The Sumatran Tiger Project is an unprecedented program that was designed to develop an intimate knowledge of this elusive jungle-dwelling animal, and to introduce a holistic approach to the conservation of tigers across the length and the breadth of Sumatra. During its first four years, the project focused on characterizing the conservation requirements of the Sumatran tiger in the lowland forest tiger habitat of Way Kambas National Park. As part of this fieldwork, methods were developed and refined to census tigers and their prey in this tropical forest habitat. These are now being used to expand the project beyond the borders of Way Kambas, to a number of key areas of key tiger habitats. The initial objective of The Sumatran Tiger Project has been to evaluate and map the tiger's distribution and its status, and to develop an understanding of the threats it faces throughout the island of Sumatra. This challenging task is proceeding as we write this text and will likely take several more years to complete.

We have paid special attention to understanding the relationship between tigers and the people who live next to the tiger's forest home. This is critical because the long-term survival of this animal depends upon reducing the tension between them and the people that share their habitat. With the principal goal of our project to ensure the long-term viability of Sumatran tigers, we are mindful that we will only succeed if we can enlist the collaboration of the key human stakeholders. The Sumatran tiger cannot survive without the support of the Indonesian Government and the communities living alongside tiger habitats. They are the ones who must decide how many and which populations of wild tigers will form the core of the country's long-term conversation strategy. Once we arrive at a consensus on where these populations will reside, protection policies and management programs can be implemented that consider the conservation requirements of tigers, the well being of their human neighbours, and the realities of the dynamically changing ecological and human landscape of Sumatra.

It is clear that the Sumatran tiger's fight for survival must be waged on the island of Sumatra, principally by forest rangers, which are the primary stewards of the tiger's habitat. These brave men need all the help they can get. The next several years will be a critical timeframe to properly train and equip several hundred rangers and to collect the necessary information to determine where all the tigers are located, what their conservation requirements are, and the type of threats they face. This information will help us reverse dwindling tiger populations, protect them from poaching or poisoning, and help us engender a sense of balanced equality between villagers and the tigers, rather than witness an escalation of the conflicts that currently exist. But this is only the necessary first step in our conservation action plan. In order to make Sumatra-wide tiger conservation a reality, effective legislative and judicial action are also needed, along with a sustainable funding framework.