By AFPRelaxnews | May 29, 2023
Tigers are an "umbrella species", which means that by protecting them we also protect the forests they live in, which are home to an incredible diversity of wildlife
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Three-quarters of the world's wild tigers live in India, but the destruction of their natural habitat have seen their numbers plummet.
Image: Sujit Jaiswal/ AFP [/CAPTION]
India's efforts to protect its endangered tigers have inadvertently helped avoid a large amount of climate change-causing carbon emissions by preventing deforestation, a study said on Thursday.
Three-quarters of the world's wild tigers live in India, but the destruction of their natural habitat have seen their numbers plummet.
The number of tigers roaming the country's forests fell from 40,000 when India gained independence in 1947 to just 1,500 in 2006.
_RSS_However their number rose above 3,000 this year, according to the latest official figures.
To help their numbers rebound, India has designated 52 tiger reserves where logging and deforestation are heavily regulated.
Aakash Lamba, a researcher at the National University of Singapore and the new study's lead author, told AFP that tigers are an "umbrella species".
This "means that by protecting them we also protect the forests they live in, which are home to an incredible diversity of wildlife," he told AFP.
Forests are a "carbon sink", which mean they absorb more carbon dioxide from the atmosphere than they release, making them a crucial tool in the fight against climate change.
India, the world's third largest emitter of greenhouse gases, has pledged to lower its emissions.
Also read: Some animals could play a key role in fighting global warming