World Wildlife Fund (WWF) in Nepal has announced to observe 2010 as the "Year of the Tiger, the Year for Action" to conserve tigers worldwide.

Organizing a press meet in Kathmandu on Sunday, WWF Nepal unveiled a global campaign "Tx2, Double or Nothing" targeting to save the lives of tigers.

The campaign "2010 year of the Tiger" aims to raise emergency funds to stop poaching, protect tiger habitat at an unprecedented scale, and clamp down on the tiger trade world-wide.

According to WWF Nepal, the campaign supports the tiger range countries in achieving the goal of doubling the number of wild tigers by 2022, the next year of the tiger.

"The campaign is building momentum and profile around the Tiger Summit process through a variety of means and channels. It positions wild tigers as a valuable and irreplaceable global asset, " mentioned the released issued by WWF Nepal on the occasion.

The Tiger Summit will be held in September 2010 in Vladivostok, Russia. All leaders of the 13 tiger range countries in the world are expected to attend the summit, which is to be co-hosted by Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and the World Bank President Robert B. Zoellick, the WWF said.

There are only an estimated 3,200 tigers left in the wild, and they face increasing threats from habitat loss, illegal trade and climate change.

According to WWF Nepal, there are 121 adult tigers in Nepal new and the tiger numbers have plummeted in the western region of the country. During the Kathmandu Globa Tiger Workshop held in October 2009, the Nepali government made three major commitments towards saving the wild tigers.

(Xinhua News Agency February 15, 2010)