THE New York-based Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) launched an initiative last month that aims to increase the number of tigers in Myanmar by at least 50 percent in the next 10 years.

Dr Alan Rabinowitz, executive director of the WCS Science and Exploration Program, told The Myanmar Times via email last week that the Tigers Forever Initiative will focus on the Hukaung Valley Tiger Reserve in Kachin State and a few other priority sites.

“Hukaung Valley is the biggest tiger reserve in the world, but there are only 100 of the animals left there,” Dr Rabinowitz said. “The reserve has the potential to support more tigers than any other single landscape in the world.”

He said the initiative will approach conservation in a way that is different from past programs because it is more committed to working according to a strict timeline.

“The Tigers Forever approach is different from what we and others have done before or are doing now, because we are committing now to targets and a timetable,” Dr Rabinowitz said.

“We are not just talking about how bad things are and how tigers need to be saved. We are focussing on a few priority sites as models to show that if we intensively do what has to be done at these sites, with enough money and the cooperation of governments, then we can start increasing tiger numbers. We promise at least a 50pc increase in tiger numbers at our model sites over the next 10 years.”

Dr Rabinowitz explained that any conservation strategy must face the causes of tiger extinction head-on to be effective.

“We must focus intensively on immediate causes of tiger decline, not long term causes. In other words, issues like environmental education are important for the long term, but do not solve the short term decline of tigers,” he said.

“In the short term we must focus on the two issues that are wiping out tigers right now: killing of tigers directly, and killing of their major prey (sambar deer and wild pig) so that they have no food to eat.

This is a major issue in Hukaung. So in Hukaung as in other areas we will focus on more and better patrolling by guards, incentives for informants telling authorities about poaching, and better equipment for patrols.”

Dr Rabinowitz said the future of the Hukaung Valley Tiger Reserve depends on support from the Myanmar government.

“With the assistance of the government, we want to make Hukaung Valley the best tiger reserve in the world, where both people and wildlife can live together in a very large, extensive landscape,” he said.

“But in order to do this, the Myanmar government has to support protection in the Hukaung and endorse limited development by local communities. We can make sure local people benefit, but they have to be under certain restrictions since they are now in a tiger reserve. Some local authorities do not want to recognise these restrictions and if they do not, then Hukaung will fail as a tiger reserve.”

In 1993, WCS became the first international conservation NGO to initiate a program in Myanmar and since then has cooperated closely with the Ministry of Forestry to conserve the country’s tiger population.

Dr Rabinowitz was instrumental in the creation of the Hukaung Valley Tiger Reserve, which was established in 2004.