The World Bank Group, the Global Environment Facility (GEF), and the
International Tiger Coalition have joined forces with scientists and celebrities
to increase international action to reverse the alarming decline in wild tiger
numbers. This new Tiger Conservation Initiative will be launched on Monday, June
9th at the Smithsonian?s National Zoo in Washington D.C.

To take advantage of all the tiger experts who will be in town for this launch,
ENV is sponsoring a Tiger Symposium in the H Auditorium on June 9th from 2:30 to
6 pm, to be followed by a cocktail reception thereafter. The symposium and
reception is open to all interested Bank staff, as well as outside partners. For
those who cannot attend, the event will be broadcast on BSPAN.

The symposium, Tiger Conservation ? Moving from Lessons Learnt Towards a Winning
Strategy will highlight the work of many well-known tiger experts in a number of
tiger range states from Russia to Nepal. It will focus on Lessons in
Conservation and Development and Lessons in Trade, Governance and Finance. The
afternoon will conclude with an expert panel discussing concrete next steps
towards a winning conservation strategy. These discussions will mark an
important first step in outlining an action plan for the Bank and its partners
to save wild tigers and their wild lands.