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   In the decision of the International symposium on tiger held at New Delhi during Feb '93 wherein a Delhi declaration on tiger conservation was adopted by the participant  of the conference, there was a recommendation that a Global Tiger Forum be set up to embark on a world wide campaign to save the wild tiger. This was followed up in the meeting of the Forestry forum for developing countries held at New Delhi in Sept  '93 where a small sub group meeting was taken by the Minister incharge of Environment and Forests, Government of India with the Ministers of various tiger  range states present. This sub group also re-iterated the need for formation of Global  Tiger Forum. As a follow up of the decision, the first meeting of the tiger range countries was held in March 1994 at New Delhi attended by 11 tiger range states and others. In the said meeting a resolution was passed to form the Global Tiger Forum with its secretariat at New Delhi and the Union Minister for Environment & Forest, Govt. of India as the first Chairman of this forum. The current Chairperson of the forum is the Minister of Environment and Forest, Peoples Republic of Bangladesh who took over the responsibilites of GTF after the 1st general assembly meet at Dhaka in January 2000. The membership of GTF is open to four catagories.

Catagory A- All tiger range countries

Catagory B- Non tiger range countries interested in tiger conservation.

Catagory C- International non-govermantal organisations.

Catagory D- Honorary individual members.

The Global Tiger Forum has a General Assembly which devises procedures to ensure that its works are carried on in the best possible way. The Global Tiger Forum also has an Executive Committee comprising of 4 members from Category A, 2 members from Category-B and one member from Category –C. The members are elected once in three years in the General Assembly, by the members of each category separately. It  has got a secretariat located at A-269, 2^nd Floor, Defence Colony, New Delhi - 110024 to run the day to day works of the forum within its objective and direction, which is headed by a Secretary General. Composition of the General Assembly is as such.

1. The General Assembly, the highest policy organ of the Global Tiger Forum, shall consist of the duly accredited delegates of the members of Global Tiger Forum meeting in session

Functions

2. The Functions of the General Assembly are.

i. to elect the Chairperson of the Global Tiger Forum:

ii. to elect the Treasurer of the Global Tiger Forum;

iii. to determine the general policy of the Global Tiger Forum;

iv. to determine the organisation of its work and procedures including that of the Secretariat;

v. to make recommendations to Governments and national and international organisations on any matter related to the objectives of the Global Tiger Forum;

vi. to determine the dues of members;

vii. to approve the work programme and estimates of income and expenditure for the next year and verify the auditors report on the accounts of Global Tiger Forum;

viii. to appoint one or more auditors; and

ix. to perform such other functions as may be conferred on it by these statutes.

3. The General Assembly shall meet once in three years.
4. An extraordinary session of the General Assembly shall be convened if requested by at least one-third of the members of Category-A
5. The Forum shall, after considering suggestions of members, determine the time and Location of each ordinary and extraordinary session of the General Assembly. Locations shall, as far as practicable, be rotated among the several geographical regions. The decisions of the Forum as to time and location shall be communicated to the members of Global Tiger Forum by the Secretary General, with a tentative agenda, at least two months in advance of each session.
6. The chairperson of the Global tiger forum, shall take the chair at sessions of the General Assembly.
7. The General Assembly shall adopt its own rules of procedures.

The main activities undertaken by the Global Tiger Forum so far are the following.

1. Supporting workshops on wildlife management/enforcement training in Vietnam.
2. Supporting training of officers of Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, China, Laos, India, Myanmar, Nepal and Vietnam in wildlife conservation and habitat management.

   Trainee from Bangladesh receiving wildlife diploma at WII.	Trainee from Nepal receiving wildlife diploma at WII.	Trainee from Vietnam receiving remote sensing certificate at IIRS Dehradun.

3. Supporting programme of survey and data collection etc. in Cambodia through Flora and Fauna international.
4. Drafting the revised tiger resolution in CITES C.O.P at  Harare, Zimbabawe in June 1997 and getting it approved in consultation with range and consumer states.
5. Activating the range states in preparation of the tiger action plan (9 range states)
6. Identification of transboundary tiger habitat in six range states in consultation with range states.
7. Identification of the problems of tiger range states and ways and means to overcome them.
8. Identification of issues on poaching and illegal trade in tiger parts and derivatives and the suggested approch to control the same.
9. Supporting field tiger conservation programmes in India and Vietnam.
10. Supporting development of forensic techniques for tiger bone identification at wildlife institute of India Dehradun.
11. Developing formats for monitoring and evaluation of projects.
12. Publication of GTF newsletters.
13. Updating CITES resolution on tiger in XI COP at Nairobi, 2000.
14. Improving the tiger habitat conservation resolution in 2nd World Conservation Congress at Amman, 2000.
15. Helping in preparation of Asian Big Cat resolution in CITES COP XII at Santiago, Chile, in November 2002.

MEMBERS OF GLOBAL TIGER FORUM 

So far, seven tiger range countries viz. Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Cambodia, Myanmar, Nepal and Vietnam have become members of GTF by ratifying its statutes and regulations. In addition, United Kingdom has formally joined the Forum and the Government of Canada is seriously considering the issue of joining the Forum. Of the international NGOs, WWF-International and International Fund for Animal Welfare (UK/USA) have also joined the Forum.