Climate change may destroy Sundarbans’ tigers in 50 years: Study
A new study has warned that the Sundarbans' famed 'Royal Bengal Tigers' could be gone within 50 years, especially from the Bangladesh part, because of climate change. The study titled 'Combined effects of climate change and sea-level rise project dramatic habitat loss of the globally endangered Bengal tiger in the Bangladesh Sundarbans', carried out by a team of Bangladeshi and Australian scientists, revealed that constant rise in sea levels and climate change could bring a catastrophic situation to the mangroves of Sundarbans-the iconic Bengal tiger's last coastal stronghold – and the world's biggest mangrove forest.
It has been published in the journal Science of The Total Environment. "Fewer than 4,000 Bengal tigers are alive today," said James Cook University's Professor Bill Laurance, a co-author of the study. "That's a really low number for the world's biggest cat, which used to be far more abundant but today is mainly confined to small areas of India and Bangladesh," he said.
"Spanning more than 10,000 square kilometres, the Sundarbans region of Bangladesh and India is the biggest mangrove forest on Earth, and also the most critical area for Bengal tiger survival," said lead-author Dr Sharif Mukul, an assistant professor at Independent University Bangladesh.