A Reality Check of the Global TX2 Goals of Doubling the Bengal Tiger (Panthera tigris tigris) Population by 2022 in the Sundarbans Mangrove Forest

Abstract

Considered a unique biodiversity hotspot of the world, the Sundarbans mangrove harbours a wide variety of wild and plant species. This popular tiger land is now under threat to tiger survival. In this study, I venture to assess the tiger status, population, trends, extent, threats, and conservation process in the Sundarbans. My study finds that there were nearly 693 Bengal tigers (Panthera tigris tigris) in the Sundarbans mangrove forest in 2004. Ten years later, the tiger population reached 182 individuals. However, a slight increase in the tiger number was noticed in 2018 when the tiger constituted 202 individuals. Due to data deficiency, TX2 goal of doubling the tiger population by 2022 was not considered. This study finds that there are numerous factors work behind the extinction of the tiger population in the Sundarbans, such as habitat loss, deforestation, land cover change, human interventions into the forests, poaching, hunting, illegal wildlife trade, climate change, and natural disasters, salinity, scarcity of prey species, lack of capability of the forest staff and personnel, poor and weak legal frameworks are prominent. Therefore, this paper endeavours to assess the efforts of Bangladesh and the Indian government to double the Bengal tiger population by 2022 and analyse the factors and threats to eliminate tiger numbers in the world’s largest mangrove forest Sundarbans.