Tiger numbers have plummeted by 40% in the last decade alone Governments of 13 countries where tigers still live have endorsed a plan to save the big cats from extinction.
Delegates at a summit in St Petersburg, Russia, agreed to double tiger numbers by 2022.
The countries will focus on protecting tiger habitats, addressing poaching, illegal trade and providing the financial resources for the plan.
In the last 100 years, tiger numbers have dropped from about 100,000 to less than 3,500 tigers in the wild today.
There has been a 40% decline in numbers in a decade, and some populations are expected to disappear within the next 20 years.
The United Nations Environment Program (Unep) says that the St Petersburg Declaration will strengthen international collaboration to protect the majestic Asian wild cat.
Elizabeth Maruma Mrema, executive-secretary of Unep’s Convention on Migratory Species (CMS) Secretariat, commented: “Safeguarding international migration corridors and trans-border habitats will be crucial for global efforts to save the tiger.”
The declaration sets in motion a strategic plan for tiger recovery; the countries are putting together a roadmap for post-summit action.
They are also discussing the institutional structure which will be set up to implement the aims and objectives of the declaration and its recovery programme.
The tiger summit was hosted by the Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and the President of the World Bank, Robert Zoellick, from 21-24 November.
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