(Photo: CGTN)
Nepal's tiger population has nearly doubled from 121 in 2009 to 235 in 2018, meaning it is set to become the first nation to achieve the goal set by the World Wildlife Foundation (WWF), according to the latest report released on Sunday.
The goal was established by the "Tx2" program which was initiated by the governments of 13 tiger range countries and intended to double the number of wild tigers by 2022 - the next Year of The Tiger in the Chinese calendar.
Nepal has successfully turned the table within the last nine years and is expected to outstrip its target before the deadline thanks to support from the local government and innovative conservation approaches.
Bishwa Nath Oli, Secretary of Nepal's Ministry of Forests and Environment, told the media that "protecting tigers is a top priority of the government."
The national tiger survey was conducted by the government between November 2017 and April 2018. They used camera traps to capture the total number of tigers in the area, a method also deployed in China's Siberian tiger habitats.
As one of the world's most iconic species and part of Nepal's living heritage, the existence of tigers carries incredibly important cultural and historical meaning. They are crucial to the ecosystem in which we live and play a vital role in containing the number of lower omnivores, maintaining balance between herbivores and vegetation.
But the endangered species was once on the verge of extinction due to poaching and habitat loss from excessive logging and industrial development.
Nepal's success can be seen as a positive sign for the member countries to act out their own plans and draw lessons from other's successful experience.
According to the WWF, Nepal has been an early adopter of advanced technologies like unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and anti-poaching operations. It also developed a site-based approach to monitor and improve the effectiveness of conservation management.
