Commemoration of National Conservation Day and Global Tiger Day 2015
Coincided with the commemoration of National Conservation Day, Tigerheart Palembang hold Global Tiger Day festival on August 9, 2015 at Kambang Iwak Family Park bringing the message ‘Act Now! Keep the Forest for Tigers’. This activity supported by Mapala UIN Raden Fatah, Theater Arafah, GIZ Bioclime, Balai Konservasi Sumber Daya Alam Sumatera Selatan (BKSDA), Sriwijaya Animal Lover (SAL), and OPA (Organisasi Pencinta Alam).
Similar event was conducted in 7 (seven) big cities of Indonesia; Jakarta, Palembang, Medan, Jambi, Pekanbaru, Padang, and Purwokerto featuring several activities such as campaign, theatrical show, face painting, photobooth, and fingerprint collection to show community support for forest sustainability and Sumatra Tiger conservation in Indonesia.
Global Tiger Day (GTD) is an annual event to raise awareness on tiger conservation. This commemoration was established on Tiger Summit, in St. Petersburgs, Rusia on July 29, 2010. GTD was first celebrated in Indonesia in 2013 by Forum Harimau Kita (FHK) together with Tigerheart (part of FHK volunteer network).
Dono Ciputra, the Coordinator of Tiger Heart Palembang said that his organization is not only seeking support from non-profit organization working on conservation issue, but also encouraging the community and environmentalists to engage in this event.
The campaign initiative was ignited by their concern about the decreasing number of Sumatran Tiger. According the IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature), only 400-600 Sumatran Tiger (Panthera tigris sumatrae) are currently exist in critically endangered status. The declining number of Sumatran Tiger is caused not only by illegal hunting and trading, but also due to the lost of forest in Sumatra as its habitat. During 2002-2012, estimated 2.8 million hectares were lost in Sumatra, or equal to 590 hectare/day ( Margono dkk, 2014). The lost of forest occurred due to forest conversion to oil palm concession, forest plantation, and illegal logging.
