India, China on save-tiger mission

India and China are likely to set up a mechanism to share information on wildlife crimes at the ground level. The body parts of tigers poached in India are believed to reach the domestic Chinese market from Myanmar and south-west Asia.

Updated on: Aug 28, 2010, 22:56:01 IST

Hindustan Times | By Chetan Chauhan, New Delhi

Prefer HTon Google

Share via

Copy link

India and China are likely to set up a mechanism to share information on wildlife crimes at the ground level.

The body parts of tigers poached in India are believed to reach the domestic Chinese market from Myanmar and south-west Asia.

Recently, a huge cache of tigers body parts were seized at Guwahati airport en route to Thailand, from where it is was destined to China.

These are some of the issues India's top wildlife and forest officials are likely to discuss with officials of the state forestry administration of China next week in a joint effort to save tigers, listed as the most endangered species in the world in January 2010.

"India will seek details on the Chinese government scheme to make registration of Asian tigers mandatory," said an Indian wildlife official, who will be participating in the four-day visit starting from August 30.

China has just 50 tigers in the wild, but over 5,000 tigers in farms are believed to be the cause for the growing demand for its body parts.

China had assured the recent conference on tigers that it would register all tigers to keep an account of them.

Among the issues listed for discussion are the areas from where tigers and other wildlife body parts smuggling was taking place and measures to curb them.

"Sharing of intelligence between the countries is essential to check the illegal trade with a special focus on wildlife control," an official said.

India is also expected to ask China to become part of Global Tiger Forum (GTF), a network of 13 tiger-bearing countries. The forum has discussed ways to protect tigers but felt that without China, the biggest market for tiger body parts, any mechanism will be futile.

The officials also said that India would try to push the agenda approved at a recent meeting of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species for imposing a ban on tiger farms. China has so far opposed this as the farms attract tourists.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Chetan Chauhan
Chetan Chauhan is the National Affairs Editor looking into all aspects of news and features from across India. A Chevening scholar with over three decades of experience in reporting and news management, Chetan has extensively covered all important aspects of the social sector, political economy, environment and climate change nationally and internationally. He did a journalism course at the Reuters Institute of Journalism in Oxford and Digital Media training at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. He started as a reporter with The Statesman in 1996 and joined the Hindustan Times in 2000 in the metro bureau covering environment, crime and Delhi politics. He covered hot local news, from the Jessica Lal murder case to the rebellion of Delhi Congress MLAs against then Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, to the replacement of toxic vehicle fuel with cleaner compressed natural gas (CNG) in the national capital. Some of his stories on air pollution became part of the Supreme Court’s landmark MC Mehta versus Government of India case in the National Capital Region (NCR), forcing the government to take corrective measures. As part of the national political bureau since 2004, he covered important central sectors such as environment, education, social justice, labour, rural development, water resources, renewable energy, agriculture, broadcasting and the Planning Commission for more than a decade producing several exclusive and investigative breaking stories. His specialisation is the environment, having covered at least a dozen United Nations global conferences on climate change, biodiversity and wildlife including climate summits in Paris, Copenhagen and Bali. He also covered India’s two five-year plans ---11th and 12th and reported on drafting and execution of right based laws such as Right to Education, Right to Information and rural job guarantee law, MG-NREGA, now being introduced in new format as VG-RAM-G Act. He has in-depth knowledge of social sector issues. He was one of the first to report on tigers vanishing from Sariska and Panna wildlife reserves in 2004 and 2008, respectively, leading to the setting up of the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) and the introduction of stringent penal provisions for poaching. He has written extensively on the rising human-animal conflict in India and the degradation of India’s biodiversity hotspots because of mining and other activities. Since 2004, Chetan has covered Parliament comprehensively and participated in training on the nuanced coverage of Parliament proceedings. He has travelled extensively across India to cover national and provincial elections since 1998, especially in the Hindi heartland states, considered India’s road to power. He writes a regular column for Hindustan Times, Ecostani, on important national politics, economy, Himalayan ecology and environmental issues. His other responsibilities include providing inputs for edits and edit page articles for the publication, apart from managing news flow from across India.Read More

Catch every big hit, every wicket with Crickit, a one stop destination for Live Scores, Match Stats, Infographics & much more. Explore now!

Stay updated with all top Cities including, Bengaluru, Delhi, Mumbai and more across India. Stay informed on the latest happenings in World News along with Delhi Election 2025 and Delhi Election Result 2025 Live, New Delhi Election Result Live, Kalkaji Election Result Live at Hindustan Times.