For a country this size, Bangladesh has been endowed with an extraordinary amount of natural wealth and abundance. While its floods do cause serious calamities to its people, the waters are also the source of rich Himalayan mineral deposits and without the yearly flooding, soil that already bears a heavy agricultural load would never replenish itself.

Some recent controversy has arisen over the work of the Sundarbans Tiger Project, a conservation project based in the Bangladesh side of the Sundarbans.

The issue mainly stems over whether the project is doing good by learning the habits of the majestic animal, or contributing to its demise. Its opponents argue that the drug used in the tranquilizing damages the tiger’s central nervous system. Hossain writes:

Sundarban is a unique place and also the only great ecosystem in the world where Bengal tigers live in saline water system. Life of a wild tiger is extremely challenging and very much depends on the physical and psychological integrity of the animal. For zoo or captive tigers physical wellbeing is enough for her survival. But for a wild animal her physical and psychological performance together only can ensure her survival. There has not been any pharmacological research to find how the above chemicals will affect specially the Sundarban tiger that drinks salt water and eat the intestine of the kill full of mangrove vegetation. Before this research is done and proven safe, there should be no other application of those drugs on healthy tigers in the wild.

However, researchers on the project argue that there is no evidence that the drug causes said damage, and that radio-collaring is an absolutely necessary tool in discovering the habits of the tiger, so that managers can make proper decisions as to its conservation. Adam Barlow writes:

The media has great potential to help in raising awareness about tiger conservation and to garner public support for this precious animal. Conversely, it also has the power to damage tiger conservation by negative and subjective reporting that confuses issues and seemingly deliberately tries to hamper people’s heartfelt and well-thought out efforts to protect the tiger. Surely the job of the newspaper is to provide objective reports on stories so that the Bangladeshi people can use the balanced information to make informed views on a subject.

You can read more from the following links:

• Collaring for Conservation, Adam Barlow’s retort (word document, 300KB).
• Click here for the link to the full article, “Immature science in immature hands?”
• Click here for the link to the original story.

It is our opinion that collaring is necessary and needed for the proper management of the Sundarbans and its wildlife, especially for the Royal Bengal Tiger, who is the chosen mascot of Bangladesh. Without solid research to back up forest management policies, the tigers stand at great risk to human interference. Given the lack of proper management that the forest department has had in episodes previous, we feel that appropriate, international standard scientific research will help conserve one of the last remaining wild places Bangladesh has.

Here’s a video showing the process of capturing the tiger:

Have feedback? Please let us know by commenting.

A woman stands with her young daughter while collecting relief goods being delivered from CARITAS. Villagers suffered greatly during the cyclone. Many lost their homes, boats and livelihoods. Nevertheless, people are now busy picking up the pieces and rebuilding their lives. See more photos here..

Dear Donors,

Well aware that this message is late in coming, we would like to announce to you all the final total of the funds raised via this website for the Guide Tours Cyclone Sidr relief initiative that we began shortly after Cyclone Sidr struck Bangladesh.

I am proud to let you know that we raised $1,855 USD by various means.

$1,555 was raised by individual donors sending their money to us directly, and the last $300 was raised by selling Bangladesh travel photography in Beijing. Our friends, Andrea Dowd-Dever and Benjamin Binks, sold our photography at Beijing’s Hutong cultural space.

Guide Tours has told us that they will wrap up all their relief activities by the end of this month, which basically consisted of bringing immediate needs goods to the affected areas. You can read their first field report here.

Once again, on behalf of the benefactors, we would like to thank you for your donation to our effort, and we hope that you can stay in touch with us via this website. Feel free to subscribe to www.joybangla.info using the subscription box at the left.

Travellers take matters into their own hands

In an entirely separate initiative to the Guide Tours relief effort, another individual traveller decided to conduct his own private relief effort with our assistance. Michael Mangano was already planning a visit to Bangladesh to join in our research, but after the cyclone happened, he raised $1,005 from friends and family before coming to assist in the relief of one specific villager of the Sundarbans. You can read more here
and watch a video about our work below:

(Jan 20 – DHAKA) What do you do when a devastating cyclone strikes the area that you’re about to visit?

If your name is Michael Mangano, you raise funds from your friends and family and bring money for the relief goods with your own two hands. That’s exactly what the Boston graduate student did in early January.

Mangano used online merchant Paypal to successfully raise $1,005 USD (or approx 68,000 Bangladeshi Taka) for victims of Cyclone Sidr, especially in the hard hit Sundarbans region of Bangladesh.

Watch the video:

“It’s a kind of ‘do-it-yourself’ relief work,” says Mangano. “My whole trip feels much more worthwhile because of it.”

Mangano’s original purpose was to visit Bangladesh as a tourist and to meet fellow traveller and Information Technology Specialist Mikey Leung. Upon news of the cyclone, Michael decided to raise funds from his family and friends before his visit.

With Leung’s voluntary technology support, the duo produced a Youtube.com video from the field showing the relief goods being handed over, while a series of audio podcasts tracks their progress. The purpose of the volunteer work was to prove to donors that their funds were being used and to demonstrate the idea of “Relief Tourism” to a wider audience.

“The idea of relief tourism fascinates me,” says Leung. “If travellers only knew which organizations are trustworthy, they could help support Bangladesh’s development initiatives while experiencing them first hand.”

After bank fees, a total of 65,000 Bangladeshi Taka was donated to various branches of Rupantar, a Bangladeshi non-government organisation that is supported by several international donor agencies, including USAID, ActionAID and CIDA.

“This is responsible travel in action,” says Leung. “By taking away all gaps between philanthropists and benefactors, we cut out all the bureaucracy and experience the plight of cyclone survivors first hand. It proves to be an educational and positive experience for both local and visitor.”

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Funds involved:
-65,000 BDT raised after Paypal and bank transfer fees
-40,000 BDT ($580 USD) was used to purchase 17 fishing boats and milk for the village of Dhangmari
-20,000 BDT was ($290 USD) donated to an orphanage supporting child victims of the cyclone
-5,000 BDT ($75 USD) was used to purchase musical instruments in support of Rupantar’s cultural change initiatives

Background:
- Michael Mangano covered his own travel expenses personally—none of the donated funds were used for this purpose.
- Mikey Leung is currently researching a new Bradt travel guidebook to Bangladesh in which he plans to encourage travellers to visit Bangladesh in a bid to reduce poverty
- Rupantar is a well-known and respected organization supporting the development of Bangladesh’s south-western region. A branch of the organization supports eco-tourism in the Sundarbans.

Contacts:
DHAKA, BANGLADESH
Mikey Leung, Freelance Journalist and IT Specialist
+880 1714 361 173 // www.joybangla.info // joybangla.info [AT] gmail.com

KHULNA, BANGLADESH
Nazmul Azam (David)
+880 1711 829 414 // ret [AT] khulna.bangla.net

BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, USA
Michael Mangano, Boston University
+1 617 721 4749 // mjmangano [AT] hotmail.com