In this May 29, 2010, file photo, school children with tiger鈥檚 ears headband gesture in front of a tiger poster during an event to encourage people to protect the endangered wild tiger species around Asia countries held at the National Animal Museum in Beijing, China. The world鈥檚 count of wild tigers roaming forests from Russia to Vietnam has gone up for the first time in more than a century, in the latest global census, conservation groups said Monday, April 11, 2016. AP
NEW DELHI 鈥� The world鈥檚聽count聽of wild聽tigers聽roaming forests from Russia to Vietnam has gone up for the first time in more than a century, with some 3,890聽counted聽by conservation groups and national governments in the latest global census, wildlife conservation groups said Monday.
The tally marks a turnaround from the last worldwide estimate in 2010, when the number of聽tigers聽in the wild hit an all-time low of about 3,200, according to the World Wildlife Fund and the Global聽Tiger聽Forum.
India alone holds more than half of them, with 2,226聽tigers聽roaming reserves across the country, from the southern tip of Kerala state to the eastern swamps in West Bengal, according to its last聽count聽in 2014.
But while experts said the news was cause for celebration, they stopped short of saying the number of聽tigers聽itself was actually rising. In other words, it may just be that experts are aware of more聽tigers, thanks to the fact that survey methods are improving and more areas are being included.
Still, this is the first time聽tiger聽counts聽are increasing since 1900, when there were more than 100,000聽tigers聽in the wild.
鈥淢ore important than the absolute numbers is the trend, and we鈥檙e seeing the trend going in the right direction,鈥� said Ginette Hemley, senior vice president of wildlife conservation at WWF.
The global census, compiled from national聽tiger聽surveys as well as the International Union for Conservation of Nature, was released a day before ministers from 13 countries meet for three days in New Delhi as they work toward doubling the world鈥檚 wild聽tiger聽population from the 2010 low by 2022.
Not all nations are seeing progress, though. While Russia, India, Bhutan and Nepal all聽counted聽more聽tigers聽in their latest surveys, Southeast Asian countries have struggled. They are also behind the others in conservation measures, and do not yet conduct a聽tiger聽census on their own.
鈥淲hen you have high-level political commitments, it can make all the difference,鈥� Hemley said. 鈥淲hen you have well-protected habitat and you control the poaching,聽tigers聽will recover. That鈥檚 a pretty simple formula. We know it works.鈥�
Cambodia is looking at reintroducing聽tigers聽after recently declaring them functionally extinct within its borders, meaning there are no longer any breeding聽tigers聽in the wild. Indonesia has also seen a rapid decline, thanks to having the world鈥檚 highest rate of forest destruction to meet growing demand for producing palm oil as well as pulp and paper.
READ: Cambodia to repopulate forests with tigers from abroad聽
The global聽tiger聽count聽is based on data from 2014. Here is the tally broken down by country:
Bangladesh, 106; Bhutan, 103; Cambodia, 0; China, more than 7; India, 2,226; Indonesia, 371; Laos, 2; Malaysia, 250; Myanmar, no data available; Nepal, 198; Russia, 433; Thailand, 189; Vietnam, fewer than 5.
The experts said the Myanmar government鈥檚聽count聽of 85聽tigers聽in 2010 was not included because the data was considered out of date.