Tiger, tiger not burning bright

Tiger, tiger not burning bright

All 5 species headed for extinction

BY Dr.Fourkan Ali

The number of Royal Bengal Tigers in its own homeland-Bangladesh-is only 362, while neighboring country India has 3,750 Royal Bengal Tigers. Bangladesh has not yet provided the tigers with a safe habitat. The habitat of Bengal tigers in Bangladesh has shrunk to parts of the Sundarbans. The tiger, the biggest member of the cat family, is a greatly endangered animal all over the world.

At the beginning of the last century there were about l00 thousand tigers throughout the world. But by the end of the century the number dwindled to a maximum of 7,500. In one hundred years three species of tigers have become extinct. Only five species of tigers still survive. If the tiger becomes extinct then the world will miss this beautiful animal. One cannot think of a future Bangladesh without the Royal Bengal Tiger. The tiger with its power and grace and its royal demeanor, is the symbol of Bangladesh.

On 18 January 2000, 40 representatives from 14 countries met at the first general session of the Global Tiger Forum (GTF) to devise ways and means to save the unfortunate tigers from extinction. The Bangladesh environment and forest ministry was the co-sponsor of the GTF meeting. Though the focus of the GTF includes tigers in all the countries, the Bengal Tigers received most attention in the discussions.

The present members of the GTE which was constituted in 1994 are India, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Myanmar and Vietnam, The Bengal Tiger resides in all the above-mentioned countries except Vietnam. Of all the tigers that are still surviving 4,715 live in the above four countries and Nepal. The non-member countries like Nepal, Laos, Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand also took part in the general session. This is the biggest international initiative to save this animal. The GTF has tried to include nearly all the countries where tigers live.

The then That Times Indian forest and environment state minister Babulal Marandi presided over the inaugural session at Dhaka Sheraton Hotel. The then Bangladesh environment and forest minister, Syeda Sajeda

                           

Chowdhury was the chief guest and the then state minister; H.N. Ashiqur Rahman was the special guest Syeda Sajeda Chowdhury said that Bangladesh has taken several steps to protect wild animals, including tigers, since liberation. In 1977 three sanctuaries with an area of 125 square miles was set apart in the Sundarbans to protect the wild animals. The area of thee sanctuaries was increased to 1,400 square kilometers in 1996. The UNESCO has declared these three sanctuaries World Heritage Sites. The minister informed the participants that the government had taken up a Tk. 380 crore project from 199899, named Preservation of Bio-diversity in the Sundarbans, to protect and maintain biodiversity Tire Sundarbans has been divided into four parts under this project to ensure proper management.

Indian forest and environment minister Babulal Marandi said that if proper measures are not taken in the border areas of the countries where tigers live, the effort to save the tiger will not be successful. India has signed bilateral agreements with Nepal and China to preserve the tiger. In a few days, he said, India will sign a bilateral protocol with Bangladesh. The Indian minister proposed that the countries that have tigers should totally ban all markets where tigers and tiger's limbs are bought and sold.

GTF secretary general A.C. Dey said that tigers cannot be saved by the individual efforts of any state. He said that the existence of the tiger had been threatened as the population of the world reached 600 crores. It is unthinkable what will happen in 2050 when world population will be 1200 crores if proper steps are not taken to protect the tiger.

The then environment and forest secretary Syed Marghub Murshed, foreign secretary C.M. Shafi Sami and chief conservator of forests Mohammad Rabbi also spoke at the inaugural session. The participants were informed of some sad facts by the speakers at the general session. We learnt that three species of tigers had become totally extinct of before end of the last century. These are the Caspian, Javan and Bali tigers. The first to disappear was the Bali tiger in the 1940s. Then followed the Caspian tiger: This species of tiger was last sighted in the 1970s. Afghanistan, Iran and Turkey were also the habitats of this tiger. The Javan tiger; which disappeared in die 1980s, used to live in south China The surviving five species of tiger are also facing extinction, These belong to Bangladesh, Amur, China, Sumatra, India, China and the Indo-China region. The China tigers number only 30. There are only 406 Amur or Siberian tigers. These tigers inhabit Russia, China and North Korea. Only 371 tigers live in the vast country of Russia. Indo-China tigers (PT Corbett) number only 1,785. They live in China, Cambodia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam. India has the highest number of tigers-3,750 Bengal Tigers. In Bhutan there are 240, in Myanmar 231 and in Nepal 220. These tigers are found in China also, where their number is 35. But the number of Royal Bengal Tigers in their homeland Bangladesh is only 562. The Royal Bengal Tiger of the Sundarbans is threatened not only by cruel hunters but by the rapid shrinkage of its habitat. This magnificent animal will disappear unless sincere efforts are made by the government. That will be an irreparable loss.

Economy of the Sundarbans

While in terms of ecology the resources of the Sundarbans mangrove forest are invaluable, the direct economic uses of the Sundarbans Reserve Forest (SRF) are numerous. More than 50 "products" are harvested from the SRE which can be categorized as wood products, non-wood products, fisheries and other services like tourism. More than four million people who live around the Sundarbans derive part of their subsistence extracting resources of this forest. And millions of others are indirectly dependent on the mangroves in the country’s southwestern coastline, According to forest officials, everyday some 50,000 people from around the neighboring localities and districts enter into the forest for their livelihood.

Extraction of different forest resources varies from season to season. From November to March, woodcutters -- locally known as Bawalis -- go there mainly to collect Golpata leaves used for thatching huts. And from January to March they extract Garan, From April to June the honey collectors, called "Mouals“, make their forays into the thickets of the Sundarbans. November and December are the months suitable for collecting "jhinuk" (shells). The fishermen, constituting the largest forest dwelling community derive their livelihood catching fishes round the year.

Over the centuries, the Sundarbans with its different products has attracted the interest of various traders and consumers. The medieval Phoenicians and the Arab mariners preferred the Sundari les for the masts of their shi and the timbers of Passur for making furniture as those were considered to be more saline tolerant than other woods. The Sundari was widely used in shipbuilding throughout the medieval period. The value of the mangroves had long been glorified by the local people living along the coastal regions, particularly for its use as building materials, medicinal plants, fuel wood and natural barrier against the rages of the sea.

Currently officials said, more than 18,000 cubic meters of timber; 63,000 cubic meters of pulpwood/matchwood, 61,000 tones of fuel wood, 69,000 tones of Golpata/Hantal, 5,700 tones of fishes, 1,400 tones of Crustaceans, 253 million shrimp fries, 200 tones of honey/wax and 8,300 tones of grass are extracted annually from the SRF.

According to forest department estimates, the annual value of wood products extracted from the SRF is about Tk. 68 crores (Tk. 678 million). Almost half this value is from Gewa pulpwood. Market prices at the ghat (terminals) are used for all products except for Gewa pulpwood because there is no competitive market price for this wood (the newspaper mills have a monopoly right of purchase of Gewa), Therefore economic price was rived from imparted pulp landed at the mills.

The value of the forest from the perspective of its standing volume has been calculated upon volume information from permanent sample plots, multiplied with market prices to determine a value per hectare. Once this is multiplied by the current forest area (406,900 hectares) the value of standing timber is calculated at Tk. 12,521 crores (Tk. 125 billion).

The annual value of fishes caught is Tk.l83 crores (Tk 1.84 billion), which is three times higher than the annual value of forest products being removed. Assuming mat this recorded level of production represents a sustainable level of production, the present value of the Sundarbans resources to the nation at a discount rate of 12 percent is Tk. 1,525 crores (TK.15.3 billion).

Non-wood forest products (NWFP) from the SRF play a major role in the lives of hundreds of thousands of people who live in its vicinity. These products are harvested for both subsistence and commercial purpose and represent an important source of income for landless poor families, especially during the winter months of food deficit. The annual value of non-wood products like varieties of thatches, honey and wax being harvested from the Sundarbans is Tk 53 crores (Tk. 533 million). At a discount rate of 12 percent, this gives a present value of Tk. 443 crores (Tk, 4.4 billion).

But because of its very nature, it is extremely difficult to quantify the level of illegal extraction. Forest officials admit unrecorded use and under-measurement of extraction of trees and other resources in the SRF involve a huge amount. According to a UNDP-sponsored integrated R5ource Management Plan (IRMP) study the unrecorded extraction represents lost revenue of around Tk. 300 million, i.e., one and half times the officially recorded revenue of Tk. 200 million.

Under-measurement occurs because of conservation errors and the use of proxy measures or assumed rates of harvest per unit effort (amount per person per day) where it is considered difficult to measure the actual resource extraction. A so-called "Boat Loading Certificate" (ELC) is issued as a means of recording the production of fuel-wood, Golpata, Hantan, shell and other minor products. The BCL is a weight measure calculated on the basis of an estimate of the volumetric carrying capacity of the boat. The formula was derived last century and at that time it might have given a reasonably accurate measurement of cargo capacity. But such measurement system is not applicable today The IRMP report said that the use of ELC may under-estimate extraction by 40 percent.

The report estimated that the illegal harvest of Goran might be around 20 percent of the officially recorded cut; the illegal harvest of Golpata might be around 25 percent of the official record, actual honey and wax production might be 5.5 percent higher than what is recorded, the illegal harvest of the Sundari might be 100 percent of the officially recorded cut (because of the ban) and the illegal harvest of the Gewa might be around S0 percent of the officially recorded cut. A valuable indirect use that the SRF provides is a nursery function for many different species of marine fishes.

According to a consultant report prepared in 1996, the total direct benefit from the Sundarbans in terms of revenue is Tk.14, 756 crores while indirect benefit was calculated at Tk. 2,033 crores. The total net benefits were calculated to be Tk. 167 billion C1'k.1, 670 crores). On the other hand, the total cost was calculated at Tk. 62 crores or US$ 5.839 billion after deducting the management cost of the SRE. This estimate suggests the value of per square kilometer of the reserve forest including its water bodies to be $658,068 or $9,267 per hectare of land.

But whatever may the economic value of the Sundarbans, a fuller understanding of the ecosystem and its components is required both for its sustainable production models and for its conservation over the long term.

"It is imperative that mangrove-based terrestrial and aquatic resources be managed in an integrated manner: This implies that no single-resource use should be maximized per se to the point where the sustainable potential of another resource is adversely affected. The traditional management paradigm implying that if forests are well managed then, ipso facto, the non-wood ecosystem components will remain stable is notionally flawed. Mangrove fishery Mari culture, and wildlife management programmes have to be structured and integrated into the overall policy implementation, and control levels of an integrated resource management system." a Fond and Agriculture Organization (FAO) report in 1994 on mangrove forests noted. The understanding and managing of the Sundarbans as an ecosystem and not simply as a reserved forest is therefore very crucial.

The Sundarbans is light of nature

The Sundarbans mangrove forests form the roots of die mighty Padma (Ganges) river that branch into the Yamuna and jamuna rivers and their tributaries shared by Bangladesh  and India. Deep into the jungle the nature is divine, an array of plants and animals in all their glories sharing this massive live delta of rivers and tributaries with millions of people upstream. The Sundarbans is a unique wildemess area, being the largest mangrove forest in the world that stretches some 6017 square kilometers across southwatem Bangladesh and into India. Listed as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1988, this precious wilderness is one of the last refuges of the Royal Bengal Tiger and home to a diversity of plants and animals some of which are found nowhere else in the world.

Through the network of estuaries, many varieties of plants compete for light and space. Common to these forests are the Sundori Mangrove that are endemic to this region and the Gewa Mangroves. The tall Sundori (beautiful) mangroves loom 30-40 feet high, constituting about 6% of the wood volume and are mostly found in less saline conditions. The Gewa Mangroves are more salt-tolerant and become more dominant closer to the beaches, constituting about 28% of the total wood volume. The mangrove trees that grow here have complex roots called Pnenmetophors. The rigid roots spike 'up through the mud and play an important role holding together the soil. Protecting the land from cyclones and land degradation, they absorb carbon and release oxygen in water and by the process of photosynthesis in the presence of sunlight. Tire Keora tree is common. It is quite tall with many branches that house the Rhesus monkeys and birds and have tasty leaves that are popular snacks for the Horeen (deer). Many other trees can be seen here, including Raintrees that actually look like rain clouds, Nipa Palms (Golpata trees) that have leaves which are used to build mob, Horgoza trees and vines that strangle the mangrove trees.

Herds of Horeen are seen on the mud flats, grazing in the Jamtala grasslands. The larger male stags have antlers that look like the branches of a tree -- they guard the grazing Horeens, watching out for predators. The mud flats are shared by Horeens, Rhesus monkeys, and the smooth coated otters and different species of birds. There is the less adjutant stork that stands tall with long pointy legs and neck with a pointy beak, and a bright white intermediate egret with a sharp yellow beak who sits gracefully on a stump of tree. An estuarine alligator lounges on the mud flat, This prehistoric reptile is at least 12 feet long with powerful tail and jaw that Could kill a person in a death roll. lt is startled and dashes for the water never to be seen again. The brown-winged kingfisher has a bright blue crest and a beak that could kill a snake. The less common ruddy kingfisher has a distinctive white spot  on its back and along tail. The lesser racket ale drogo has straight black feathers and greater racket ale drogo has a crest and long helical feathers - they are seen dashing from tree to tree. A rare musk fin-foot duck waddles across the estuary and hides in some grasses. The Bahraini Kites are birds of prey that have brown and white feathers. They soar and with their sharp eye sight dive into the water to catch fish.

We all share one world

Further inland around the villages grow many varieties of fruits and vegetables, including dates, jam fruit trees, mangoes, papaya bananas, coconuts, cabbages, cauliflower tomatoes and potatoes. With scarcity of land, the local villagers here make the best possible use of the land growing crops for food and not for cash. This ensures adequate food for their families, friends and some fair trading with their neighbors.

We have not inebriated the land from our parent, we have borrowed it from our children'

Many small fishing boats can be seen on the water. Some fishermen look humble fishing in their traditional ways. They sit in their little boats with a fishing line, sipping tea and waving to boats as they pass by Other less responsible fishermen use bigger boats and nets for bigger fish catches, some are even cheating by using explosives and chemicals which are highly illegal.

In addition to fish netting is shrimp netting that has large by catch that put the aquatic ecosystems out of balance and reduce the presence of water lilies that are habitat and a major food source for many aquatic species, including turtles, fish, shrimp, and frogs. These practices are not sustainable and pose a threat to the long-term livability of these very important aquatic ecosystems.

‘There is enough food for everyone’s need but not everyone’s greed.’

The Sundarbans forests contain natural resources that are the livelihood of many locals. Small traditional practices such as timber harvesting, grass cutting, and extracting honey from bee-hives must be kept small so that the next generation, too, has the privileges that nature provides. Recognition of constitutional laws and enforcement of rules and regulations by forest authorities and forest courts are necessary for the protection and sustainable use of natural resources in Bangladesh. Raising awareness and education among the wider community is important so that we can respect the earth and take responsibility of our actions.

Eco-tourism is environmentally friendly tourism that gives people the opportunity to experience the beauties of nature, to learn about the wildlife and how to be more environmentally responsible. Scientific researches on the Sundarbans are valued by people who are studying plants and animals. Scientific research is groundwork for educating people about nature and field studies help to find new species, explain reasons for declines in species, and help develop new medicines.

Managing for the future

People and the forests are natural partners with a great deal to offer each other They have been natural partners for thousands of years; there are records of collecting revenues and earnings of people in the forests in Mogul Suttons some 500 years ago, The British recognized the importance of these forests in 1875-1876 and protected them as parks since the 1860s. Today the Sundarbans remain uninhabited because the saline conditions make crops difficult to grow fear of attack from the ferocious Royal Bengal Tiger and due to the rules and restrictions on access. The remaining wilderness area is managed as the Sundarbans Forest Reserve that ensures preservation and sustainable utilization of natural resources under environmental laws.

The Government of the Peoples Republic of Bangladesh launched the Sundarbans Conservation Project (SCP) on April 1, 1999. The SCP recognizes areas of international conservation significance and is aimed at long-term sustainable conservation of bio-diversity in the Sundarbans Reserved Forest.

The SCP demonstrated the government's commitment to the environment and recognition of International Agreements. Bangladesh is a signatory to: Ramsar Convention, 1971; Convention of International Trade of Endangered Species, 1973; Convention of Marine Pollution 1973 and Convention on Biodiversity 1975. These International Laws are non-legally binding documents that are not enforceable. However; a commitment at the highest possible level is recommended. The Government has a moral obligation for the benefit of future generations and the long-term livability of the country.

As an environmental engineering student from Australia, a volunteer for UNAA Earth Repair promoting earth repair action, I found the ferry journey into the Sundarbans to be most rewarding and truly a memorable experience, I breathed the fresh air and felt energized, I bathed in the Bay of Bengal and felt revitalized, and I sat on the white sandy beach and questioned 'who I am’ and ‘who is God’, I saw the water in the ocean, soil on the land, and the sun in the sky in their purest forms. The trees that grow protect soil from cyclones and land degradation, and help increase the land‘s fertility They absorb carbon and release oxygen in water and air; improving water quality and air quality The trees also play an Important role in the biosphere through evotranspiration, reducing global warming and the greenhouse effect.

'Rees are for life. Trees give us AIR, WATER and SOIL on which we, as human beings, depend for our survival. We, as custodians of the land, can exploit this precious resource, by reaping what we sow. We can conserve the land for the people by planting trees, or we can preserve the resources from the people to ensure protection and sustainable use of those resources, we live in a world that binds us and are all spiritual by Nature.