In a bid to raise public awareness to save the Bengal tigers, the International Tiger Day was observed yesterday with the theme ‘Let's increase our Tigers’. Tiger population is declining alarmingly in the Bangladesh part of the Sundarbans, a world heritage site and home to the Royal Bengal Tiger.
A recent report published by United Nations warns us that climate change and rising sea levels eventually may wipe out one of the world’s last and largest tiger strongholds within the next 50 years. Bengal Tigers are among the most endangered animals on earth. The number of these beautiful felines is decreasing at a rapid pace.
Beyond climate change, the Sundarbans are under growing pressure owing to industrial developments, construction of new roads and increasing poaching.
Thus tigers are getting a double whammy - greater human encroachment on the one hand and a worsening climate and associated sea-level rise on the other. But researchers emphasize there is still hope.
We must devise and undertake
priority projects to facilitate
procreation of Royal Bengal Tiger
The more of the Sundarbans that can be conserved - via new protected areas and reducing illegal poaching - the more resilient it will be to future climatic extremes and rising sea levels.
Now time has come to prevent illegal activities and industrial pollution by ensuring proper management and maintenance of our natural resources with a view to building an environment-friendly green economy.
To that end, the people who are involved in harming the forest should be punished. Activities such as cutting woods, poaching and building establishments inside the critical area should not be allowed as well.
As the tigers are on the verge of extinction, we must devise and undertake priority projects to facilitate procreation of this endangered species.
Necessary steps should be taken to keep track of the progress of tiger conservation projects through regular pugmark surveys. The government should keep the tiger habitat out of harmful projects.
We must adopt the policy of protecting bio-diversity of the Sundarbans rather than allowing it to get damaged.
There is no other place like the Sundarbans left on Earth. We have to look after this iconic ecosystem if we want Bengal tigers to have a chance of survival.
