Sundarbans‍‍` 80 ponds restored to meet freshwater needs

The Forest Department has re-excavated about 80 ponds in the Sundarbans aiming to ensure freshwater for wildlife.

"We have re-excavated about 80 ponds in the Sundarbans so that wild animals, including tigers, do not face any trouble in finding freshwater," Divisional Forest Officer (Sundarbans West Division) Abu Naser Mohsin told BSS.

In March 2022, the Forest Department initiated a three-year "Sundarbans Tiger Conservation Project" to conserve the Bengal tigers in the mangrove forest. As part of the project, the Forest Department restored the freshwater sources in the Sundarbans.

Mohsin, also director of tiger conservation project, said these ponds are yet to fill up with water as there is not enough rain right now. But, once monsoon will start, the ponds will be filler with rain water.

Every year, cyclones and storm surges hit the forest, destroying its freshwater sources, which puts wildlife in crisis of drinking water.

Freshwater ponds in the Sundarbans became salinized following Cyclone Amphan flooded most parts of the mangrove forest in 2020.

Former chief conservator of forest and former country representative of IUCN Bangladesh Ishtiaq Uddin Ahmad said when freshwater sources, particularly ponds, get contaminated with saline water due to cyclones or storm surges, the wild animals including tigers and monkeys are forced to drink water from these salinized ponds.

He said if the wild animals drink saltwater for quite a long time, they become vulnerable to many diseases causing their immature deaths.

When the wild animals face scarcity of freshwater inside the forest, they are forced to enter localities in search of drinking water, leading to human-wildlife conflicts, he said.

According to the Forest Department, trespass of Sundarban tigers to locality has increased more than 50 times in the last 15 years.

The Forest Department‍‍`s data revealed that about 49 tigers died in the Sundarbans from 2001 to 2021.