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India named the most dedicated country towards tiger conservation

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http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/environment/flora-fauna/India-named-the-most-dedicated-country-towards-tiger-conservation/articleshow/6559243.cms

WASHINGTON: India has been identified as the most important country for tigers with 18 source sites dedicated solely to their conservation, according to a recent study.

In a worrying discovery, the Wildlife Conservation Society and other groups have found that most of the world's last remaining tigers - long decimated by overhunting, logging, and wildlife trade - are now clustered in just six per cent of their available habitat.

In their study, the researchers have identified 42 'source sites' scattered across Asia that are now the last hope and greatest priority for the conservation and recovery of the world's largest cat.

The securing of the tiger's remaining source sites is the most effective and efficient way of not only preventing extinction but seeding a recovery of the wild tiger, say the study's authors.

The researchers also assert that effective conservation efforts focused on these sites are both possible and economically feasible, requiring an additional 35 million dollar a year for increased monitoring and enforcement to enable tiger numbers to double in these last strongholds.

"While the scale of the challenge is enormous, the complexity of effective implementation is. In the past, overly ambitious and complicated conservation efforts have failed to do the basics: prevent the hunting of tigers and their prey. With 70 per cent of the world's wild tigers in just six per cent of their current range, efforts need to focus on securing these sites as the number one priority for the species not," said Joe Walston, Director of the Wildlife Conservation Society's Asia Program and lead author of the study.

According to the paper, fewer than 3,500 tigers remain in the wild, of which only about 1,000 are breeding females.

Walston and his co-authors identified 42 tiger source sites, which were defined as sites that contain breeding populations of tigers and have the potential to seed the recovery of tigers across wider landscapes.

India was identified as the most important country for the species with 18 source sites.

Sumatra contains eight source sites, and the Russian Far East contains six.

The authors calculate the total required annual cost of effectively managing source sites to be 82 million dollars, which includes the cost of law enforcement, wildlife monitoring, community involvement, and other factors.

The authors say that in spite of decades of effort by conservationists, tigers continue to be threatened by overhunting of both tigers and their prey, and by loss and fragmentation of habitat.

Much of the decline is being driven by the demand for tiger body parts used in traditional medicines.

The study has been published online in PLoS Biology.

Read more: India named the most dedicated country towards tiger conservation - The Times of India India named the most dedicated country towards tiger conservation - The Times of India
 
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Indian consumers most eco-friendly, finds global survey
TNN, Jun 5, 2010, 01.19am IST

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Tags:world tracking survey|national geographic society|consumer choice and the environment


NEW DELHI: The rest of the world may well turn green with envy. India has the most sustainable consumption pattern, says a 17-nation survey on consumer behaviour and environmental impact.

Over the past two years, Indians have shown increasing environmentally friendly behaviour, the study, released on Thursday, shows. India scored 62.6 points in the overall green index to retain top rank. Brazil (58) came second, followed by China (57.3). The US, among the most energy-guzzling countries in the world, finished last with a score of 45.

The survey, Greendex 2010: Consumer Choice and the Environment — A World Tracking Survey, was carried out by National Geographic Society and international polling firm GlobeScan. First conducted in 2008, it is a comprehensive measure of consumer behaviour in 65 areas relating to housing, transportation, food and consumer goods.

Greendex 2010 ranked average consumers according to environmental impacts of their consumption patterns. It measured transportation patterns, household energy and resource use, consumption of food and everyday consumer goods.


Read more: Indian consumers most eco-friendly, finds global survey - The Times of India Indian consumers most eco-friendly, finds global survey - The Times of India
 
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What Is the Greendex?

You've heard about it for years now—everyone’s interested in being green. But do you really know how your personal choices are adding up? What about the choices of your fellow citizens? What behaviors are people adopting globally that have a positive impact on environmental sustainability? What has changed—and what hasn’t—in the past few years?

This is the third year National Geographic has partnered with GlobeScan to develop an international research approach to measure and monitor consumer progress towards environmentally sustainable consumption. The key objectives of this unprecedented consumer tracking survey are to provide regular quantitative measures of consumer behavior and to promote sustainable consumption.

Why? We want to inspire action both among the millions that the National Geographic brand touches worldwide, and among others who will hear about this study. A chief component of this effort is giving people a better idea of how consumers in different countries are doing in taking action to preserve our planet by tracking, reporting, and promoting environmentally sustainable consumption and citizen behavior.

This quantitative consumer study of 17,000 consumers in a total of 17 countries (14 in 2008) asked about such behavior as energy use and conservation, transportation choices, food sources, the relative use of green products versus traditional products, attitudes towards the environment and sustainability, and knowledge of environmental issues. A group of international experts helped us determine the behaviors that were most critical to investigate.

The result: the third annual National Geographic/GlobeScan "Consumer Greendex," a scientifically derived sustainable consumption index of actual consumer behavior and material lifestyles across 17 countries. We will continue to track the Greendex over time, including comparability across the selection of countries representing both the developed and developing world.


Overall Results

In their third annual survey to measure and monitor consumer behaviors that have an impact on the environment, the National Geographic Society and the international polling firm GlobeScan have found that environmentally friendly behavior among consumers in 10 out of 17 countries has increased over the past year. The survey results show that environmentally friendly consumer behavior, as measured by the Greendex, has now increased from 2008 levels in all but one of the 14 countries polled in both 2008 and 2010. By environmentally friendly consumer behavior, we mean people’s transportation patterns, household energy and resource use, consumption of food and everyday consumer goods, and what consumers are doing to minimize the impact these activities have on the environment.

“Greendex 2010: Consumer Choice and the Environment — A Worldwide Tracking Survey” is a comprehensive measure of consumer behavior in 65 areas relating to housing, transportation, food and consumer goods. Greendex 2010 ranks average consumers in 17 countries according to the environmental impact of their consumption patterns and is the only survey of its kind.

As in 2008, the top-scoring consumers of 2010 are in the developing economies of India, Brazil, China, in descending order. American consumers’ behavior still ranks as the least sustainable of all countries surveyed since the inception of the survey three years ago, followed by Canadian, French and British consumers. Consumers in emerging economies continue to round out the top tier of the Greendex ranking, while the six lowest scores were all earned by consumers in industrialized countries.

Consumers registering the largest 2010 vs. 2008 increase in environmentally sustainable consumer behavior were the Indians, Russians and Americans. Environmentally sustainable behavior among average consumers in India, China, Mexico, Russia, Hungary, Japan, Great Britain, and Canada has also increased steadily each year. In contrast, consumers in Germany, Spain, Sweden, France and South Korea have slipped slightly over the past year.

Notably, in a majority of the countries surveyed since 2008, three-year trends toward improvement have occurred. While these increases in Greendex scores are sometimes subtle, the trend is in a positive direction. Others have been more distinct. For instance, Americans’ average Greendex score has increased by 1.3 points in each year. Still, Americans have yet to surpass Canadians’ 2008 score.

Much of the increase in the overall Greendex scores was due to more sustainable behavior in the housing category in both 2009 and 2010. Here, the Greendex measures the energy and resources consumed by people’s homes. Americans, Hungarians, British and Australians all saw marked increases in this area, as consumers made moves to improve the energy efficiency of their homes. In some countries, economic stimulus programs may have been a factor in motivating change.

Changes in personal behavior within the categories of personal transportation, food and consumer goods were mixed, with some countries improving and some deteriorating.

The survey results show that both cost considerations and environmental concerns motivated consumers to adopt more environmentally sustainable behavior over the past year. When consumers who reported decreases in their energy consumption were asked why their consumption declined, most cited cost as one of their top two reasons, but significant percentages ranging from approximately 20 percent to 50 percent said that environmental concerns were one of the main reasons for the decrease.

When asked to what extent 10 different factors discourage them from doing more for the environment than they do now, the largest proportion across the 17 countries said they do not do more because companies make false claims about the environmental impacts of their products. The second most commonly cited obstacle was that further individual efforts are not worth it if governments and industries do not also take action.

GlobeScan’s analysis of the data reveals that these two perceptions directly or indirectly suppress more sustainable consumption and put downward pressure on Greendex scores. Cost, a lack of environmentally friendly options and information are barriers for significantly fewer people. The belief that environmental problems are exaggerated is the least common obstacle. It appears that consumers are sendin
 
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Tigers are beautiful creatures. They should be conserved for the future generations. The planet would be poorer with out them
 
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