Conference on tiger conservation starts on Tuesday

About 700 experts, scientists and bureaucrats will participate in the third Asia Ministerial Conference on Tiger Conservation which starts here on Tuesday, said officials.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate the three-day event which will have representation of all tiger range countries, they said.

These countries are India, China, Indonesia, Malaysia, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, Myanmar, Nepal, Thailand, Vietnam, Kyrgyztan, Kazakhstan and Russia.

Despite India, Nepal, Russia and Bhutan recording an increase in tiger population, the animal remains an endangered species.

Union Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar said, "We have allotted Rs.380 crore to Project Tiger in the current financial year, which is an all-time high and indicates that the government is committed to the conservation of our national animal."

Project Tiger is a tiger conservation programme launched in 1972 by the central government.

Saving the tiger means "much more than ecological balance," the minister said.

"It is helping in combating adverse effects of climate change as well," Javadekar said.

More than 70 percent of the global wild tiger population is in India.

The conference would discuss issues like landscape conservation and habitat management, tiger reintroduction, monitoring protocols, anti-poaching strategy and modern tools and technology for monitoring, said Additional Director General (Project Tiger) B.S. Bonal.

The conference is being jointly organised by the environment ministry, National Tiger Conservation Authority, Global Tiger Forum, Global Tiger Initiative Council, Wildlife Institute of India, World Wide Fund for Nature, and Wildlife Conservation Trust.