機和怪手,「已經將森林夷為平地,破壞生態走廊,只剩下保護區的解說牌。」克欽集團表示。「該保護區是由美國野生動物保護協會支助的,成立於2001年。然而,野生動植物保護協會對這個保護區的破壞情況一直保持沉默,但已經聲稱Hugawng谷將是未來保護老虎的一個基石。」
儘管如此,WCS的羅賓遜仍然樂觀的宣布,該組織的5000萬美元的承諾。
「沒有一個國家能夠應付老虎保育本身的各種挑戰,沒有任何組織或任何政府機構可以單獨扭轉老虎數量的下降帶來的挑戰。如果大家一起來,我們就可以有所作為。」
To help secure the future of Asia's critically endangered wild tigers, the Wildlife Conservation Society today pledged to spend $50 million over the next 10 years - $5 million of the total during the next year.
Dr. John Robinson, WCS chief conservation officer and executive vice president for conservation and science, made the commitment at the International Tiger Forum in St. Petersburg, a unique four-day meeting that opened Sunday.
Hosted by Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, the International Tiger Forum is unprecedented. For the first time, world leaders are coming together focused on saving a single species.
Ahead of the forum, officials from the 13 tiger range states had a series of ministerial meetings and each of these countries wrote its own tiger recovery program.
The 13 countries took more than year to write a Global Tiger Recovery Programme, which sets forth a comprehensive set of actions to help the world's 3,200 remaining wild tigers recover from decades of hunting, poaching and clearance of their forest habitats.
The Global Tiger Recovery Programme aims to at least double the number of wild tigers to a target of 7,000 animals by the next Year of the Tiger in 2022.
Heads of government and ministers are meeting in St. Petersburg to endorse the plan, which is estimated to cost $350 million for the initial five year stage.
The World Bank Group has been supporting this tiger recovery initiative since its inception. World Bank Group President Robert Zoellick said in St. Petersburg Thursday, "This summit may be the last chance for the tiger; tigers are vanishing. There are fewer than 3,200 living in the wild today on only seven percent of the land they once roamed."
"We know what's causing the decline in number of wild tigers: It's illegal poaching, trafficking, lack of habitat," said Zoellick.
"The good news is that tiger populations can recover, but we have to protect their habitats and ranges, target illegal trade, and find ways that people can benefit more from live tigers than dead ones," Zoellick said. "And, critically, we need to see poachers behind bars, not tigers."
Zoellick recognizes that "outsiders can't do this for people. If you don't have local ownership, it won't work."
So, the World Bank is supporting development of this tiger recovery effort from the bottom up with the 13 tiger range countries.
"Together with our partners in civil society and elsewhere, the World Bank Group aims to support the tiger range countries in achieving the goal they've set," Zoellick said.
Because tigers don't recongize national borders, Zoellick says resolving regional trans-border issues is important. On a visit to China last year, he was able to start to work with the State Forestry Administration on creating a preserve in Northern China that would allow a wider range area for the Amur tiger that crosses the Chinese-Russian border.
The World Bank's International Development Association, a fund for the poorest nations, has some money set aside for regional projects, Zoellick said. "We have a project that looks like we've got the support of Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh, and perhaps India on a subregional project that creates tiger reserves that cross borders."
Nepal has already tried to create corridors among some 11 national reserves to create the opportunity for growth and expansion of its tiger populations.
There has been collaboration between India, Nepal and China on law enforcement and, in the case of Nepal and India on protecting the tiger populations they share.
"WCS is focused on offering technical assistance and support, both financial and logistical, to our partners in tiger range states," Robinson said today. To date, he said, WCS has responded to commitments from tiger range countries to conserve the tigers in Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, Russia, and Thailand.
Quick action is essential or most of the world's wild tigers will be gone within a year, warns James Leape, who heads the global conservation organization WWF.
"Here is a species that is literally on the brink of extinction," said Leape. "I think there is every reason to expect that if we do not succeed now, if current trends continue, by next year, the tiger will have only scattered remnant populations left - it will be virtually extinct."
The threats to tiger survival are many. A new report from the wildlife trade monitoring organization TRAFFIC shows that black markets along Myanmar, Thailand and China's shared borders play a crucial role facilitating the illicit trade in tigers and other endangered species.
A joint WWF-TRAFFIC report released November 9 shows that parts of at least 1,069 tigers have been seized in tiger range countries over the past decade.
The report, "Reduced to Skin and Bones," shows that from January 2000 to April 2010, parts of between 1,069 and 1,220 tigers were seized in 11 of the 13 tiger range countries - an average of 104 to 119 animals per year.
Of the 11 countries, India, China and Nepal ranked highest in the number of tiger part seizures, the report states, with India by far the highest number of tiger part seizures at 276, representing between 469 and 533 tigers.
China, with 40, had the second highest number of seizures, or between 116 and 124 tigers; and Nepal reported 39 seizures, or between 113 and 130 tigers, according to the report.
Tiger parts reported in trade ranged from complete skins, skeletons and whole animals - live and dead - bones, meat, claws, teeth, skulls, penises and other body parts. They are used for decoration and in traditional medicines.
In Myanmar, or Burma, the Kachin Development Networking Group has been monitoring the world's largest tiger reserve in the remote Hugawng Valley since 2007. The organization reports that reserve is being clearcut for sugar cane and tapioca plantations by Htay Myint, one of the country's most powerful tycoons.
Htay Myint's Yuzana Company has brought in fleets of bulldozers and backhoes that "have been razing forests and destroying animal corridors, leaving only the conservation signboards standing," the Kachin Group says.
"The reserve was established in 2001 with the support of the US-based Wildlife Conservation Society. However WCS has remained silent on this destruction of the reserve and has claimed that Hugawng Valley will be a cornerstone of tiger conservation in the future," says the Kachin Group.
Still, Robinson of the Wildlife Conservation Society struck an optimistic note today in announcing the organization's $50 million committment.
"No single country can address the challenges of tiger conservation by itself," he said. "No organization, no governmental institution can alone turn around the challenge posed by the decline in tiger numbers. Together, and in partnership, we can make a difference."
全文及圖片詳見:ENS報導