Tiger doubling from 2010 aim review – Malaysia

The Malaysian tiger population (part of the Indochinese sub species) has a small but pretty stable population of tigers of between 250 and 340.

Unfortunately there does not seem to have been any increase. Having set a target of 1000 members in 2020 back in 2008, their efforts appear to have failed. Indeed some sources suggest that this may be a significant over estimate now.

Tiger doubling from 2010 aim review – China

China is a country which has done very poorly when it comes to the tiger. Having a great deal of respect for the tiger – with it woven throughout its early stories, and having played host to 4 of the tiger subspecies ( South china tiger, Amur tiger, indochinese tiger and the bengal tiger). Of these the south china tiger is almost certainly extinct having not been seen for decades, the Indochinese tiger is also extinct, the Bengal tiger has been confirmed in a part of Tibet – though numbers are unknown) and the amur tiger which live along the border between russia and china – perhaps 20 live in china.

As such it seems far to big a stretch to suggest that China has succeeded in doubling the wild tiger population.

Tiger doubling from 2010 aim review – Laos

Laos is not doing well with tigers. Back in 2010 the government estimated that 17 tigers lived in the country.

Unfortunately, with ridiculous numbers of snares there is a great deal of fear that all of the tigers and leopards have been lost from Laos.

As with other countries in the area, it is entirely possible that if the poaching is ended these animals will return.

Tiger doubling from 2010 aim review – Sumatra

Indonesia is a archipelago of islands. Once connected to the Asian mainland, animals were able to make their way along the peninsular. When sea levels rose in the ancient past they were marooned on the islands.

Once they were found on a few islands including Bali and Java. They are now only found Sumatra. Sumatra is thought to have 400 tigers in 2010. This is down from as many as 1000 back in 1978.

San diago zoo estimate the number remaining in the wild at 400-600, but I cannot find any reason for this higher band.

It is possible that the tiger population has increased a bit, but in certainly has not doubled.

Tiger doubling from 2010 aim review – Thiland

As with many of the other countries on this list, precise population numbers do not seem to be available. What is clear is that in 2010 the tiger population was thought to be in excess of 100. Their current population is around 177 ( the population grew by 50% over the last 2 years).

Rapid growth of the population appears to be possible thanks to an improvement in their habitats health.

Tiger doubling from 2010 aim review – Bhutan

Bhutan is a mountainous country, thought to have a small population of tigers. Tigers have been photographed thousands of meters up mountains, and is the only country where this is known to happen. In 2014 a census counted 103 tigers, up from the previous estimate of 75.

There appear to be no further census done. It is entirely possible that Bhutans tiger population has increased, but we cannot know.

Apparently Low-carbon ambitions must not interfere with ‘normal life’

According to Xi Jinping, low-carbon ambitions must not interfere with modern day life! If this is true, then we are unlikely to get the cuts that we need.

Now, it is not unreasonable for a country to want to raise its standard of living. However, China is likely to be hit very hard by climate change. While you do not think of China as a low lying country like Bangladesh, 67,000 square km (about 26,000 square miles) lie 1m or less above sea level – and 67 million people live in this area. It is true that this only accounts for about 5% of Chinas population but given how crowded this country already is, this is likely to cause a lot of issues. More to the point Shanghai is only between 3m and 5m above sea level,

Around the world about 600 million people live close to the sea. Of course we understand that each country must look after its own citizens – but that includes protecting them from global warming. China currently accounts for 26% of global emissions, and the rest of the world cannot cut enough to make their emissions irrelevant.

Now, it is entirely true that the president may be trying to keep his own population on side, but we need the whole world to work on this problem. China accounts for 15% of the worlds GDP, then can not take a back seat.

See Animals Wild