Public perceptions of tiger recovery in China

“Coinciding with the Year of the Tiger in 2022, we’ve just released our findings from a study which, we believe, is essential for effective – and ultimately sustainable – big cat conservation in north-east China. The project, made up of a multidisciplinary team of researchers from China, South Korea and the UK, wants to understand local attitudes to Amur tigers (Panthera tigris tigris) and the conditions necessary for their long-term recovery.

“This year's review of the global TX2 target, which aims to double the number of wild tigers, found that north-east China is one part of the world where tiger numbers are on the increase.

“This is really positive progress, albeit coming after a long period of declining tiger numbers, but also poses important challenges for conservationists. One of those challenges is making sure that suitable conditions are present for supporting an increased tiger population in the long-term.

“In this study, we wanted to shine a light on the views of communities in the Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture, an autonomous region within China’s Jilin province, which has seen vast new protected areas created, specifically targeting tiger recovery.

“Northeast China Tiger and Leopard National Park (NTLNP) is particularly notable, covering an area of 14,600 km2 (for comparison, Yellowstone National Park in the USA comes in at just 8,991 km²) - 70% of which is in Yanbian.

Huge new protected areas are fantastic news for big cat conservation, but are usually not sufficient on their own, because these are extremely wide-ranging large carnivores which remain vulnerable to human persecution. Effectively restoring tiger populations needs community support to be successful in the long-term.

Our study makes a number of recommendations that we hope will help improve outcomes for both tigers and local communities in the region.”

Joshua’s PhD research, which is part of the London NERC DTP, looks at the potential for transboundary conservation of Amur tigers other large carnivores in north-east Asia.

He is also a visiting researcher at the Tiger and Leopard Conservation Fund in Korea (KTLCF).

The full article, "Community attitudes towards Amur tigers (Panthera tigris altaica) and their prey species in Yanbian, Jilin province, a region of northeast China where tigers are returning", can be read on Plos One

Joshua is supervised by Professor Jan Axmacher (UCL Geography) and Professor Sarah Durant of ZSL’s Institute of Zoology.

You can find out more about their work with big cats in north-east Asia in Frontiers in Conservation Science.