The military-run government has set aside 21,890 square kilometressq miles) of tiger habitat in Hukuang Valley in northernmost Kachin state under a directive signed in early March by forestry minister Brigadier General Thein Aung, the Myanmar Times reported.

The semi-official weekly said the protection followed a major survey in 1999 by the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), an American non-governmental organisation which identified the valley as an area of rich biodiversity.

"I never would have dared think we could protect this much land," Alan Rabinowitz, director of the WCS science and exploration program, told the Times.

Rabinowitz said the reserve is more than twice the size of the next biggest tiger sanctuary, in India.

"When it's properly protected, the area has the potential to hold by far the largest number of tigers in any one place in the world," he said.

The New York-based group helped Myanmar's forest department establish a core protected area in the valley as a wildlife park in 2001 and has been instrumental in the creation of the tiger reserve.

Rabinowitz said tiger numbers in Myanmar have been slashed drastically in recent years, though the country could see its numbers grow with committed protection measures.

"If we're going to bring back tigers, the core area to bring them back is in Myanmar," he said.

About 100 tigers are believed to live in the reserve, but it is vast enough to hold 10 times that many, he said.

Representatives of WCS in Bangkok confirmed Rabinowitz's statements.

U Khin Maung Zaw, director of the forest department's nature and wildlife conservation division, also said protecting habitat will lead to a surge in tiger populations there.

"Tiger numbers can increase quite rapidly because of their physiology and the short gestation period ... they can produce two or three young at one time," he was quoted as saying.

Eco-tourism in the region could benefit humans and tigers alike by bringing additional income to the area, while the presence of tourists could reduce poaching, Rabinowitz said.

Authorities will need to enlist the support of locals, in part by offering incentives, if the reserve is to flourish, U Khin Maung Zaw said.

Experts say commercial trade in tiger parts and meat, fueled by Chinese consumer appetites, is the animal's number one threat. Tiger parts fetch high prices in China where they are used in traditional medicine.

TERRA.WIRE