IUCN / SSC Cat Specialist Group - Digital Cat Library |
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| Azmi, R.; Ng Su-Chan, J. | |
| Can Tourism Really Save the Indo-Chinese Tiger? | |
| 2003 Conference Proceeding | |
The Indo-Chinese tiger or the Malayan tiger (_Panthera tigris corbetti_) is widely distributed across South-East Asia, namely China, Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia, Malaysia, Thailand and eastern Myanmar (Burma). Throughout its range, the Indo-Chinese tiger is under significant pressure from habitat loss, reduced prey-densities and from hunters seeking tiger parts for the illegal traditional Chinese medicine trade. All of these pressures will undoubtedly increase over the next decade. The crux of the question remains, how can tourism actually benefit tiger conservation throughout its range states? If we were to consider Malaysia, which is at the southern end of the distribution of Indo-Chinese tigers, it is possible that tiger-tourism may not be viable at all. Firstly, from a tourism-perspective, tiger tourism outside of the Indian continent is virtually unknown. Secondly, the equatorial rainforest does not allow for easy sightings of tigers. Even if nature tourism based on tigers is viable, an economic incentive for protecting tigers would remain at the hands of entrepreneurs, and their motivation maybe economic (pushing for larger numbers) and not for conservation. Furthermore, from local observations, it is often the case that nature-based tourism does not actually contribute significantly towards protected area management or enforcement. In Malaysia at least, an initiative is being developed by W I L D A S I A . net (a nature-tourism information site for Malaysia and its neighbors) that aims to try to persuade visitors to their website to directly support conservation projects. At one level it will provide information about the status and plight of the Indo-Chinese tiger (and other wild cats). It will create opportunities to raise funds for specific conservation projects that are working to address co nservation problems at multiple levels (for example, policy interventions or field research). In Malaysia, for instance, some potential projects that could get further exposure could be work by TRAFFIC South East Asia on illegal wildlife trade, habitat conservation via the Northern Forest Initiative by WWF Malaysia, or even particular field conservation projects by other wildlife researchers. This is but one of the ways in which we could harness the interest of nature tourists towards supporting tiger conservation, without actually having any "tiger tourism" _per se_. |
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