Every year, July 29 is celebrated worldwide as Global Tiger Day. In 2010, at the St. Petersburg Tiger Summit, tiger range countries declared their aim to double the wild tiger numbers by 2022 and declared July 29 as the Global Tiger Day. Bangladesh, being one of the13 tiger range countries, is observing the day on the 29th in Khulna and in all the ranges around the Sundarbans. The country observes the day on the 30th in Dhaka. On this day we usually raise voices and mobilize resources worldwide for wild tiger conservation and more importantly, to build awareness on the issues affecting their survival. This year the nation is shocked to know that the number of tigers has gone down to 106 in the Sundarbans. What concerns me most are:
1. What is going to be the fate of our nation? If our national animal, tigers, go extirpated from the country the nation will have to look for another species to declare as our national animal?
2. Shall we forget our Bengal Regiment whose logo was/is tiger, who fought for country’s independence?
3. Our cricketers, known as Tigers, will have a new name?
4. No one will ever bear a name ‘Sher-e-Bangla’ in this country?
5. We have to take our children and grandchildren to the zoos to show the tigers to tell them that they were once all over the country. But they went extirpated from their last stronghold, the Sundarbans!
6. The Sundarbans already lost rhinos, wild buffalo and swamp deer. Now if the Sundarbans’ natural guard, tigers, disappears what will happen? The Sundarbans still comprise more than 40 percent of Bangladesh’s total forest cover. We call it our motherly Sundarbans because it gives us protection from natural calamities; it gives us resources like fish, crabs, honey, nypa palm, and what not! Based on its resources, once there was a newsprint mill in Khulna. Sundarbans lost rhinos, wild buffalo and swamp deer. Now if the Sundarbans’ natural guard, tigers, disappears what will happen? If this umbrella species says ‘good-bye’ to us do you think the Sundarbans will remain like this? Perhaps NO. Because tigers act as an umbrella/flagship species. If we could save tigers the whole ecosystem and other life forms within it would have been automatically saved.
7. Thousands of people go to the Sundarbans every year because that’s our ‘Taj Mahal’. If there were no tigers, no Sundarbans, where will your children and grandchildren go tomorrow?
8. Almost all the higher animals in the country are in peril. Who should be held responsible for this? Whose property is this? Who is the custodian of these resources? Everyone has an answer for this; everyone will defend his/her cause. But no one will promise that things wouldn’t go worse from now. We never take lessons from history.
9. After independence what did we see: sacrifice of millions. Today we all benefit from that sacrifice without thinking that we do injustice to them. We do injustice to the father of the nation, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, who gave us orders/laws/acts to save wildlife back in 1973/1974 (new wildlife act is in place from 2012), when country’s economy, infrastructure, etc were taking shape. Now when Bangladesh is building Padma Bridge with its own resources, we are losing our biodiversity every day.
10. The rare and exclusive images of the tigers roaming majestically inside the Sundarbans amaze and thrill us; it’s an image that represents Bangladesh to the outer world. Shall we not face this image crisis?
11. Organized criminal groups are systematically poaching tigers and their prey, deer, to meet the demands of others. Inadequate coordination among law enforcement agencies at the local and national levels as well as a lack of regional and international collaboration magnifies this problem further. Have we addressed these issues over the years?
12. Tiger population is directly dependent on deer population. The more deer you have the more tigers the forest can support. Poaching and consumption of deer – the tiger’s primary prey – is also a significant threat in Bangladesh. Research conducted by Wild Team, a national NGO in the biodiversity conservation area, shows that more than 10,000 deer are likely poached a year, eventually reducing the capacity of the Sundarbans to support tigers. Research also shows that this is driven by domestic demand for consumption of deer meat as a luxury food or Raj Mangsho. Deer poachers consist of both organized poachers, often the same criminals who are involved in tiger poaching and opportunistic poaching, and the forest resource users. When the deer meat becomes cheaper than beef around the Sundarbans how would you feel?
13. This year’s tiger population result should give us an opportunity to increase the tiger population in the near future in the vast landscape of the Sundarbans.
14. We need to declare war against the poachers and to achieve success in stabilizing tiger population in the Sundarbans, we need the strong support from the government, political leaders, general public, and news media. Otherwise we may lose tigers in near future.
15. We have to have commitment to bring back and stabilize tiger population to the carrying capacity by appropriate management interventions.
16. The country is shocked and surprised to find the current population estimation. However, we want to give credit to the Forest Department for their transparency in letting the nation know about the present situation.
17. Our neighboring countries also faced the similar challenges but they turned this to an opportunity. For example, India estimated its tiger population at 3,200 or more until 2005. Few years ago they lost all their tigers from Sariska and Panna reserves. Then they changed their tiger conservation strategy. By using camera trap method they came up with a population estimation of 1,411 in 2006r, lower than their previous estimation. India was able to increase tiger population to 1706 in 2011 and then to 2226 in 2014 through such collective effort. In January this year India announced that their tiger population increased to 30 percent in four years!
18. Nepal reported 62 per cent increase in tiger population in 2014. On top of that they celebrated 365 days of zero poaching 4 times already. Nepalese army along with local people protect their wildlife in their protected areas.
19. We need to establish interagency cooperation for tiger conservation. We propose an independent and dedicated wildlife crime control unit comprising various law enforcement agencies like the Coast Guard, BGB, Police, Army, RAB, Navy, Air Force, local administration, and judiciary.
20. We need to build the capacity of the Forest Department and the local conservation partners.
21. We are working closely with local community including the village tiger response team and forest tiger response team to seek their support in tiger conservation.
22. In Bangladesh, one of the most densely populated countries in the world, almost a million people are dependent on the Sundarbans for their livelihood, creating immense pressure on the forest. We hope Sundarbans will continue to stand strong for us through the continued efforts of the government, and the people who love this beautiful forest.
23. Taking Bagh (tiger) forward: under the leadership of the Forest Department, development partners like USAID, US Fish and Wildlife Service, ZSL, Panthera, IUCN-SOS- Save Our Species, Awley, etc and donors like Kihak Sung, along with international and national NGOs WildTeam have been working to save tigers for many years. To that end, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has also joined resources with the Government of Bangladesh to protect wild tigers in the country through the Bengal tiger Conservation Activity (Bagh Project). Up to 2018, ‘Bagh’ will work on making the relationship between the Sundarbans and its adjacent people stronger and safer – empowering communities and institutions so that they can take ownership of protecting this magnificent forest home of tigers. In undertaking the Bagh Project, USAID and the Government have recognised the important role that charismatic species like the tiger can play in conservation, socio-economic empowerment and climate change mitigation and adaptation.
24. Whatever alarming the situation may be, with orchestrated and timely actions, the Bengal tigers can still be saved from doom. The Forest Department needs to be equipped with proper tools and training to be more vigilant in their patrolling activities in order to control poaching of tigers and its prey. The proposed Independent and Dedicated Wildlife Crime Control Unit need to be functional and effective to respond to wildlife crime. The wildlife act has been updated recently, with increased penalties for tiger and deer poaching, consumption and trade – these welcome changes should be implemented rigorously. If these are in place I still see some light at the end of the tunnel. n
(The writer is Chairman, WildTeam, Editor-in-Chief and CEO, UNB & Dhaka Courier)
