Gala opening-Nov 19th

The third day at Sedanka hotel had arrived with the foggy morning greeting. It was 8 am local time that we had our breakfast before being driven to the Vladivostok State University of Economy and Service for our official start of the forum. 

I was amazed by the tiger paintings. They are just so artistic and send out meaningful message of Amur tiger. What impressed me the most is the enthusiasm of local people toward the tiger conservation. They are very curious about the delegates from all tiger range nations and of course, taking pictures with us like they met movie stars or something. :)

Listening to the speeches from high ranking officials realized me how significant this Youth Tiger Conservation Forum as well as the International Forum on Tiger Conservation of the Heads of Government in St. Petersburg is to the stability of wild tiger population globally.

     Who ever thought that I would become one of the Lao Youth Tiger ambassadors participating in this historical moment to mark the “Tiger Trial” in Vladivostok with the special manufactured stones with embedded tiger prints and name of all tiger range nations especially our kindest host, Russia. I believe that what we have done today will mean a lot to increase public awareness to save wild tigers together.

          After the huge ceremony of the tiger trial, we were moved back to our lovely forum venue. We first were given lecture by Igor Chestin, WWF Russia’s Chief Executive Officer to ensure we really understand the status of tigers today and then we learned about the Amur tiger conservation program from Dr. Yury Darman, the Head of WWF Russia Amur branch. After the great two lectures, we started the delegates’ presentation of tiger situation in each country. For this, it’s not only sharing what’s going on in each country’s tiger habitat but also showing how much effort and love the youth delegates dedicate to the tiger conservation.