RECALLING that four out of nine subspecies of tigers have become extinct largely due to illegal wildlife trade, habitat loss, retaliatory killing associated with human-tiger conflict, and hunting in the last century;

NOTING findings in a recent TRAFFIC report on tiger seizures from 2000 to 2018 showing that the survival of tiger populations continues to be seriously threatened by illegal trade in whole tigers and their parts;

RECOGNISING the efforts of existing international conventions and legislation to mitigate negative effects of wildlife trade;

ACKNOWLEDGING Resolution 6.010 Conservation of Amur tiger (Panthera tigris altaica) and Amur leopard (Panthera pardus orientalis) in Northeast Asia (Hawai‘i 2016) which contributes to the conservation of Amur tiger in Northeast Asia;

BUILDING ON Resolution 5.024 Enhancing anti-poaching and wildlife resource protection efforts, using rhino and elephant as indicators (Jeju, 2012) that deplored the commercial exploitation of animal species by international organised criminal syndicates and requested IUCN to encourage State Members, governments and civil society, and local and international non-governmental organisations and foundations, to enhance anti-poaching and wildlife-resource protection efforts;

MINDFUL of Resolution 5.027 Conservation of tropical Asia’s threatened species (Jeju, 2012) that urges all governments to ensure that import of endangered species originating from South and Southeast Asia is legal and sustainable in accordance with the Convention on Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) and Resolution 3.076 Illegal and unsustainable international trade in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and Mekong river riparian states (Bangkok, 2004), which advocates an international effort to control illegal and unsustainable international trade in Southeast Asian states;

ALSO MINDFUL of CITES Decision 14.69 which states that: “Parties with intensive operations breeding tigers on a commercial scale shall implement measures to restrict the captive population to a level supportive only to conserving wild tigers; tigers should not be bred for trade in their parts and derivatives”;

NOTING that only two tiger subspecies are included in the above-mentioned Resolutions;

CONCERNED that high market demand persists for tiger body parts used as traditional medicine and luxury products;

DEEPLY CONCERNED that recent seizures have exposed well-organised trafficking networks for products originating from tigers that were from captive sources both in and outside of tiger range countries and territories; and

CONCLUDING that there is room for further actions and improvements to address the trade in tigers and tiger parts;