Nepal is hopeful of accomplishing the target of doubling the wild tiger population by 2022, an official said.

According to Sunday's The Kathmandu Post daily, ahead of the International Global Tiger Forum (GTF) to be held in St. Petersburg, Russia, on Nov. 21-24, Nepal has taken the leadership in achieving global tiger recovery plan, said Shanta Raj Gyawali, program director at the National Trust for Nature Conservation.

The tiger forum, which is billed as the last chance to save the tiger, will be attended by heads of states and officials of 13 tiger countries in the world, including Nepal.

Nepal is committed to and has already accomplished some targets set during the Global Tiger Forum held last year in the Nepali capital Kathmandu in an effort to save the population of these endangered cats in the country, he said.

In the last tiger forum, the government had committed to increasing tiger habitats, empower the national level network to fight against illegal trade and encourage funding for initiatives to be taken for the protection of tigers in the country.

According to the latest census conducted this year, Nepal has a total of 155 adult tigers. "The government has decided to increase tiger habitats by establishing Banke National Park this year," Gyawali said.

Meanwhile, the National Tiger Conservation Committee under the chairmanship of Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal has been set up and the formation of a Wildlife Control Bureau to save the population of tigers in the country is in the pipeline.