Animals and Plants

The Bengal tiger

One of the most famous animals in the region is the Bengal tiger. These animals grow up to three meters long and quite heavy. This tiger species is characterized by its red and gold fur. The hunger of this animal is enormous, it needs around nine kilos of meat per day to be satisfied. But the range of this species has shrunk and it had to be protected. Several hundred specimens live in the nature reserve of the mangrove forests in Bangladesh.

Tiger and human

By the way, tigers can swim very well. However, they pose a threat to the fishermen who roam the country with their small boats. Since Bangladesh was very densely populated, the tiger unfortunately became a direct enemy of humans. The tiger ate domestic animals, but also humans, when it otherwise found no prey. As long as there was still enough space for the tiger, that didn’t happen. Only when its range of distribution was restricted more and more did humans and tigers get into each other’s enclosure.

And what is still alive there?

Bears and leopards are also found in Bangladesh, they live in the Chittagong Mountains, but their numbers are also dwindling. Deer, roe deer, wild boars and monkeys, especially rhesus monkeys and elephants, find a home in Bangladesh. 740 species of birds have also been spotted there. There is even a national bird in Bangladesh, that is the Doel, a small bird with black and white feathers. There are also many reptiles, such as crocodiles, but also snakes such as pythons and cobras, as well as amphibians. Not to forget the many fish. Lobsters and prawns are particularly popular and are also caught. Some of the animals are then exported abroad and are an important source of income for the people who live in Bangladesh.

What is growing in Bangladesh?

The nature of Bangladesh has suffered greatly from man in recent years. For example, a large part of the forest was cut down. In the meantime, only less than a quarter of the country’s area is covered with forests. Mangrove forests that grow on rivers or other bodies of water are typical of Bangladesh. Incidentally, Bangladesh has the largest mangrove forests in the world! These are called sundarbans.

Economy

Agriculture in Bangladesh

Agriculture is the main industry in Bangladesh. Tea, tobacco, sugar cane and rice are grown on the country’s plantations. The forest was pushed back in favor of agriculture. Forest areas can still be found, for example near Chittagong or the mangrove forests in the Sundarbans. For a long time, such forests shaped the natural environment. Meanwhile the cultivation of wheat is also increasing, although wheat still has to be imported. Jute is also grown as a useful crop and is an important source of income, but jute cultivation is declining again. Fish farming is growing and becoming more important.

Economy in Bangladesh: The problem with fish farming

There are farms that are used for fish farming. Fish are raised in aquaculture. Above all, shrimp farming has displaced rice cultivation. The whole thing is ecologically problematic, because the flooding of the fields silts up the soil, which is bad for the fertility of the soil. The yields of the rice fields then decline again due to the strong salinity of the soil. This is how you make a profit from fish farming, but at the same time you destroy people’s livelihoods. That upsets the ecological balance.

Terrible working conditions

Many factory owners in Bangladesh do not care nearly enough for the safety of their workers and fires and other accidents with many injuries and deaths occur regularly. The impact of the collapse of a textile factory in Sabhar, in which 1,127 people were killed and 2,438 injured in 2013, was particularly bad.

Industry in Bangladesh: “Made in Bangladesh”

Industrial production continues to grow. More and more people are finding work in factories, often in clothing factories too. You can find Made in Bangladesh on many labels on cheap clothing. Have a look in the closet. Most of the time the people in these factories work under very bad conditions. They get little wages, work long hours and are not protected. Again and again there are protests against the government, which does not stand up for the workers. In Bangladesh, accidents in factories that also kill people regularly happen. In addition, many children work in the factories (compare also the problems of children in Bangladesh). Their families often depend on the work of the children, so the problem of child labor persists.

The cruel textile industry

As a country located in Asia according to directoryaah, Bangladesh is well known for the manufacture of clothing. There are repeated reports in the newspapers and on television about how bad the working conditions are in the country’s textile factories. Many women work here, but also children. The security situation is more than poor and workers are often treated like prisoners. Since the factories were often very poorly built, a fire could break out here or even parts of the factories could collapse and people be buried underneath. On April 24, 2013, a factory building collapsed in the city of Sabhar, around 25 kilometers from the capital Dakha, killing 1,127 people and injuring more than 2,000 people. That was the worst accident of its kind in Bangladesh to date. Seamstresses mainly worked in the factory,

Poverty

Bangladesh is one of the poorest countries in the world. And this mass poverty is also one of the country’s greatest problems. Although there has been some improvement in economic terms in recent years, a great many people are still poor and live on less than one US dollar a day. In 1983, 41 out of 100 people were so poor. Today there are fewer, but the government’s goal of reducing the proportion of really poor people to 10 in 100 by 2020 is unlikely to be achieved.