The Amur tiger lives in the far east of Russia, and across the border in china. As little as 15 years ago, the number of Amur tigers living within China had fallen to 20 (or possibly even less.
Through a mix of Chinese national policies that have improved environmental standards, and the founding of several reserves, this number has climbed to 55. Never-the-less a recent paper suggests that North-eastern China could actually support 310 tigers, if further efforts were taken to remove human pressures, and make sure that ecological corridors are created between reserves and protected aggressively. This is, unfortunately, not to say that the pressure on tigers in China are over, far from it. China will have to continue to police this if it wants the tiger count to grow to what it can.
This move by the government largely banned timber extraction in many areas. While this is great for the natural world, it did remove the financial viability of many of these villages which have since emptied into local cities.
Several huge reserves have been founded, and the hope is that even China can save its wildlife with the same system that much of the rest of the world have been using for the last few centuries.
