Environment, Forest and Climate Change Minister Shahab Uddin on Monday said that according to the latest tiger census, the number of tigers in the Sundarbans mangrove forest now stands at 114.
The minister made the claim while responding to a query made by treasury bench lawmaker Didarul Alam Chattogram-4 in the Jatiya Sangsad.
“The tiger census conducted camera trapping. The total number of tigers in the Sundarbans was 106 in 2015, and the number of tigers now stands at 114 as per the latest census completed in 2018,” said the minister.
Apart from this, around 1,00,000 to 1,50,000 deer, 165 to 200 crocodiles and 40,000 to 50,000 monkeys are also living in the mangrove forest.
At present, the net area of forest is around 14.10 per cent of the land, and trees make up 22.37 per cent of the total forest areas, he said while responding to a query made by another treasury bench lawmaker Benjir Ahmed of Dhaka-20.
Under the social aforestation, the forest minister said some 1,02,339.28 hectares of wood lots and Block gardens have been created, and 76,752.366 kilometres of steep gardens have also been created during the fiscal years between 1980-81 and 2020-21.
