Bengal tigers may pay the price of climate change

The Bengal tigers may pay the price of climate change as the Sundarbans could be destroyed due to rising sea levels over the next 50 years. The analyses included factors such as extreme weather events and sea-level rise.

The Sundarbans region is the biggest mangrove forest spanning more than 10,000 square kilometres. This region is the most critical area for the endangered Bengal Tigers.

A professor, Laurance, at the James Cook University in Australia said that there are fewer than 4,000 Bengal tigers alive on the planet.

“4,000 is a really low number for the world’s biggest cat. They were far more abundant earlier, but today they are mainly confined to small areas of India and Bangladesh,” said Laurance.

An assistant professor at the Independent University Bangladesh, Sharif Mukul, stated that the most terrifying thing is that tiger habitats in the Sundarbans would vanish entirely by 2070. “Our analyses suggests that tiger habitats in the Sundarbans will vanish entirely,” Sharif Mukul.

The researchers used computer simulations to assess the future suitability of the low-lying Sundarban region for tigers and their prey species, using mainstream estimates of climatic trends from the Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change.

Apart from climate change, the Sundarbans is under pressure due to industrialisation. "The Sundarbans is under growing pressure from industrial development, new roads, and greater poaching," said Laurance.

"So, tigers are getting a double whammy -- greater human encroachment on the one hand and a worsening climate and associated sea-level rises on the other," he said.

However, the researchers emphasise that all is not lost. Laurance stated that most of the Sundarbans can be conserved by increasing protected areas and reducing poaching. "There is no other place like the Sundarbans left on Earth. We have to look after this iconic ecosystem if we want amazing animals like the Bengal tiger to have a chance of survival," concluded Laurance.

On the other hand, many people have been arguing that climate change is not real and doesn't exist. In an article by the Huffington Post, American President Donald Trump said that he didn't believe in climate change simply because he didnt see any real evidence. Reasons for such claims is that people speak of their own experiences, a study suggested. Those who live in the American Midwest might point out that they still have snow and ice in the winter. The ones who believe that climate change is real point out that winters are a little milder and summer starts much earlier.

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