With the Indochinese tiger facing extinction in 2015, Global Conservation began working with the Thai Government and WCS Thailand to protect the few remaining animals. We've just released a video about the plight of tigers and our work to save them.
One of the most difficult challenges for Global Conservation is repopulating a species facing extinction in areas now largely populated by humans, with their roads, dams, land clearing and destruction of habitats.
Thailand is one of the most challenging countries for tiger conservation, with only two forest areas left in the country – the western forest complex or WEFCOM and the Dong Phayayen - Khao Yai Forest Complex or DPKY, a UNESCO World Heritage site inscribed in 2005.
The Rosewood Wars we fought from 2015 saw tens of thousands of illegal loggers in Thap Lan National Park, the heart of the UNESCO World Heritage site. These loggers spent weeks in the forest cutting down Thailand’s last rosewood trees to sell to Chinese furniture makers. They also killed wildlife for food as they destroyed the forest. The decline of tigers directly correlated to forest destruction during a decade of illegal logging.
Global Conservation, WCS Thailand and the Thap Lan World Heritage park authorities worked for five years deploying Global Park Defense to stop illegal logging and wildlife poaching- leading to over twelve hundred arrests.
Today, due to this coordinated effort, the Rosewood Wars are over, and we are now focused on regaining the forests lost from land grabbing, clearing for tourism and agriculture. We are supporting Global Park Defense to protect the adjacent Pang Sida Wildlife Sanctuary, and now the core tiger habitat in the Thung Yai – Huai Kha Khaeng UNESCO World Heritage site in the western forest complex.
In an exciting win for tiger recovery in Thailand, recent camera trap sightings show that tigers are now returning to Thap Lan National Park where they had not been seen for years. Because of the protection of the forests and their habitat against illegal loggers and hunters, now tigers feel safe again to return to Thailand’s forests and bear offspring.
By helping Thailand win the Rosewood Wars, Global Conservation has protected critical habitat for all species in these UNESCO World Heritage parks including the last tigers, elephants, Asiatic bears, clouded leopards, banteng, gaur, sambar, Malayan sun bears, hornbills, and hundreds of other threatened and endangered species.
The deployment of our Global Park Defense systems in Thap Lan World Heritage has resulted in a significant reduction in wildlife poaching inside the park. After the deployment of cellular trailcams in Thap Lan against rosewood poachers, the national government purchased hundreds of trailcams for all national parks in the country to help with surveillance against illegal hunting and logging.
This success story is a model for conservation efforts in national parks and UNESCO World Heritage sites all over the planet.
Global Park Defense provides the technology, systems and training for park-wide surveillance, SMART patrolling, rapid response and legal support for arrests and prosecutions of illegal loggers and poachers.
In 2020, Thai officials caught two tiger poachers from Vietnam with body parts and videos of their kills on their cell cameras in WEFCOM. Global Conservation–supported ranger teams confiscated a large cache of rifles used for hunting in the national park, often for endangered tigers.
Step-by-step, Global Conservation is working to stop all tiger poaching in the UNESCO World Heritage parks of Thailand, home to the last two hundred Indochinese tigers. With populations now dwindling to unsustainable levels, our efforts are more important than ever.
Working with local communities, training residents to be rangers and eco-guards, while also providing new employment opportunities in eco-tourism is helping to shift locals away from hunting, logging and destructive extraction industries.
We must support Thailand to protect its critical habitats and the wildlife that live there now and encourage the government to ensure long-term protection to maintain these conservation gains.
As there is again peace in the forests of Thailand, there will be space for tigers to feed, breed and repopulate. As forests regenerate from decades of fragmentation and unplanned development, communities will enjoy the benefits of a healthy ecosystem for generations to come.
Please support Global Conservation by visiting our website. With your help we are saving the new wild and stopping the extinction of tigers in Asia.
Thap Lan World Heritage Site, Thailand
Cubs offer hope for Indochinese tigers in Thap Lan National Park, Thailand
Deploying Global Park Defense in Thung Yai – Huai Kha Khaeng UNESCO World Heritage Site, Thailand
Tigers caught on video in western Thailand rekindle hope for recovery
Southeast Asia losing tigers as deadline looms to double population by 2022
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