World Bank Debunks Tiger Farming Benefits
WWF has welcomed the statement today by the World Bank that experimenting with tiger farming is too risky and could drive wild tigers further towards extinction.
The World Bank’s call for countries to ban tiger farming was made during the 58th meeting of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) Standing Committee, taking place this week in Geneva, Switzerland. It was endorsed by WWF because of the uncertainty surrounding the effects on long-term conservation of wild tigers.
“Extinction is irreversible, so prudence and precaution suggest that the risks of legalized farming are too great a gamble for the world to take,” said World Bank Director Keshav Varma . “We cannot know for sure if tiger farming will work.”
Varma, who leads the World Bank’s Global Tiger Initiative, said after the meeting that the unpredictability of the market environment and the small number of remaining tigers in the wild meant there was no room for experimentation. He added: “Commercial trading in tiger parts and its derivatives is not in the interest of wild tiger conservation.”
Tiger trade is prohibited internationally and banned domestically in all of its range countries, including China - historically the largest market for tiger products.
However, owners of privately run tiger farms and a contingent of wealthy business men across China have been pressuring the Chinese government to allow legal trade in tiger parts within China and lift its domestic tiger trade ban, implemented in 1993.
Heather Sohl, WWF species policy officer said: “Stopping all trade in tiger parts, and phasing out these tiger farms, is of the utmost urgency if the tiger is to survive in the wild”.
“It is time for the world community to join together, with tiger range state governments, to stop all poaching of tigers for illegal trade and WWF welcomes the engagement of the World Bank in these efforts”.
For information on the World Bank’s Global Tiger Initiative, visit www.globaltigerinitiative.org/ - 9th July 2009