Priority tiger landscapes

These landscapes have been selected because they:

• Have globally important tiger populations

• Represent the range of ecological adaptations of tigers to the different habitats they occur in

• Include other important facets of Asian biodiversity, including many endangered species.

Managing metapopulations

Conservationists agree that conservation of tigers as isolated populations in small reserves will not work. Instead, wild tigers need to be managed as metapopulations within large tiger conservation landscapes.

This involves managing core protected areas linked by habitat corridors that allow sub-adults to move away from their birth area and mix with other populations. This helps prevent isolation of small tiger populations.

Buffers around the core habitat help prevent or minimize conflict between tigers and people.

Conserving prey

Across Asia, the tiger's natural prey is also being heavily poached. Not enough food can prevent tiger populations from growing. So conservation efforts need to focus on prey species as well as tigers.

Land-use planning and management

Clearly, judicious land-use planning and management is needed to separate areas used by people from core wildlife habitat, provide corridors between core areas, and ensure that land-use is compatible with tiger conservation.

In addition to creating new protected areas and restoring habitat, we are also promoting community-managed lands that promote local stewardship and the involvement of business and industry operating in priority tiger landscapes.

Innovative funding

Tiger conservation is expensive, especially at landscape scales. This means innovative and sustainable funding mechanisms are needed to support conservation long-term.

One such source is economic returns from habitat and ecological services, including  potential carbon markets. This can provide opportunities to restore habitat, especially in critical corridors, and create more space for tigers while providing economic returns to stakeholders ranging from national governments to local communities.