An international forum to discuss tiger conservation efforts will be held on September 9-12 in Russia's Far Eastern city of Vladivostok, the Russian government said on Wednesday.
The summit is expected to be attended by representatives of 13 states who have tiger populations on their territories. Over 450 tigers, or 11% of the global population, live in Russia.
"We are very glad that our proposal to hold this event in Russia was supported," Igor Chestin, the head of World Wildlife Russia, said.
"We expect the meeting to be held at the level of the heads of governments, allowing not only the raising of the necessary finances for national tiger conservation plans, but also the integration of these schemes into social and economic development programs," he said.
Global tiger populations dwindled from 100,000 to 4,000 in the past century, with some subspecies becoming extinct.
Bangladesh, Bhutan, Vietnam, India, Indonesia, Cambodia, China, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, Russia and Thailand currently have wild tiger populations on their territory. Though North Korea also claims to have tigers in the wild, the status of the big cat in the communist country is currently unknown.
An Asian ministerial conference is currently underway in Thailand to discuss joint tiger conservation efforts.
MOSCOW, January 27 (RIA Novosti)
