The International Tiger Day, 29th July is celebrated annually with the theme “Their survival is in our hands”. Founded in 2010, July 29th is celebrated as the Global Tiger Day to raise awareness about this magnificent yet endangered big cat. 13 tiger range countries came together to support TX2 goals, to double the number of wild tigers by 2022. The importance of this day is to create awareness of the declining tiger population and conserving tigers globally. Observing World Tiger Day is also significant because, according to the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), currently, there are one of the most majestic and royal species that can be seen globally, also called the “Umbrella Species” as their conservation also conserves many other species in the same habitat. This time get your eco-friendly tiger paper weights. Jungles contain a mysterious diversity of wildlife and all these are linked to nature. So, if anything bad happens to nature, it automatically affects all species of that particular region. It is very shocking that the number of wild tigers has dropped by more than 95% since the beginning of the 20th century. Tigers are also called keystone species, meaning that without them the whole ecosystem would be significantly different or even collapse. As an apex predator, tigers manage the population of their prey, ensuring that no one species becomes dominant. This in turn has an impact on the diversity and health of the plants in the forest. Big cats are restricted to 7% of their original range because illegal wildlife trade, poaching and increasing human-tiger conflict pose a threat to their survival. Every part of a tiger is traded in illegal wildlife markets, that is why it is an emergency situation to save them.
Reasons behind the declining population of tigers
- Poaching and illegal hunting and trading: tigers face problems such as hunting and trading because every part of the body have high demand on the national as well as international markets.
- Habitat loss: Due to deforestation and clearing of forests for several reasons like agriculture, construction, industries etc, the habitat of tigers is decreasing in great numbers.
- Climate change: With the rise of sea level, global warming and various climatic fluctuations lead to wiping out of the habitats of Royal Bengal Tigers,
- Several diseases are also the key factor.
- Degradation of Habitats: Big cats want secure and disturbance free habitat to survive but due to several developmental activities in the landscape of the protected areas (PAs) pose a big threat to tigers.
- Man-animal conflict also affects the population of big cats.
- Increasing tourism is another reason for the decline of their species.
Edu world realises the significance of the natural environment. We always uphold the notion of sustainable development, a development which satisfies the needs of the present generation without damaging the needs of the future generation, in both education and environment. The losing of biodiversity poses a serious threat towards the natural environment. Our institution provides a green campus and develops a positive attitude towards the protection and development of the environment as well the other living organisms. Especially passing the message that man is not the superior organism in the ecosystem, he is one among the other.