An Experience Unmatched - Snowflakes and Tigers - Anusha Shankar

(posted by Anusha Shankar)

Large, gentle snowflakes drifted down around us, drawing a white curtain down upon our last night in Vladivostok, Russia. The next day, on November 25^th, 2010, Devanshu and I bid farewell to the land of the Amur tiger, having spent eight wonderful days in the company of 26 other international youth representatives. The occasion was a Youth Tiger Forum conducted by WWF, and hosted by the Russian Government, WWF-Russia and the UN. Our objective was to meet and discuss the tiger’s situation in our countries, and come up with a Youth Outreach Plan to involve the youth in tiger conservation efforts. At the end of the Summit, we spoke to the Heads of Government and other representatives of the remaining 13 tiger range countries, and urged them to protect the largest surviving Felid and its habitats.

An Experience Unmatched - From India with Love - Devanshu Sood

(posted by Devanshu Sood) 

Landing in Vladivostok on 18 November, with the flight attendant's comforting words “it’s fine weather outside” when the temperature was -12 degrees Celsius, seemed a blessing after the unexpected experience at Moscow airport due to a ‘technical error’ in my visa. The 8 days I spent in Vladivostok, Russia, along with the 27 delegates from 14 countries, at the International Youth Tiger Summit organized by the Russian Government, in association with the United Nations and the World Wildlife Fund for Nature, were truly special.

The Closing of the International Youth Tiger Summit

(Posted by Devanshu Sood)

As we already told you all last night was a very memorable night for all of us as we heard that our video link to the heads of government summit in St. Petersberg was received very well by those assembled at St. Petersberg. A professor who works on large predators at a leading Wildlife Institute in India said that our video link was very evocative, and was probably the best part of their Summit. It brought tears to his eyes to see us of different nations together, in sharp contrast to the politicized bickering which was going on at the Heads of Government Summit.

Today was the day that we all regret and wish that it did not come, that time could have stopped. As today was the day that the summit was to close and we delegates began to go back home. Dannee and Duncan, the delegates of the United Kingdom, who were our roommates (and alarm clocks) were the first ones to leave us.  

An Appeal by Participants of the International Youth Tiger Forum

(posted by Devanshu Sood)

The aim of the International Youth Tiger Forum held at Vladivostok, Russia from the 18th till the 24th of November, 2010 which was attended by youth leaders from around the world including us from India was to agree upon a Youth Decleration and a Global Youth Action Plan along with individual National Youth Action Plans for each of the participating nations which will be implemented by the youth leaders in their respective nations, to involve the youth in the conservation of the tiger not only in their own countries and regions but across the world and to make the voice of the youth heard in matters of tiger conservation. The Youth Declaration and Action Plans which were made at the Summit were then presented by us the Summit's participants to the Heads of States and other Delegations who had assembled at the International Tiger Conservation Forum, held at St. Petersburg, Russia from the 21st till the 24th of November, 2010 in the form of an appeal from the youth made by us on behalf of the youth of the world, to save the wild tiger.

In this post we have provided the Youth Decleration along with the Youth Action Plans that we came up with at the summit.

Lets Save Our Wild Tigers - Together - Appeal to the Heads of States and Other Delegates at the St. Petersburg Summit on Tiger Conservation

(posted by Devanshu Sood)

Today was the day for which we all had been preparing for throughout the course of our summit. We were to address the Heads of States and the other delegations present at the St. Petersburg International Tiger Forum in the form of an appeal from us the Youth, not only those of us who had assembled at our summit at Vladivostok but the entire youth of the world whom we represent at the summit.

An Appeal by Participants of the International Youth Tiger Forum

Let's Save the Tiger Together! - YTS Day 5

(Posted by Devanshu Sood)

Welcome Back 

First of all, I must apologise for the lack of daily blogs from the Youth Tiger Forum – we worked from early morning till late at night every day, with hardly a moment to spare.

Today was when we all sat down together and discussed our individual national youth outreach projects with the other delegates. The day began with a plenary session during which the presenters for the Television Up-link with the Heads of States summit being held at St. Petersburg in parallel with our summit were selected. I am proud to announce that the delegation of India was chosen along with those of Russia, Laos, China, Nepal and the United Kingdom as the presenters for the Television up-link. Following this we were given the broad contours along which our Global Youth Outreach project should be formulated.

For the rest of the day we were divided into three regional groupings to discuss our individual Youth Outreach projects which we will all implement in our own nations to involve the youth of our nations in tiger and environment conservation.

A Walk Through the Snow - YTS Day 4

(posted by Devanshu and Anusha)

Hello, Hi and Namaste.

While yesterday began with me and my roommate nearly missing the bus as we had slept in, today began with the two of us being the first ones at the dining hall. And for the first time in my life I walked below a night sky to reach a dining hall for breakfast!

Today was our day at the Kedrovaya Pad state nature reserve, which is located two and a half hours away from Vladivostok.

A walk in Amur Tiger Habitat- YTS Day 3

(Posted by Anusha)

Greetings!

Our day and our experience at the Orlinoe State Hunting Reserve.

Day 2 at YTS

(posted by Devanshu Sood)

Hi everyone,
Here goes day 2!

We began the day with the gala opening ceremony at the Vladivostok State University of Economy and Service. This was attended by the Governor of Primorsky Province (in which Vladivostok is) S. M. Dar'kin; the Consul General of India in Vladivostok; the Consul General of Vietnam in Vladivostok; Igor Chestin, WWF - Russia's CEO, and all of us, the delegates from the different tiger nations. It was covered extensively by the Russian media- both the print and television.

Gala Opening and Day 1 at the YTS

(Posted by Anusha)

Greetings!
Our first update on the Summit follows. This post is made up of fragments which were written at different times, so excuse the changes in tense please!

Welcome

Welcome!

We have started this blog to promote awareness about tigers and their conservation. We, Devanshu Sood and Anusha Shankar, are WWF’s Youth Tiger Ambassadors, and have been chosen to attend the Youth Tiger Summit in Vladivostok, Russia, from the 18th to the 25th of November, 2010. Following our return from the Summit, we will be working with WWF to help protect the 3200 tigers in the world, especially the 1400 or so remaining in India in the wild (about half the world's wild tiger population).

About the Youth Tiger Summit:

There are 13 countries worldwide which still have tigers in the wild, although the numbers are very low. Without immediate strong action, the next few years will be catastrophic for wild tigers.