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With less than 3200 wild tigers in 2010, the heads of 13 tiger-range countries committed to doubling the global population of wild tigers by 2022. This goal represents the highest level of ambition and commitment required to turn the tide for tigers in the wild. Yet, ensuring efficient and targeted implementation of conservation actions alongside systematic monitoring of progress towards this goal requires that we set site-specific recovery targets and timelines that are ecologically realistic. In this study, we assess the recovery potential of 18 sites identified under WWF's Tigers Alive Initiative. We delineated recovery systems comprising a source, recovery site, and support region, which need to be managed synergistically to meet these targets. By using the best available data on tiger and prey numbers, and adapting existing species recovery frameworks, we show that these sites, which currently support 165 (118-277) tigers, have the potential to harbour 585 (454-739) individuals. This would constitute a 15% increase in the global population and represent over a three-fold increase within these specific sites, on an average. However, it may not be realistic to achieve this target by 2022, since tiger recovery in 15 of these 18 sites is contingent on the initial recovery of prey populations, which is a slow process. We conclude that while sustained conservation efforts can yield significant recoveries, it is critical that we commit our resources to achieving the biologically realistic targets for these sites even if the timelines are extended.

The addition of a stabilizer i.e. cement or lime changes the clay particles in the clayey soils. Instead of the plate-like or flaky shape of particles, the formation of CSH or CAH cluster which has spider or hairy cluster shapes (under scanning electron microscope) has created bonding which increased the shear strength of the stabilized soils significantly. According to BS 1924, in preparing the soil samples for unconfined compression, the stabilized soils need to be compacted to a certain degree of compaction utilizing dynamic compaction. The author suggested that this dynamic compaction, without any measurement regarding what was the energy amount being imposed on the stabilized soil samples, might damage the CSH clusters or CSH matrix gel thus resulting in non-reliable results on the strength of the laboratory-prepared specimens. This result also does not resemble the strength developed in cement columns or lime columns in the field. The study is divided into three major stages. The first was the preparation of samples for UCT based on BS 1924, which were compacted using static packing pressure (SPp). Secondly is the development of a small-scale physical model to study the undrained shear strength of the stabilized kaolinite. Thirdly, the preparation of UCT samples compacted to a pre-determined packing pressure (PPp). Pre-determined packing pressure is 50% of the (SPp). It was found that reducing 50% of the (SPp) has reduced the strength of samples significantly. The strength of the samples compacted to 100% SPp is approximately ten times higher than that of the uncompacted cement column strength after 56 days of curing. The ionic conductivity trend shows that as the strength increases, the conductivity value decreases. This finding has led to the conclusion that electric or ionic conductivity tests can be applied as supporting tests in predicting the strength development in cement-stabilized kaolinite. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]