Last weekend, saw leading conservationists, environmentalists, government ministers, and even royalty gather at Fort Canning for the Singapore Wildcat Action Group (SWAG) third annual Tiger Week. The theme of the two day conference was saving the Malayan Tiger together, and the majority of speakers emphasised the need for greater collaboration if we are to combat the threats facing this critically endangered creature.
Estimates put the number of tigers left in Malaysian Peninsula at anywhere between 150 to 100 individuals and their long term survival continues to look precarious. The reasons for their sharp decline, there were an estimated 5000 tigers in Malaysia in the 1950s, were spelled out clearly – the illegal wildlife trade, habitat loss and the decline of prey species due to poaching and disease.
The sessions saw various experts identify the situation on the ground today and what current actions are being taken, or need to be taken, if we are going to try and save this beautiful creature. You can still access the full programme and watch a full video of the event but I’ve also tried to break down some of my personal takeaways from what proved to be an enlightening two day event. It’s a bit of an essay so here’s the headlines:
Illegal Wildlife Trade: A billion dollar industry
Raising the stakes: Changing attitudes
Cross-border collaboration: Partnerships are key
Impact of Poaching: The snare crisis in South East Asia
Silent Forests: A special report
Stopping the Poachers: More boots on the ground
Room to Roam: Better habitat management
Citizen Action: Power of the people
Illegal Wildlife Trade: A billion dollar industry
Perhaps the biggest threat to tigers globally has been the illegal wildlife trade. Criminal gangs have relentlessly hunted down tigers thanks to a continued demand for their skin, bones and other body parts. Referencing Traffic’s 2022 report, Skin and Bones, Kanitha Krishnasamy, Director of TRAFFIC Southeast Asia outlined how the illegal wildlife trade has posed a “Persistent and continuous threat’ to the Malayan tiger over the last two decades.
The conservationist, detailed how over 3,300 tigers had been confiscated and their parts seized in 2,205 separate incidents across 50 countries between January 2000 and June 2022. That works out at a staggering 150 tigers per year, with most of the seizures taking place in the 13 countries that are still home to wild tigers.
Unfortunately, it also seems to be “A reality that is not going away as long as there is a demand.” Kanitha, referenced a 2022 case, where a man was caught keeping 14 tigers in the basement of his Do Thanh home in central Vietnam, as one example of a worrying increase in whole tigers being seized since 2016/17.
She went onto say that a significant proportion of these tigers now come from captive facilities in Vietnam and Laos. However, Kanith emphasised the fact that ongoing and recent cases in Malaysia make it “Clear, that people have access to the forests still.”
While stopping the poachers is vital, Kanitha also stressed they are simply responding to continued demand from a growing urban middle class. “The demand has to be addressed,” she explained. “We need to work out the identities of the people who are targeting Malaysian wildlife.”
Raising the stakes: Changing attitudes
One problem is that the people who do get caught are typically at the bottom end of the criminal rings. They are not the individuals with the resources and connections to run this multi-billion dollar criminal industry.
Even when arrests are made it can be a long and challenging process to secure a conviction and the result is often a small sentence. Kanitha mentioned a 2016 case of a Malaysian man caught with a whole tiger carcass on the back of his motorbike who ended up being sentenced to just one month in prison. This example, demonstrated a shared frustration many of the speakers voiced that wildlife-related crimes are not viewed with the same severity as other crimes.
Anbarasi Boopal, Co-CEO of ACRES
Anbarasi Boopal, Co-CEO of Animal Concerns, Research & Education Society (ACRES), whose organisation does a lot of work in Singapore to combat the illegal trade in animals, made a similar point during her talk.
She recounted all the times taxi drivers, when finding out what she did for a living, had quite happily shared stories of their own experiences taking part in the illegal wildlife trade, whether that was keeping illegal pets or wearing a tiger amulet. “They think its ok to brag about this,” said Anbu. “This needs to be addressed, we need to educate people, the wildlife trade should not be something people brag about.”
While getting convictions remains challenging, the penalties for wildlife trafficking are thankfully getting tougher in both Malaysia and Singapore. An amendment to the Wildlife Conservation Act in February 2023 has seen the penalties for wildlife crime in Malaysia increase to RM1million and 15 years in jail. And in Singapore, changes to the Endangered Wildlife Act in November 2022 saw jail terms increase from two to eight years and fines rise from SG$50k per specimen to SG$200k per specimen.
Cross border collaboration: Partnerships are key
Of course, you need to catch the criminals first and that’s easier said than done. These criminal networks are sophisticated and far-reaching, operating across multiple countries and regions. This is why cross border collaboration is so vital.
“No one country can address this on their own,” explained Kanitha from Traffic, “this trade goes between borders.”
As an international trading hub which connects West and East and handles between 30 million cargo containers every year, Singapore has a key role to play in combating the illegal wildlife trade. As well as strict local legislation it also undertakes extensive international cooperation with organisations like Interpol, United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), as well as maintaining close collaboration with other countries like Malaysia, the USA and South Africa.
While admitting to ongoing challenges, Ryan Lee, Group Director of Wildlife Management, and the National Biodiversity Centre, pointed to success stories like the annual Operation Thunder, which last year saw hundreds of arrests in over 125 countries, and the 2019 seizure of 8.8 tonnes of ivory worth SG$66m being illegally transported from Africa to China via Singapore, as evidence of how such cross border collaboration can work.
Desmond Lee, Singapore’s Minister for National Development, whose speech closed the first day, also emphasised the need for Malaysia and Singapore to strengthen their biodiversity commitments and help build joint capacity and research efforts.
“Let’s continue to work together to nurture appreciation for wildlife and biodiversity and safeguard it for future generations to come,” said the Singapore politician. Lee also stressed the need to work with communities to reinforce the value of biodiversity and ensure better coexistence between humans and nature.
Lee pointed to the joint efforts of Malaysia and Singapore in 2022 to push CITES to upgrade the status of the Straw-headed Bulbul (something I wrote about before) as an example of how the countries could work together and have a real impact on conservation efforts.
Impact of Poaching: The Snare Crisis in South East Asia
While the illegal wildlife trade is a major threat to the survival of the Malayan Tiger it’s unfortunately not the only challenge it faces. It is also suffering from a desperate shortage of prey. The reality is that South East Asia is currently experiencing an unprecedented epidemic that is emptying its forests of wildlife: snaring.
The 2020 WWF report, Silence of the Snares estimated that there were over 12 million of these rudimentary traps, typically made using metal wire, nylon or rope, being used in the forests of Cambodia, Vietnam and Laos alone. The purpose of this wholesale poaching: to feed the urban demand for wildlife meat and products.
As Sera Brown, Illegal Wildlife Trade Programme Lead at WWF-Singapore explained snares are simple, affordable, efficient and time effective for poachers but they are also indiscriminate and often result in very slow and painful deaths for the animals they catch.
As well as being the number one driver of tiger prey decline, snares are also having a direct impact on tigers. Last year’s joint WWF-Traffic report Snaring of Big Cats in Mainland Asia found evidence of snaring incidents involving at least 387 big cats across seven countries between 2012-2021, with tigers accounting for 33% of those cases.
Silent Forests: A special report
The devastating impact of snares was really brought to life in a joint talk by two journalists on the final morning of the event. Audrey Tan, formerly of the Straits Times and now at the NUS Centre for Nature-based Climate Solutions (CNCS) and Anton L. Delgado, Rainforest Investigation Fellow at the Pulitzer Center, showcased the 2022 report they conducted in Cambodia and Vietnam exploring the huge impact poaching has had on South East Asia’s rainforests and what this might mean for wider issues such as climate change and human health.
You can read the stories that resulted from their investigation in the Straits Times, SEA Globe or watch the accompanying video:
Unfortunately, though not unsurprisingly, it was a bleak picture. The huge challenges that conservationist operating in the region face was perhaps best highlighted by their interview with Ben Davis, a conservationist and the founder of BeTreed Adventures in Cambodia.
He explained how an inability to fund enough ranger patrols to prevent poaching had led him to the extreme decision to construct a 19km long, 2.5m deep-ditch around his nature reserve. While he accepted the negative impact on the local wildlife he felt it was the only choice left open to him. Worryingly he was not alone with Anton referencing two other reserves in Cambodia exploring similar strategies.
Stopping the poachers: More boots on the ground
The truth is the best way of tackling the snaring crisis is pretty simple, a huge increase in the number of rangers patrolling the region’s forests. In fact, Sera from WWF estimated that there is a need for five rangers for every 100 sq km of forest to adequately clear snares and deter poachers.
Needless to say a lack of resources and focus mean most countries in South East Asia are a long way short of this ideal. In fact, one attendee, a conservationist working at a national park in Cambodia, pointed out he had just eight rangers to patrol an area bigger than Singapore.
To make the situation even more challenging, Asia is actually the most dangerous place to be a ranger in the world. As Sera put it, those risking their lives deserved greater protection through better resources, training teaching and intelligence. “we need to give them the resources to do a dangerous job better.”
A greater number of better equipped rangers patrolling the country’s national parks is a key pillar of the Malaysian National Tiger Conservation Action Plan. This was detailed by Dato’ Fakhrul Hatta bin Musa, Deputy Director General (Conservation) of the Department of Wildlife and National Parks (PERHILITAN), Peninsular Malaysia. His session took a detailed look at the government’s responses to some of the key challenges facing the country’s last tigers.
In 2022, peninsular Malaysia had a total of 901 community rangers, made up of army and police veterans and over 470 indigenous community members, patrolling the country’s national parks and wildlife reserves. Dato’ also confirmed that an additional 13 rangers have been added to PERHILITAN’s deep-forest specialist counter-poaching unit, the Special Protected Area Response team (SPARTA) this year, with an additional 43 due to be commissioned within the next few years.
Altogether PERHILITAN’s rangers conducted 6000 operations in 2022. To put that in perspective there were just 123 in 2020. In total these patrols detained four poachers and were responsible for removing 594 snares. Whether a sign of the impact of increased patrols or a worrying rise in illegal activity, operations in 2023 have already detained 12 poachers and removed 335 snares.
Room to roam: Better habitat management
As well as hiring and training more rangers, the Action Plan also covers the establishment of a National Tiger Task force led by the Prime Minister, a dedicated Wildlife Crime Bureau and additional resources for the National Wildlife Forensic Laboratory.
This year has also seen a push for increased accreditation of protected land and a doubling of funding for individual states to better protect and manage their tiger habitats. These are welcome steps, but an additional challenge in Malaysia can be the number of stakeholders involved.
“Federal action plans are great but the reality is that management of land is a state matter,” explained Mark Rayan Darmanraj, Country Director, Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) Malaysia. “so whether the states choose to implement these plans is very dependent on whether the resources are there.”
Mark is the only Malaysian with a PhD in tiger ecology and has spent the past twenty years trying to understand tigers and how we can actually save them. WCS conservation efforts in Peninsular Malaysia, are specifically focused on the Endau-Rompin National and state parks, that make up Southern Forest complex which straddles Pahang and Johor.
“It’s important to understand what’s happening on the ground,” explained Mark. “We need to look at it from a scientific point of view and use science to govern our actions.”
The good news is that WCS research suggests that tiger numbers might actually have stabilised in the area over the last few years, and even started to increase. However, this does present its own challenges, with an increased pressure being placed on the available habitat and prey species.
In Malaysia prey options for tigers are mostly limited to Sambar deer, Barking deer and wild pigs and occasionally larger species like gaur. However, wild populations of all these species are limited and in a lot of places sambar, the tiger’s favourite meal, are already extinct. Lack of available prey can push tigers to find alternative sources and give rise to greater potential for human-wildlife conflict.
To make matters worse, both Dato’ and Mark highlighted the fact that Malaysia’s wild pigs are starting to succumb to Asian Swine Fever. Mark confirmed that they had detected their first cases in Endau-Rompin in September 2022 and that there had been spike in cattle attacks by tigers at around the same time.
For Mark and WCS this makes it even more important to increase the available habitat for tigers and their prey. This means protecting existing natural forests and the restoration of additional areas to improve ecological connectivity. Mark admitted his long term dream is to connect the southern forest complex with the tiger habitats in Pahang.
“People who have been on the ground will probably laugh at me, because this area is heavily fragmented, with roads, major rivers, plantations and human settlements,” he admitted. “But If we can make it work then we have a higher chance of survival. We can increase [tigers] genetic viability by connecting north and south.”
One solution, that might make keeping land for tigers a more appealing option for land owners, could be to lean into the potential revenue streams created by nature based solutions that help mitigate against climate change. Put very simply, the idea is that the protected forest could be used as carbon credits, sold to companies or governments to offset their own carbon emissions (read more about this topic here).
While Mark believes science can provide the solutions to saving the tigers, he also acknowledged the need to work with indigenous people and local communities. This wasn’t just to leverage their knowledge of the forest but also to get them on board and reduce any antagonistic feelings they might have towards living alongside tigers.
Citizen Action: Power of the people
In fact, many of the speakers placed a strong emphasis on the role of citizen action and the need to work with local indigenous communities.
This community engagement was something that Anbu, Sera and Kanitha all stressed in their talks. It is also central to the MYCAT programme that uses members of the local Batek community as rangers and as guides on the Citizen Action for Tigers (CAT) Walks.
“People can make a difference that’s why I urge people to go on a Cat Walk,” explained Kanitha. “The reality is its working. 13 years later the wildlife is coming back, your presence is a real deterrent.”
Her call to arms was echoed by Vilma D’Rozario, one of the organisers of Tiger Week and the co-director of SWAG. “You don’t need to be a conservationist, a scientist, every one of us can be the missing link in saving tigers,” said Vilma who has been helping promote the fate of the Malayan Tiger since taking part in a Cat Walk back in 2015.
Since then SWAG has helped over 360 citizen conservationists head up to Malaysia to walk trails in the Sungai Yu Ecological corridor. “I’ve seen a difference, the impact we can have. Threats have decreased, wildlife has increased, local community awareness has increased, local community income has increased,” explained the inspirational Vilma.
Having been lucky enough to go on a Cat Walk, I can reinforce that sentiment. Taking part really gives you a wonderful sense of empowerment and a feeling that you’re making some kind of difference.
Community rangers: It takes a village
Lara Ariffin, the president of NGO Rimau ,was also present to share another successful example of community conservation in action. The non-profit organisation raises funds to pay for members of the Orang Asli community to act as rangers in a number of Perak State parks.
Founded in 2018 by documentary filmmaker Lara, and her husband Harun Rahman, Rimau now supports 85 patrollers operating in Royal Belum State Park and Amanjaya and Korbu Forest Reserves. As well as paying the rangers wages the charity has also developed an education programme and created a community fund that helps support the whole village.
Their remarkable efforts were recognised this year at the IUCN WCPA World Ranger Awards, where they one of only 10 winning projects chosen from over 100 entries. They are not planning on resting their laurels though, and like Mark have a dream of working with the state authorities to develop a viable ecological corridor between Perak and the southern ranges.
New hope: Tiger Reserve
The success of Rimau and the CAT Walks weren’t the only good news coming out of Tiger Week. Home to large swathes of Taman Negara, and also the location of the Sungai Yu Ecological Corridor, Pahang State is a major tiger habitat, firmly on the front line of the species’ fight for survival.
It was therefore great to hear the Regent of Pahang, Tengku Hassanal Ibrahim Alam Shah Al-Sultan Abdullah, restate his commitment to conserving the Malayan Tiger as one of the closing speakers of day one.
Malayan Tiger by mdpai75 is licensed under CC BY 2.0.
“This killing must stop, action must be taken,” explained the Regent. “Key to this is to have a collaborative effort by many as no one body has the capacity to save the tiger in the wild.”
The royal commitment to tiger conservation was cemented by the announcement in April of the creation of the Pahang State Tiger Reserve. Covering 1340 Sq km of the Gunung Aais and Tekai Tembeling forest reserves (that’s 1.8 times the size of Singapore), it will be situated on the Eastern edge of Taman Negara and is physically connected to the national park.
“Saving the Malayan Tiger requires a collaborative effort, and this is Pahang’s commitment to wider national, and global, tiger conservation efforts.”
The Regent confirmed that they are now working with the relevant authorities to obtain CA|TS (Conservation Assured Tiger Standards) accreditation, a globally accepted conservation tool that sets best practice and standards to manage tigers and their habitats. An extra 400 square kilometres of forest and a research centre will also be added to the reserve in the next few years. There are also plans to use the reserve as a release centre for rehabilitated tigers, which would be the first of its kind in Malaysia.
Tigers making a return: Cambodia’s bold plan
Talking of tiger releases, it’s worth ending on an intriguing project that was mentioned at the event. The potential plan to bring back tigers to Cambodia.
Declared functionally extinct in the country in 2016, the last tiger was spotted in Cambodia way back in 2007. The plan, which is another first, will see tigers trans-located from India to a special release site in the Cardamom Mountains, located on the eastern edge of the country.
Photograph by Andyb3947 is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.
The initiative has been planned since 2016, and local conservation charity the Wildlife Alliance have been working in partnership with the government to lay the ground work in the region with the opening of new ranger stations, and the reintroduction of tiger prey species like Sambar. There is no hard deadline on when this will happen but according to Anton, who is based in Cambodia, it looks as if this might actually be imminent.
Obviously, there were some doubts raised over the sense of releasing tigers in a country that is still struggling to curb poaching in its forests. However, there is a counter argument that bringing in a flagship species like the tiger could help raise awareness and increase overall funding for conservation projects in the country. Only time will tell, but as someone who has long wanted to visit the Cardamom region, one of the last intact rain forests left in Southeast Asia, I will definitely be keeping a close watch on progress.
Ensuring proper coverage of such programmes and the issues that conservationist face in the region is a challenge in itself. Anton has had to go freelance since financial challenges led to the recent suspension of publication of his former employer the SE Asia Globe. Fortunately, he has the security of a grant from the Pulitzer Center until next March, but it just underlines the tough times independent journalists are experiencing right now.
Speakers from Tiger Week and the SWAG team that helped put on the event.
Indeed, despite the threats faced by many wildlife species ensuring their ongoing protection remains challenging due to a lack of funding, awareness and resources. This reality underlines the importance of events like Tiger Week. They offer the perfect chance to get individuals from different countries and different areas of expertise to come together to share ideas and support each other with potential solutions to the conservation challenges in South East Asia.
Because one thing was clear from the two days of talks, it’s only through everyone’s, involvement – that means governments, scientists and communities - across disciplines and across borders that we can hope to save the Malayan Tiger.
Lara Ariffin from Rimau echoed the sentiments of many of the speakers when she urged the audience to make a difference. “Think about how you can give back, how you can contribute. To save the tiger is going to need a country, we all have a part to play.”
You can start playing your part by visiting the SWAG website and singing up for a CAT Walk today.