Wild tigers are unique to Asia and play an important role in the cultures and traditions of the continent. But while their power and charisma are revered, illegal hunting, poaching, habitat loss, and human-wildlife conflict have slashed wild tiger populations – from around 100,000 at the end of the 19th century to around 5,000 today. Protecting remaining wild tigers is critical for the health of all the ecosystems they inhabit – this is why tigers and their landscapes are a focus of the Global Environment Facility's support for biodiversity conservation in much of Asia.
The good news is that these investments in tiger-range countries are starting to bear fruit – not only for the wild cats, but for entire ecosystems.
To date, the GEF has provided $197 million to advance a diverse portfolio of tiger conservation projects across Asia, including significant support for local communities, women’s associations, and Indigenous groups. This includes $25 million for initiatives in Nepal, Indonesia, and Thailand approved under the trust fund’s current funding round, GEF-8, which runs through 2026.
Since 2010, tiger populations have climbed 40 percent across the region, according to a recent IUCN assessment.
“These numbers signify stability in the global tiger population that was unimaginable back in 2010,” said GEF CEO and Chairperson Carlos Manuel Rodríguez, who recently visited Bhutan to learn about national conservation initiatives and join the Sustainable Finance for Tiger Landscapes Conference.
Bhutan’s national tiger population numbers have been on the increase, according to the 2023 Bhutan National Tiger Survey. Tiger numbers have also been rising in Nepal as a result of work to improve anti-poaching measures and enforce conservation laws.
Noting that progress has been uneven across the tigers’ range, and that there remains a lot of work to do to protect the endangered animals, the GEF CEO stressed the positive signal resonating from these improvements, with wide implications for biodiversity elsewhere.
"The status of the tiger is an indication of our ability to meet international goals related to biodiversity, climate change, and pollution, even in situations where turning the tide seems extremely difficult,” Rodríguez told the Sustainable Finance for Tiger Landscapes Conference, a meeting co-convened by the government of Bhutan, the Queen of Bhutan Jetsun Pema Wangchuck, and The Tiger Conservation Coalition, an alliance of civil society organizations.
“The tiger is not only an iconic species that has captivated the imagination of humans. If we can secure the ecosystems on which this apex predator depends, this will have broader positive impacts for nature, climate, and people,” he said.
Tigers play an outsized role for the environment in which they inhabit. Their unique ecological role makes them an important target species for conservation.
As apex predators, they limit herbivore numbers, preventing overgrazing and allowing for the regrowth of plants and trees. This in turn helps prevent floods and river siltation, and blunts the effect of extreme weather events on local communities. The resurgence of vegetation also creates habitats for hundreds of other species.
Still, tigers face ongoing threats across much of Asia as a result of habitat loss, poaching, and wildlife trafficking.
Bhutan is an excellent example of the benefits that can flow from aligning public policies in support of nature and climate targets. Such “policy coherence” across ministries of finance, environment, and agriculture has resulted in effective investments in nature as a national priority. Coherence also means working across national boundaries on regional cooperation for nature. This is especially important in the case of tigers and other big cats that traverse wide areas and cross borders in search of prey and a mate.
“Tigers and nature know no borders, and our approach to financing conservation shouldn’t either,” Rodríguez told the Bhutan event. “The GEF stands beside and will continue to work with tiger range countries to turn global targets into action, and commitments into reality, in partnership with donor governments and private sector investors alike.”
The Tiger Conservation Coalition, whose member organizations include IUCN, the Environmental Investigation Agency, Fauna & Flora, Natural State, Panthera, TRAFFIC, UNDP, the Wildlife Conservation Society, WWF, and the Zoological Society of London, alongside the government of Bhutan under the royal patronage of Queen Jetsun Pema Wangchuck, committed to catalyzing $1 billion in new funding for tiger conservation over the next decade. They invited others to join this effort through the Paro Statement.
Annex - Current GEF-funded Tiger Projects
Nepal
- The WWF-US initiative “Managing the Human-Tiger Interface in Nepal” aims at reducing the risk of human-tiger conflict in Nepal by supporting such steps as the development of a coexistence model, the creation of economic incentives for tiger preservation, improved reserve management, the drafting of new policies and action plans, and the establishment of a sustainable financing model for conservation.
Indonesia
- The UNDP-led project “Combating Illegal and Unsustainable Trade in Endangered Species in Indonesia” is working to reduce the illegal trade of critically endangered Sumatran tigers by closing regulatory loopholes, improving coordination among law enforcement bodies, reducing human-animal conflict through awareness-raising and community workshops, and supporting the training of rangers.
- CONSERVE (“Catalyzing Optimum Management of Natural Heritage for Sustainability of Ecosystem, Resources and Viability of Endangered Wildlife Species”) is a UNDP-implemented program that includes measures such as the development of an action plan for the conservation of Sumatran tigers, enhanced habitat management, and improvements to the tiger rescue and rehabilitation process.
- The complementary UNDP initiative LEVERAGE (“Law Enforcement for Sustainable Viable Ecosystems and Biodiversity Resilience through Multi Sectors Engagement”) is an effort to conserve tiger habitats and reduce human-tiger conflict by supporting the creation of a more effective law enforcement framework and improved patrols, along with a pilot of a national wildlife conservation mechanism.
Thailand
- The GEF-6 project “Combatting Illegal Wildlife Trade, focusing on Ivory, Rhino Horn, Tiger and Pangolins in Thailand” aims to cut demand for trafficked wildlife – including tigers – by working to change behavior. Measures include training and awareness-raising efforts, strengthened wildlife forensics, and market research into consumer demand. It is implemented by the UNDP.
- GEF-8 saw approval of “Recovering Tiger Population and Landscape through the Sustainable Land Use and Ecosystem Restoration,” a broad-based IUCN-led program that includes measures that will strengthen management in 18 protected areas covering 1.5 million hectares, through the use of SMART (Spatial Monitoring and Reporting Tool) patrols, data-driven patrol planning, monitoring of tigers and prey through standard protocols, and engagement with the community to improve livestock management, remove herds of domestic cattle from key tiger habitats, and reduce the risk of human-tiger conflict.
Viet Nam
- The World Bank-implemented initiative “Strengthening Partnerships to Protect Endangered Wildlife in Viet Nam” is aimed at combatting wildlife trafficking and demand for trafficked products by strengthening both regulations and enforcement capacity, and by staging anti-trafficking campaigns to raise awareness.
Bhutan
- The program “Mainstreaming Biodiversity Conservation into the Tourism Sector in Bhutan,” implemented by the UNDP, includes activities to ease tensions between humans and tigers including through the installation of smart fencing, support for nature-friendly livelihoods, and a survey to gain insight into local attitudes toward wildlife. Work will also go into increasing sustainable funding for Bhutan’s protected areas, which are key tiger habitats.
India
- Although it focuses on other wild cat species, work done under the GEF-7 project “Strengthening Conservation and Resilience of Globally Significant Wild Cat Landscapes Through a Focus on Small Cat and Leopard Conservation” will benefit wild tiger populations by reducing habitat encroachment and threats such as illegal hunting and firewood collection, encouraging the inclusion of species conservation in planning, and ramping up training in India’s Special Tiger Protection Force.
Malaysia
- The GEF-7 project “Building Institutional and Local Capacities to Reduce Wildlife Crime and Enhance Protection of Iconic Wildlife in Malaysia” seeks to stabilize the population of Sumatran tigers in Malaysia by training rangers to tackle poaching and remove snares, and by rehabilitating and reintroducing tigers into the wild. It is also supporting the adoption of new technologies to improve tiger monitoring.
