Return of the beast: Is Cambodia all set to reintroduce tigers back into its forests?

Shreyansh Budhia
Jul 27, 2017 · 2 min read

https://www.rationalconclusion.com/single-post/2017/07/21/Return-of-the-beast-Is-Cambodia-all-set-to-reintroduce-tigers-back-into-its-forests

Cambodia, a Southeast Asian country that lost its seasonal tropical forest cover from 70 percent in 1969 to 3.1 percent in 2007, has started to role up its sleeves on working towards reintroduction of its apex predator back into the wild, the Tiger.

Believed to be functionally extinct, Tigers could probably make a comeback to Cambodian forests, thanks to mutual talks on the issue between India and Cambodia at the 3rd Asia Ministerial Conference on Tiger Conservation, where the former has agreed upon rehabilitating eight of its wild tigers — six females and two males — into lush Cambodian forests of Cardamom hills in Western part and Eastern highlands of Mondulkiri forests in the Eastern part of the Country over the next five years.

Elaborating on Cambodia’s plan, Mr. Ty Sokhun, a senior official of the Cambodian ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, said “Under our national tiger recovery action plan, tigers could be reintroduced in Cambodia from 2016 to 2026, for which about $33 million would be required. We are also taking help of our conservation partners, like World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), Global Tiger Forum, Global Tiger Index and others.”

The decision became negotiable when a 2015 study showed that all mainland tigers — Bengal, Malayan, Indochinese, Amur — were genetically and morphologically similar and were reclassified as one subspecies: the Continental tiger. This would mean that a reintroduction of tigers from India, which is a habitat for Royal Bengal Tigers, wouldn’t be exotic for Cambodia’s forests, that once had Indochinese tigers. The efforts are part of a larger program called the Tx2 which aims to double the global wild tigers count by the year 2022.

According to a recent WWF report “Bringing back Cambodia’s Roar,” the last known tiger in Cambodia was reported in the eastern Mondulkiri province in 2007. It recommends for a reintroduction of eight tigers in order for Cambodia to achieve a goal of 25 tigers in a 10 year period. It also suggests that a rehabilitation would add to Cambodia’s ecosystem balance, ecotourism, and the national economy.

The tigers are scheduled to be released beginning 2019, as per the plan.

Shreyansh Budhia

Written by

A GWU Econ major with interests in international trade, development, finance, forex markets, biodiversity, conservation, and the environment!

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