The organizers have confirmed the participation of 11 teams including those from Hong Kong, Iceland, U.S. England, Singapore, Thailand and Nepal. The participating teams were supposed to have their practice the day before the championship.

There are two teams participating from Hong Kong and Scotland whereas other nations have a team participating from each. Tiger Tops is hosting the championships. Gauri Malakar of the organizing committee told that 16 elephants each from Bardia and Chitwan would be used in the championship. “Elephants were taken to Bardia on foot from Chitwan, and it took about 10 days for them to reach there,” the Tiger Tops representative told.

Very special of the WEPA championship this year is that it has got a new spot for the first time in the history of WEPA. In the 27-year-old history of WEPA championships it is the first time to be held in Bardia. The organizers of the event have decided to held this year’s edition at the Bardia National Park instead of its regular venue at Chitwan to promote domestic and international tourism in Bardiya. The championships was always held in Chitwan, but the tourism entrepreneurs are very cheerful about the decision to change the venue because they believe it would boost tourism in Bardia, finally contributing to the success of Nepal Tourism Year 2011.

About 8 hundred and 98 sq. km of area is going to be added in its present area of 968 sq. km. Prime Minister, Madhav Kumar Nepal is going to declare the proposal in the meeting/workshop that is being organized by GTF (Global Tiger Forum) from October 27 to 31st in the special sponsorship of World Bank.

Analysts and conservationists consider the area that is going to be added in the park is very favorable for tigers. Bardia National Park is regarded very appropriate and safe shelter for elephants, tigers, rhinos and some other endangered wild animals. To safeguard tigers and other animals, the need of extension in the area of Bardia National Park was felt.

The enlarged Bardia National Park will reach to the border of Banke District, Chure Mountain to the North, Shiva river of Dang to the East and East-West highway to the South; in which forest area is about 549 square kilometers. The enlarged park area will also enclose 13 villages into it and the government and the GTF meeting/workshop participants are agreeable to save the contemporary traditional villages inside the park in their own traditional state. Notably, at the time of declaration of Bardia National Park in 1998, 1600 families were shifted to another place from Babai valley.

The new area will be divided into four divisions, i.e., Chapargaudi, Kusum, Malai and Ghuiyabari. The project will be started in effect division wise one by one. To safeguard the park, the government is planning to establish 12 armed posts and 6 range-posts in the park area.

This enlargement plan was diagrammed and announced during the time of former PM, Girija Parasad Koirala, but due to Maoist insurgency in the country, the plan could not be formulated. At that time as gift to nature earth Kanchanjunga Conservation Area was announced and the pristine Mt. Kanchanjunga exists here. Conservationist Harka Gurung was the sketcher of this project.

A budget of 270 million rupees is estimated for the enlargement project of Bardia National Park.

Thus, to formulate the common agenda and strategy for preservation of tiger, 210 tiger specialists, analysts, and conservationists of the world are attending a meeting on 26th October 2009 in Kathmandu along with a subsequent four-day Global Tiger Workshop.

This is 2nd year of Nepal being the president of GTF. As being president country of Global Tiger Forum (GTF), the meeting is organized in Nepal in special proposal and sponsorship of World Bank and its sister organizations such as Global Tiger Initiative, Save the Tiger fund America, World Wildlife Federation (WWF), International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN) etc. Tigers are also listed in the IUCN Red List book.

Conserving habitats of tigers, banning international trade, identification of proper place for tiger and conservation of small animals that tigers depend on are the main matter of discussion. Obviously, the meeting aims to aid to increase the number of tigers in the world. Besides, it will propose for enlarging the Bardia National conservation area to double of its total area. The conference will also fix the place for next ministerial tiger conference. GTF members have decided to celebrate the year 2010 as “The Tiger year.”

It is said that are about 3000 to 4000 tigers in the world. According to survey results publicized about 2 months ago, there are about 1 hundred and 21 young tigers in Nepal where Chitwan National Parks acquires 91, Bardia National Park acquires 18, Shuklanphant Wildlife Reserve acquires 8 and Parsa Wildlife Reserve acquires only 4. Only Chitwan National Park has satisfactory number of tigers but others’ are very pitiful. Camera trapping had trapped 27 tigers in 2006 in Shuklanphant Wildlife Reserve, but within 3 years 19 tigers disappeared dramatically.

Since 1999, tigers are being counted every 5 years. There were about 123 adult tigers in Nepal in 1999. “If there had been no theft and illegal hunting of tigers, the number of tigers would have reached to 400. If appropriate environment and condition is created population of tiger grows fast because as soon as cubs grow, they are ready for reproduction,” said Deputy Director General of Department of National Parks and Wildlife Conservation, Megh Bahadur Pandey.