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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 05 BANGKOK 000456 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
DEPT FOR OES/PCI, OES/ENRC, SCA/INSB, SCA/P, SCA/RA 
USAID FOR ANE/SAA 
EPA FOR OIA FREEMAN 
INTERIOR FOR FWS BAGLEY 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: SENV ETRD ETTC ASEAN SAARC XC XE NP TH
SUBJECT:  Asian Ministerial Continues Efforts to Prevent Extinction 
of Wild Tigers 
 
Ref:  09 Kathmandu 394; 09 Kathmandu 1002 (C) 09 Bangkok 2963 (D) 09 
Bangkok 709 
 
BANGKOK 00000456  001.2 OF 005 
 
 
¶1.  (U) Summary:  In a ministerial meeting hosted by Thailand and 
the World Bank's Global Tiger Initiative (GTI) last month, thirteen 
tiger range states issued a joint declaration to stem the alarming 
decline of tigers in the wild, through regional law enforcement and 
country action plans.  They agreed to work to double the current 
population of 3,200 wild tigers by 2022, and to plan to set up a 
multi-donor trust fund or some similar arrangement before a heads of 
government forum Russia will host in September.  In preparation for 
the forum, the Bank and Indonesia will host a partners' dialogue in 
June.  Many participants agreed that greater involvement in GTI 
decisions and planning by tiger range states would strengthen its 
efforts to increase the number of tigers in the wild.  With illegal 
trade the greatest short term threat, India, China and others 
announced various transboundary anti-trafficking agreements.  While 
little progress was made in solidifying a South Asia Wildlife 
Enforcement Network (SA-WEN), the USG-supported Association of 
Southeast Asian Nations Wildlife Enforcement Network (ASEAN-WEN) was 
highlighted for its successes.  Challenges remain: convening 13 
heads of government, developing funding mechanisms and refining 
national tiger conservation action plans.  End Summary. 
 
MINISTERIAL AFFIRMS TRANSNAITONAL COOPERATION 
--------------------------------------------- 
¶2. (SBU) Thailand and the World Bank's Global Tiger Initiative (GTI) 
hosted the first Asian Ministerial Conference on Tiger Conservation 
in Hua Hin from January 27-29.  The Bank leads GTI, a partnership 
that includes the Smithsonian and the International Tiger Coalition, 
a group of 39 non-governmental organizations.  This meeting, which 
followed up on the recommendations of GTI's October Kathmandu Global 
Tiger Workshop (ref B) is one of a series of GTI-sponsored 
gatherings aimed at mobilizing support to stop the decline of tigers 
in the wild, now estimated to number only 3,200 worldwide.  Thirteen 
tiger range states attended, with environment ministers representing 
Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal and Thailand, and high level 
representatives attending from Burma, Cambodia, China, India, 
Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Russia and Vietnam.  (Note: Part of North 
Korea lies within the range that could support tigers, but there is 
no recent confirmation of tigers there, and North Korea was not 
present.  End Note.) 
¶3. (SBU)  Thailand's Natural Resources and Environment Minister 
Suwit Khunkitti welcomed delegates.  (Note: World Wildlife Fund 
awarded Suwit the J. Paul Getty Award for Conservation leadership at 
the meeting, for domestic conservation and for his leadership in 
setting up the ASEAN Wildlife Enforcement Network.  End Note.) Video 
messages from Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva and World Bank 
President Robert Zoellick stressed the need for range state 
cooperation at all levels to prevent threatened extinction due to 
habitat loss, declining prey and poaching.  Zoellick also suggested 
 
BANGKOK 00000456  002.2 OF 005 
 
 
range states adopt the science-based recommendations of the 
Kathmandu meeting. 
 
 
¶4. (SBU) The meeting adopted a declaration calling for intensified 
cooperation in wildlife law enforcement and for the creation within 
nine months of a multi-donor trust fund or some similar flexible 
financing arrangement for tiger conservation.  The range state 
representatives also agreed to focus attention on tiger conservation 
during the lunar "year of the tiger" in 2010, and to work to double 
the global number of tigers in the wild by 2022, the next lunar year 
of the tiger.  (Note: During the Senior Official's Meeting that 
preceded the Ministerial, representatives expressed concern that 
while the doubling of tigers would be the goal for each nation, 
several smaller states with smaller tiger populations would not be 
able to double; the group agreed that the declaration would reflect 
doubling as a global goal to which all range states would 
contribute.  End Note.) 
 
¶5. (SBU) The Declaration stressed the need to balance conservation 
and development.  After an extensive discussion on habitat 
definitions and strategies, representatives pledged that range 
states would zone corridors and buffer zones that were not already 
protected areas, and not support or finance development projects 
that would harm tiger conservation.  Thailand announced it would 
connect the three Huai Kha Khaeng forest reserves as a corridor for 
around 300 tigers.  (Comment: There are some interesting avenues for 
conservation and greenhouse gas reduction based on NGO 
presentations.  For example, peatlands are in some cases also tiger 
habitat; if Indonesia agreed to stop conversion of peatlands, it 
could serve a double purpose.  One presentation used work in Peru to 
show how satellite data could be used to synchronize carbon 
inventories within tiger range states, suggesting an avenue for U.S. 
technical expertise to assist.  NASA data in the past was helpful in 
mapping conservation for the Congo Basin.  End Comment.) 
 
TRADE AND TRANSNATIONAL AGREEMENTS: SOME THERE, SOME NOT 
--------------------------------------------- --------- 
¶6. (SBU) As range countries presented national actions to date, a 
number of transborder agreements to cooperate in fighting the tiger 
trade were highlighted: Nepal/India; Nepal/China; Thailand/Laos; 
Thailand/Burma; and Laos/Vietnam.  Thai Minister Suwit called for an 
Asia wide Wildlife Enforcement Network (WEN) to replicate success of 
the ASEAN WEN that Thailand hosts. (Ref B) (Comment: Noticeably 
lacking was mention of China/India cooperation. Hopefully Nepal can 
play a pivotal role to stop the India/Nepal/China tiger trade nexus. 
 NGO and donor support will be particularly critical to help range 
states manage these arrangements.  The USG-supported ASEAN Wildlife 
Enforcement Network is indeed a good model with its successful 
transborder investigations.  An OES-funded grant to UN Office on 
Drugs and Crime will connect UN anti-trafficking efforts with 
 
BANGKOK 00000456  003.2 OF 005 
 
 
ASEAN-WEN.   The NGO community will focus on support for 
transnational tiger trade interdiction in its work plan for the 
Vladivostok forum.  End Comment.) 
¶7. (SBU) In the declaration the range states pledged to protect 
tigers by eliminating international trade in tigers and tiger parts 
through laws and enforcement.  China expressed reservations about a 
separate trade section making permanent a trade ban for tigers and 
tiger parts. (Note: China and Thailand have a number of Tiger 
"farms" where tiger part trade is supposedly prohibited but widely 
suspected of occurring. End Note.) 
SOUTH ASIA WILDLIFE ENFORCEMENT NETWORK 
--------------------------------------- 
¶8. (SBU) This Ministerial failed to act on plans endorsed at the 
Kathmandu meeting to make the South Asian Wildlife Enforcement 
Network (SA-WEN) a functioning network (REF B).  SA-WEN, established 
by regional environment ministers in May 2008, has never actually 
begun operations, and a planned experts' meeting to facilitate 
SA-WEN has yet to occur.  In Kathmandu, Nepal offered, with India's 
support to house the SA-WEN secretariat; at this Ministerial, India 
suggested that South Asia Association for Regional Cooperation 
(SAARC) approval needed to be obtained before SA-WEN can begin 
operations.  India persuaded delegates to remove references to 
SA-WEN from the declaration. However, NGO TRAFFIC reported from a 
meeting last week that Indian Forest Minister Jairam Ramesh promised 
to help move SAWEN forward.  At the Ministerial, there was a side 
meeting among the four South Asia countries present (Bangladesh, 
Bhutan, India, and Nepal) to plan how SA-WEN should be run; the 
upcoming SA-WEN Expert's group meeting, which India proposed to 
host, would seek agreement among all eight members on a work plan 
and acceptance of Nepal's offer to host the secretariat.  In a 
previous meeting with Regional South Asia Hub officer, Nepal's 
Forestry Minister expressed eagerness to toughen regional 
enforcement and was interested in technical assistance and funding. 
Nepal's National Trust for Nature Conservation, an NGO, has asked 
USAID-supported NGO Freeland to set up training replicating the 
ASEAN WEN model. 
NGO SUPPORT, THE GTI AND AB INTERNATIONAL TRUST FUND? 
--------------------------------------------- --------      9. (SBU) 
The delegates pledged to mobilize domestic funding through 
mechanisms such as payment for environmental services (PES), but 
they also called on international donors to help fund tiger 
conservation.  Most of the NGOs involved in Tiger Conservation 
attended the Ministerial and held extensive side meetings to plan 
support.  World Wildlife Fund agreed to lead development of a work 
plan of NGO support that would be ready by the Vladivostok forum. In 
the declaration, the states agreed to update national action plans, 
but they also called on the international community to set up a 
trust fund or similar flexible funding arrangements before the 
forum.  (Note: Nothing concrete came out of the Ministerial to 
solidify a plan for the trust fund.  End Note.) 
¶10. (SBU) At the side meetings, NGOs, donors, multilateral banks and 
 
BANGKOK 00000456  004.2 OF 005 
 
 
range state representatives agreed that the Bank's Global Tiger 
Initiative (GTI) would benefit from greater range state involvement. 
 Governmental involvement would provide clarity about GTI goals, and 
initiatives post-Vladivostok.  In the 20-month existence of the GTI, 
the Bank has funded and held several large international meetings, 
including this Ministerial and provided a million dollars for a 
program to train trainers in tiger conservation techniques.  At the 
Hua Hin meeting, the Bank announced (after some pressure from India) 
that the first phase of the training will be for six weeks at the 
Wildlife Institute of India in Dehradun to be followed, by two weeks 
the U.S. at the Smithsonian's Front Royal Virginia facility. 
Separately, the bank will also host a GTI Executive Leadership Forum 
to provide training for senior officials from April 15-21 in 
Washington right before the spring International Monetary Fund 
meetings; Ministers from Nepal and Thailand have given tentative 
indications they may attend. 
NEXT STEPS: INDONESIA, RUSSIA, INDIA MEETINGS 
--------------------------------------------- 
¶11. (SBU) Russia announced that PM Vladimir Putin would host the 
September tiger forum at the heads of government level in 
Vladivostok.  (Note: The Bank sees this forum as the culmination of 
its effort to mobilize high-level political will to reverse the 
decline of tiger populations.  End Note.)  Russia and the Bank 
provided few details about the forum other than timing; Russia 
agreed to reconsider the September 11-12 date after delegates noted 
its conflict with the Muslim holiday Eid.  Indonesia agreed to host, 
with the Bank a GTI partners' dialogue in June to discuss funding 
and other topics.  India also announced that it still plans to hold 
a separate high-level meeting on tiger conservation, perhaps in 
November 2010.  The range state representatives agreed to the 
Nepalese Forest Minister's proposal to celebrate July 29 as tiger 
awareness day, in part to publicize the Vladivostok forum. 
 
COMMENTS 
-------- 
¶12.  (SBU)  The Bank has yet to identify funding sources for the 
kind of pilot demonstration projects Bank President Zoellick called 
for in his video address, or to interest regional nations to jointly 
seek low-interest Bank loans for tiger conservation.  The 
forthcoming meetings in Jakarta and Vladivostok will provide the 
Bank an opportunity to establish a greater role for tiger range 
states in GTI planning and decision making, and to clarify GTI goals 
and future initiatives.  Resolving these important matters would 
greatly strengthen the effort to bring tigers back from the brink of 
extinction by doubling the number of wild tigers. 
¶13. (SBU) The several international agreements listed at the forum 
were positive indications of the transborder cooperation necessary 
to stop the tiger trade.  India's insistence on holding its own 
Tiger meeting after Vladivostok seemed to signal a limit to how much 
that range state would allow the Bank and GTI to take the lead in 
international tiger conservation.  China came to the Ministerial 
 
BANGKOK 00000456  005.2 OF 005 
 
 
with a deep delegation, well-prepared and with clear positions on 
matters such as trade.  Both China and India appeared firm in 
wanting to claim leadership in international tiger conservation 
efforts and not leave it to the Bank, NGOs or others. 
¶14. (U) A significant unanswered question is who would set up a 
Tiger trust fund before the September forum.  The World Bank has not 
identified funding sources for the fund and no donors have indicated 
interest beyond continuing existing environmental funding and plans 
for funding that includes programs which benefit tigers.  Also 
important will be commitments from range states for concrete action 
plans.  With ASEAN WEN, member state ownership and funding is 
equally important, with the need for member states to contribute 
funds and send law enforcement officers to the ASEAN WEN 
headquarters in Bangkok.  SAWEN will face similar challenges as it 
emerges. 
¶15.  (SBU) The attendance of only four range state ministers was a 
disappointment, calling into some question the convening power of 
the Bank and GTI and suggesting a challenge for Russia to convene 
with the Bank a meeting for thirteen heads of state.  China, 
Malaysia and others expressed concern that the initial draft 
declaration would commit range states beyond the authority of the 
environment ministries represented, and various references were 
dropped relating to infrastructure or finance.  The heads of 
government forum planned for September would hopefully provide the 
venue for governmental commitments that cut across ministries. 
¶16. The overarching challenge will be solidifying range state 
ownership of the GTI.  Many NGO observers who have been involved 
with the Coral Triangle Initiative (CTI, Ref D) see the strong 
involvement of regional nations as a possible model for GTI. 
Perhaps the thirteen tiger states need to similarly own the Asian 
tiger initiative, with GTI, the Global Tiger Fund and other entities 
playing a supporting role.  The greatest short term threat to 
survival is the trade in tigers and their parts, so strengthening 
ASEAN and SA WEN will be vital; an OES grant for this year aims to 
do that. 
JOHN