The Sundarbans in Bangladesh is home to one of
the largest surviving single populations of tigers in the world. However,
despite being legally protected since 1974, the tiger is critically endangered.
Tigers are in trouble – 100 years a go there were around
100,000 wild tigers in the world, but the number has plummeted to just 3,200
today.
Unless we all act now, we will see the extinction of tigers
in our own lifetime.
In Bangladesh there are an estimated 300 and 500 tigers -
this is one of the largest populations of tigers left in the world! Conserving
the tigers in Bangladesh will therefore contribute massively to the
conservation of the species as a whole.
Why should we save tigers and their forest home?
The tiger is the king of the jungle – as top carnivore it
sits atop the food pyramid and therefore has large land requirements. In this
way it represents thousands of other animals and plants which live in their
forest home. If we can save the tiger, we can also save the rest of these
creatures and our last surviving forests.
And why do we need these forest ecosystems?
The tiger’s forest home in Bangladesh is the Sundarbans,
literally meaning “beautiful forest” in the Bangla language. Covering an area
of 6,000 sq kilometres, this is the world’s largest mangrove forest and is
almost half of Bangladesh’s remaining forest.
The Sundarbans is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and a Ramsar
Wetland of International Importance. The forest supports the livelihoods of
millions of local people, it provides food and building materials, it buffers
the whole country from devastating cyclones, and it prevents the coast from
being washed away by rising seas. Like all forests, the Sundarbans also
produces oxygen that all of us on Planet Earth need to breathe!
By saving tigers here, we will therefore not only save an
animal from extinction, but we will also save this important forest ecosystem
for the people of Bangladesh, and also for ourselves, our children, and our children’s
children.
Sorce : zsl.org
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