2010 is the Year of the Tiger. But according to the World Wildlife Fund “one of the world’s largest tiger populations could be wiped out this century as rising seas threaten to engulf their dwindling habitat in the coastal mangrove forests ofBangladesh, researchers said on Jan. 20. A projected sea-level rise of 11 inches (28 centimeters) above 2000 levels along coastal Bangladesh by 2070 may cause the remaining tiger habitat in the Sundarbans to decline by 96 percent, pushing the total population to as few as five tigers, according to the new World Wildlife Fund (WWF)-led study published this month in the peer-reviewed journal, Climatic Change.”
Stray and hungry members of the dwindling tiger population have been increasingly wandering into the surrounding villages that dot the Sundarban. There have been unprecedented reports of incidents of maulings by these prowling tigers. Understandably, villager have hunted down the tigers thought responsible for the deaths of their neighbors. However, one can argue that, at times, these retaliatory expeditions into the surrounding area have become reckless. By the very fact that people have gone to certain areas, hunters have attracted the attention of these predators, further decreasing the dwindling local population of tigers. Studies in the past have shown that tiger populations below 25 have difficulty surviving. This means that left to their own devices a small population of tigers will perish. As a consequence the eco-system of Bangladesh’s Sundarban will be rocked, perhaps permanently. And as such, we stand completely ignorant to the long-term consequences of that eco-system change. Secondly, Bangladesh stands to lose one of the symbolic touchstones of her history and culture. Finally, the projected extinction of these beautiful creatures serves as another reason why Bangladesh must rally her neighbors to seek proactive solutions to global and local climate change.
Imagine, that the bald-eagle were projected to become extinct. The U.S might do well to act to prevent that kind of cataclysm. Of course, the bald eagle had been threatened with extinction. And after some wrangling the U.S government and its environmental agencies responded to that desperate, though hushed call for action.
Similarly Bangladesh needs to respond to the call for action that is sounding from within and across its shores.
