Sundarbans Tiger Reserve, 12 September 2019: The key to conservation lies with communities and the best route to reach communities is through youth, as past experience has proved. Under the IUCN-KFW sponsored Integrated Tiger Habitat Conservation Programme (ITHCP), our team working in Sundarbans, West Bengal brought together select school children from the Bangladesh Sundarbans for a three-day meet with their Indian counterparts for learning and sharing experiences on living with tigers.

The event was organized from the 12 to 14 September by the Wildlife Trust of India (WTI) and the Lokmata Rani Rashmoni Mission (LRRM) in collaboration with Wild Team (WT) Bangladesh and the West Bengal Forest Department (WBFD).

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The invited school children from Bangladesh constitute a part of an informal education and sensitization platform known as Tiger Scouts, created by Wild Team in Bangladesh in 2016. The platform aims to develop select school children from the rural landscape of Bangladesh Sundarbans as educators and changemakers in their respective areas, through consistent training, capacity development and career guidance, said Mr. Nasir Uddin of Wild Team. “Consequently, several of the tiger scouts of Bangladesh have excelled in convincing numerous villagers to give up various detrimental practices such as bushmeat hunting, unsustainable fishing practices etc., and have also spearheaded mass sensitization of rural children in their respective villages” he added.

“This transboundary event was the first step to replicate similar efforts on the Indian side of the Sundaraban by getting this select group of eight tiger scouts from Bangladesh share their experiences and efforts with rural school children of Indian Sundarbans. This works to motivate school children immensely so they can also take up similar initiatives in time in Indian Sundarbans,” said Mr. Krishnendu Basak, who is in charge of the transboundary project in Indian and Bangladesh Sundarbans.

Mr. Amitava Roy, General Secretary, LRRM, added, “During their stay here, the tiger scouts visited two major schools in the Dayapur and Rajatjubili villages of Satjelia Island in Indian Sundarbans and spent time talking to children of these schools, specifically children of class 9 and above. They discussed their mode of functioning, the need for youth to become aware and take up the responsibility of conserving their motherland, as well as the various hurdles they face and how they tackled them.”

The events at the two schools were widely attended by school children, teachers, various Forest Department Officials including the Deputy Field Director (DFD), Sundarban Tiger Reserve, Shri. Deepak M. (IFS), the Divisional Forest Officer (DFO), 24 Parganas (South) Division, Shri. Santosha G.R. (IFS), and Beat officer, Shri. Paritosh Das, of Sajnekhali range, Sundarban Tiger Reserve.

The DFO also interacted with the students along with the tiger scouts and emphasized the need of youngsters taking up responsibility to conserve the Sundarban and its wildlife. He said, “The younger generation needs to wake up and take the reins in their hands and change things around themselves so that the Sundarban, the only mangrove tiger habitat in the world can be preserved for generations to come”.

WTI and LRRM aim to develop a tiger scout platform akin to the one in Bangladesh in the years to come, in order to bring a lasting positive change in the mindset of the masses living around Sundarban Tiger Reserve, and thus successfully save the mangrove and its tigers for generations to come.