Bhutan’s government and a group of conservation NGOs have committed to catalyse $1 billion to protect tigers and their habitats over the next decade.

The announcement came during the Sustainable Finance for Tiger Landscapes Conference, which was held in Paro, Bhutan on Monday and Tuesday, and brought together representatives from tiger range countries, private and public sector donors, international development agencies, and NGOs.

Under the Paro statement, agreed during the conference, the government of Bhutan and the Tiger Conservation Coalition pledged to mobilise additional funding towards tiger preservation while also developing new financing mechanisms to support their efforts.

Funds will go towards securing and increasing the global tiger population, as well as expanding the tiger range and protecting biodiversity in those areas.

“Tiger landscapes can be models of prosperous coexistence between communities and biodiversity,” said Mohammad Younus, the UN Development Programme (UNDP) Bhutan representative.

“For that to happen, there is a need for investors and donors to embrace ecological values, working closely with conservationists, communities, and governments. The Sustainable Finance for Tiger Landscapes conference has offered an incredible launchpad for such a collaboration.”

A FRAGILE RECOVERY

UNDP is a member of the Tiger Conservation Coalition, a group of organisations comprising the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA), the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), and the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), among others.

“Tigers are recovering, but this success is fragile,” said Joe Walston, executive vice president of WCS.

“The Sustainable Finance for Tiger Landscapes Conference in Bhutan … will be key to ensuring continued success for tigers and the people and all the other wildlife that rely on these ecosystems.”

Over the last 10 years, the global tiger population has increased to 5,500 from around 3,200, though it is still threatened by poaching, illegal trade, and loss of prey and habitat.

Last year, UNDP started discussions with four Asian countries over the issuance of bonds aimed at helping support tiger ecosystem protection, with successful activities then to be monetised by the sale of “high integrity biodiversity credits”.

Tigers are widely recognised as indicator species, defined as species that help measure the environmental conditions in which they live.

Indicator species have recently been used to inform different biodiversity credit methodologies. Cercarbono, a Colombia-based credit standard, released in December a methodology based on the Indicator Species Biodiversity Methodology (ISBM) developed by US-based Savimbo.

By Sergio Colombo – sergio@carbon-pulse.com

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