With surveys warning us about the extinction of the tiger and a million land species, it’s time to change livelihood patterns

They say that the Sundarbans tiger is the most intelligent among the big cat family — it is an excellent swimmer, an intuitive reader of the human mind and behaviour, fiercely adaptive of its hostile surroundings, extremely elusive, frighteningly deceptive, an alert stalker, an agile predator and a fierce attacker if accosted. No wonder it is called the Royal Bengal Tiger and attracts a halo of myths and stories from villagers and fishermen in the mangrove delta. Now if the latest UN report is anything to go by, then it might just become a part of folklore, its extinction predicted as early as 2070 due to climate change, rise in seawater and the rapidly eroding delta, 70 per cent of which is just a few feet above existing water levels. The process is not difficult to imagine considering the raging cyclones, their intensity over the Bay of Bengal and the resultant tidal waves have already decimated much of the vulnerable islands around the delta, shrinking the natural habitat of not only the tiger but its prey base as well. Besides, submergence along the coastal belt has meant that the tiger has been forced to migrate to the Bangladesh side and inland villages, where it has easily fallen prey to the man-animal conflict. A picture of an emaciated tiger, caught in the moment of a forest crossing from a boat a few years ago, had set off alarm bells about the real prospect of the big cat’s starvation and breakage of the food chain. Severe climate events have already changed vegetation patterns, impacting the tiger’s prey species. Many reports prior to this one had sounded the death knell, too, but we are frankly past warnings as the consequences of global warming have already set in, pushing our fragile ecospheres and threatening many land species. Relocation is a challenge for many species as the natural corridors of animal movement have been fragmented by development. And even if by some logistical miracle that migration is achieved or enabled, there is the problem of over-populating an existing habitat and stressing out its resources. Tigers need roaming liberties and restricted space has meant that territorial infighting has emerged as the new threat for its survival. Just a day after the UN report, a 12-year-old Bengal tiger was found dead at Assam’s Kaziranga National Park following a tussle with another feline. The park, which has 100 plus tigers, has been reporting such conflict deaths over the last couple of years or so.

The tiger crisis is representative of a bigger extinction threat that has already been pointed out by a world biodiversity report. According to it, up to one million plant and animal species face their end, many within decades, because of increasing human activities and not just climate change. It warned that without drastic action to conserve habitats, the rate of species extinction — already tens to hundreds of times higher than the average across the past ten million years — will only increase. While industrial development has extracted its price, the new challenge comes from the ever-increasing agricultural activities that are believed to have had the largest impact on ecosystems. Latest figures say that crop and livestock operations currently co-opt more than 33 per cent of the earth’s land surface and 75 per cent of its freshwater resources. Then there is the larger issue of emissions of greenhouse gases. Only 37 per cent of the world’s longest rivers remains free-flowing. Imagine what it means for our rivers that are fragmented by development, constraining their capacity to flow free and affecting aqua ecosystems that keep the waters healthy. With everything geared towards human consumption, we may soon have nothing left to live on until we adopt crucial transformative habits. Policies won’t do, we have to implement them in right earnest, freeze our current livelihood patterns and make our food and living choices entirely sustainable without raising global temperatures. Scientists must develop partnerships with local governments and communities to implement actionable plans. We may not be able to reverse biodiversity drastically but at least save what is left of it in our lifetime.