Climate change — With 2 tiger attacks a month, Sundarbans reels under human-animal conflict

The Sundarbans delta, located in the Bay of Bengal, is a UNESCO World Heritage site known for its mangrove forests. A collection of 102 islands, of which 54 are inhabited and home to 45 lakh people, is governed by high and low tides every day with water levels rising six to 10 feet during high tides. In the last decade, Sundarbans has become a hotspot of tiger attacks due to climate change and global sea levels increasing.

The number of Sundarbans tigers on the Indian side now stands at just north of a hundred, thanks to an excellent conservation program introduced in 1973. The creature rules the 4,000 sq-km (10,000 sq-km total in India and Bangladesh) of muddy mangroves, with numerous tidal creeks and clusters of uninhabited islands. The tigers here are stealthy, ferocious, excellent swimmers and are known to be the only clan of tigers who actively hunt humans. Although part of the same race found all over the Indian subcontinent, Sundarban tigers are distinct from other Royal Bengal tigers, hunting humans for food for centuries. It is often a subject of great debate in academic circles, how and why these tigers became a man-eating species. 

One theory suggests that the river’s highly saline water changed the tigers’ eating habits. Another theory proposes that the tigers acquired a taste for human flesh due to improperly cremated corpses floating downstream, as it was a standard practice in the past. It remains one of the great mysteries of the region as continuous attacks on fishermen and honey-gatherers of the Sundarban continue. During the period between 1999 and 2014, a total of 437 incidents of human-tiger conflict occurred in the Sundarbans forest, an average of 29 incidents per year, according to researcher Chandan Surabhi Das, Associate Professor of Geography, Barasat Government College, West Bengal. An unusual factor that heavily influenced the recent tiger attacks, is climate change.

Also Read: Restoring the Sundarbans ecosystem

Sundarbans is on the global frontlines of climate change, where frequent cyclones and tidal surges wreak havoc on the clay embankments that protect human settlements from the rising water level. The sea level has risen here by 3cm per year on average in the last decade. There are more than 3,500 km of embankments in the Sundarban region, of which a significant amount is made of clay which is the only barrier against rising water levels. High-intensity cyclones like Aila in 2009, Bulbul in 2019, Amphan in 2020, and Yass in 2021 ravaged the delta while submerging agricultural land with saline water from the nearby river. The saline water destroys the productivity of the agricultural land and farmers can’t grow anything for the next two to three years. As there is very limited opportunity to earn in the region, some migrate as daily-wage laborers into other states such as Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, and Tamil Nadu, while others have no option but to venture into the forest for fishing. On the other hand, rising water levels have engulfed a lot of tiger hunting grounds, driving them inland, and causing the tigers to come face-to-face with humans frequently. The situation deteriorated during COVID-19 when able-bodied men had no income and were forced to go to the jungle.

Also Read: Organic farming gathers steam in the Sundarbans

Armed with courage and Bonbibi’s blessings (a local deity known as the goddess of the forest) fishermen and women of all ages from 16 to 66 venture deep into the jungle in small wooden boats in search of crabs and honey. Mud crabs are a sought-after commodity that fetches a high value in the export market. One can earn up to twice as much in a day’s work in the forest than in agricultural work (which pays about Rs 400 a day) in the village, but the work back home is seasonal and scarce. The forest department provides compensation of Rs five lakh to the family of a tiger attack victim but it involves a lot of red tape and most families are not educated or wealthy enough to pursue it. Approximately 50,000 people enter the jungle of Sundarbans annually but the forest department issues only about 1,700 boat licenses per year. As a result, most of the people enter illegally into the forest and when they lose their lives, the government denies their claim and they receive no compensation. Such deaths are also not counted in official statistics. Things continue in this fashion till another powerful cyclone arrives, and the story repeats itself.

Also Read: Busier than bees: Sundarbans’ honey collectors

Sudip Maiti is a Kolkata-based independent photographer and filmmaker.