DHAKA: The Bengal Tiger Conservation Activity, known as ‘Bagh (Tiger) Activity’, was launched on Tuesday to reduce illegal wildlife trafficking and minimize human-tiger conflict in the Sundarbans, says a press release.
United States ambassador in Dhaka Dan W Mozena and environment and forest minister Anwar Hossain Manju unveiled the initiative at a ceremony in the city.
United States Agency for International Development (USAID) is financing the project.
Conservation organization WildTeam will implement the project with the technical assistance from Bangladesh Centre for Advanced Studies and Washington-based Smithsonian Institution from the period of 2014 to 2018.
The activity will work on making a strong and safe relationship between the Sundarbans and the people living in nearby areas by empowering communities and institutions to take ownership of protecting the home of the Royal Bengal Tigers.
It will collaborate with national and international law enforcement bodies, and will work to reduce poaching and illegal trafficking of wildlife.
Efforts will be given to minimize human-tiger conflict by monitoring and managing stray tigers and conducting awareness campaigns in the Sundarbans region to promote tiger conservation at national and international levels.
To promote environmentally sustainable livelihoods in the Sundarbans, the activity will explore innovative ways to help people earn without straining the region’s natural resources.
Environment and forest ministry secretary M Nojibur Rahman, Chief Conservator of Forests M Yunus Ali and USAID mission director Janina Jaruzelski, among others, attended the event.
The function was followed by cultural representations on the Sundarbans highlighting determination for being united to protect the Bengal tigers.
According to the release, Royal Bengal Tigers used to roam in 17 districts of Bangladesh a century ago and their numbers have significantly reduced now.
The Sundarbans is home to one of the largest single population of wild tigers in the world, and a global stronghold for biodiversity, it added.
BDST: 2025 HRS, SEP 16, 2014
