Boat diplomacy to save the tiger

NEW DELHI, MARCH 6: Diplomacy on the move seems to be the in-thing in India. Close on the heels of the bus diplomacy'' undertaken by Pr...

NEW DELHI, MARCH 6: Diplomacy on the move seems to be the in-thing in India. Close on the heels of the “bus diplomacy” undertaken by Prime Minister Atal Behrai Vajpayee comes a round of boat diplomacy between India and Bangladesh for protecting the tiger. The summit is likely to foster better relations between the two neighbours.

The Indian and Bangladshi Environment Ministers have decided to meet on the Indo-Bangladeshi border, deep in the slushy mangrove jungles of the Sunderbans sometime in the last week of March. The details of the route and programme are still being worked out, an official in the Environment Ministry said. The meeting is likely to take place aboard a boat as that is the only means of transport in the Sunderbans.

Minister for Environment and Forest Suresh Prabhu was invited by his Bangladeshi counterpart Syeda Sajeda Chowdhury for this unique border summit during her visit to India to partipate in the Millennium Tiger Conference which concluded in the Capital today. She told thegathering that last year, UNESCO had declared the Bangladeshi side of the mangrove forests – also known as the Sunderbans Reserve Forest – as a World Heritage site. The protected area covers more than 1,400 sq km.

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The Indian part of this vast jungle has, for a long time, enjoyed the World Heritage Site status with over 2,500 sq km already protected as a tiger reserve. The idea behind the summit seems to be to create heightened awareness about the protection of the tiger, of which only about 5,000-7,000 are left in the wild all over the world. “It would be a fantastic meeting”, says Prabhu.

The summit is likely to result in the initiation of an Indo-Bangladeshi project to conserve the Royal Bengal Tiger by creating the single largest safe haven for them.