In 2013, Leonardo DiCaprio’s foundation gave $3 million to Nepal’s tiger effort; the country’s count later climbed from 121 animals to 355

In November 2013, for a tiger-conservation programme in Nepal’s Terai Arc Landscape, the Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation awarded $3 million to WWF. The objective was to help the country double its wild tiger population by 2022 from its 2009 baseline estimate of 121 tigers. The grant was designed to strengthen anti-poaching patrols, protect core breeding areas, restore wildlife corridors and improve tiger monitoring. Nearly a decade later, Nepal’s national tiger survey estimated 355 wild tigers in 2022, compared with 121 in the country’s 2009 nationwide estimate. The increase was larger than the tiger estimate that would have represented a doubling of the original population.Nepal’s official Tiger Conservation Action Plan records national estimates of 121 tigers in 2009, 198 in 2013, 235 in 2018, and 355 in 2022. This paints a picture that recovery was already underway when the DiCaprio Foundation announced its donation in 2013. The timing of the grant is still significant. In 2010, governments from the world’s tiger-range countries committed to the global Tx2 goal. The aim was to double the number of wild tigers by 2022. Subsequently, Nepal emerged as one of the countries with a realistic chance of achieving the target set.The goal behind the $3 million grant in 2013The Terai Arc Landscape was a difficult conservation challenge. The region contained protected areas that were important not just for tigers but also for rhinoceroses and elephants. Millions of people also depended on the wider landscape for their livelihoods. The area covered around 9,000 square miles and was reported to be home to seven million people. This high density of human and animal populations indicated that protecting tigers required solutions far beyond simply guarding national park boundaries. Recogising this, the World Wide Fund (WWF) actively designed initiatives to establish financial safety nets for local communities.When the grant was announced, the global conservation organisation said that DiCaprio Foundation’s funding would be used to strengthen anti-poaching work through improved ranger patrols, monitoring technology, community policing and intelligence gathering. Additional guard posts and efforts to strengthen corridors connecting protected areas were also reported to be supported by the grant.The programme also included measures to reduce conflicts that can arise when humans and large carnivores share the same landscape. To accomplish this, the grant helped establish community-managed insurance funds to compensate families for livestock losses caused by predators. It reportedly aimed to help create income-generating activities associated with tourism, handicrafts and organic vegetable production.The rise from 198 tigers in 2013 to 355 in 2022Nepal’s next national assessment after 2013 came in 2018. The estimated tiger population in that assessment had reached 235. WWF’s reporting at the time underscored that this number represented a near-doubling of the 121-tiger baseline from 2009. The 2018 result indicated that the upward trend had continued beyond the initial years of the Tx2 programme.Nepal’s Department of National Parks and Wildlife Conservation, alongside other partner organisations, conducted a nationwide tiger and prey survey covering 18,928 square kilometres in 2022. Researchers used camera traps and distinctive stripe patterns of individual tigers to identify animals and estimate populations across the country’s major tiger habitats. The resulting estimate was 355. The survey recorded 128 tigers in the Chitwan landscape, 125 in Bardia, 41 in Parsa, 25 in Banke and 36 in Shuklaphanta.The rise was described as an increase of about 193% from the 2009 baseline. The result also reflected the importance of protecting core habitats and corridors, working with local communities and intensifying action against poaching and illegal wildlife trade.A recovery built over more than one decadeThe increase cannot be credited to a single grant, organisation or intervention. Nepal’s government led the national surveys and implemented tiger-protection measures, while WWF, the National Trust for Nature Conservation, the Zoological Society of London and other partners provided technical, financial and conservation support.The country’s own conservation strategy points to the importance of maintaining protected habitats while securing corridors outside formal parks. Its 2013 national survey had shown tigers’ presence in forests and corridors beyond protected areas. They identified the need to maintain connectivity between different tiger populations and worked on it together.Catch the latest World News and Live updates. Download the TOI app.