Leaders and senior officials from 13 nations that have dwindling tiger populations gathered in St. Petersburg, Russia for an international summit on the plight of animal.

The five day forum will deal with the issues of poaching and hunting and possible measures for tiger conservation. Participants are expected to endorse an initiative by the World Bank and World Wildlife Fund aimed at doubling the tiger population by 2022. According to the WWF, securing funding for a 12-year plan will be one of the main aims of the conference. It's the first time world leaders have come together to focus on saving a single species.

Deepak Bohara, Nepal representative, said, "We have made a plan. So, the plan would be presented in this meeting and we will try to raise the funds also and will try to convince the member-countries to work on that plan, so that the tiger numbers will be doubled by 2022."

James Adams from World Bank said, "The global tiger initiative is one of the drivers of the World Bank commitment to new strategies that balance economic development with nature conservation and environmental protection.In many parts of Asia, saving the habitat of wild tigers is at the very heart of the biodiversity."