Kathmandu - A global workshop on tigers opened in Kathmandu Tuesday with a call for new strategies to save the dwindling numbers of big cats.

An estimated 3,500 tigers remain in the wild in Asia and there are growing fears as their natural habitat comes under human encroachment and poachers hunt them for body parts.

"The dwindling tiger populations and high rate of loss of historic habitat range warrant immediate strategic and bold actions at landscape level," Nepalese Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal told the opening of the workshop.

"Despite our efforts in last three decades or so, tigers still face many threats," Nepal said.

He also attributed the loss of habitat to extreme poverty and said there was no better alternative than to initiate joint efforts.

Nepalese forest minister Deepak Bohara told the workshop that 121 breeding adult tigers remained in the protected reserves of Nepal and the population was stable.

Additional tiger habitat of about 900 square kilometres in the Bardia National Park, about 450 kilometres west of Nepal, would be established which would help establish viable linkages between cross-border protected areas of Nepal and India, Bohara said.

The four-day workshop is attended by tiger experts from 20 countries as well as representatives from the World Bank, World Wildlife Fund and other conservation agencies.

They plan to discuss strategies for tiger conservation, as well as challenges such as poaching, trade of tiger parts and conflicts between tigers and local populations.

The workshop will end on Friday. (dpa)