Journal of Environment and Sociobiology

Open Access Open Access  Restricted Access Subscription Access
Open Access Open Access Open Access  Restricted Access Restricted Access Subscription Access

The Vulnerable Sunderban Ecosystem:Problems Ahead from Ecological and Biological Perspectives


Affiliations
1 Hooghly Mohsin College, Chinsurah, Hooghly-712101, India
     

   Subscribe/Renew Journal


Sunderban is found at the coast of the Ganges river and designated as the world’s single largest mangrove forest with 3.5 percent of the world’s mangroves covering an area of 6017 sq km. The Sunderban wetlands act as a natural buffer that protects the coastal area from storm surges and cyclones in pre and post monsoon periods. However, due to increase in irrigation of agriculture, industrial activity and the diversion of Ganges water at Farakka Barrage (India) in early 1975, both siltation and salinity have increased in Sunderban which has become an ever-increasing threat for the Sunderban ecosystem. Consequently the dominant Sundari (Heritiera fomes) and Goran (Ceriops decendra) are affected by top-dying disease which has been emerging as a great point of concern. Management of water salinity simulation and landscape modelling would be a proper tool for decision making and allow planners to protect the Sunderban ecosystem from this threat in future. Sunderban, the only mangrove tiger-land of the globe is presently under threat of severe coastal erosion due to relative sea level rise. The once largest progressing delta which registers the highest species diversity in terms of mangrove and mangrove associate flora and fauna is now showing evidences which suggest that rich biodiversity is under tremendous threat. Increasingly, this deltaic island system is facing degradation due to natural and anthropogenic changes. Frequent embankment failures, submergence and flooding, beach erosion and siltation at jetties and navigational channels, cyclone and storm surges are all promulgating this area increasingly vulnerable. In addition, alarming growth of population in this ecologically sensitive and fragile niche has posed a major threat for its very existence. Wide scale reclamation, deforestation and unsustainable resource exploitation practices have together produced changes in the physical and socio-biological dynamics of the coastal system.

Keywords

Delta, River Ganges, Sunderban, Mangrove Ecosystem, Royal Bengal Tiger, Sundari, Cyclone, Deforestation.
Subscription Login to verify subscription
User
Notifications
Font Size


  • Alam, M. 1996. Subsidence of Ganges-Brahmaputra Delta and associated drainage, sedimentation and salinity problems. In : Milliman, J.D., Haq, B.U. (Ed.) Sea Level Rise and Coastal Subsidence, consequences and strategies, pp. 169-192. Kluwer Academic Publisher.

  • Barik, J and Chowdhury, S. 2014. True Mangrove species of Sundarbans delta, West Bengal, Eastern India. Check List, 10(2): 329-334, 2014, ISSN 1809-127X (available at www.checklist.org.br).

  • Biswas, S. K. 1993. Classification of Indian sedimentary basins in the framework of platetetonics. Proc. 2nd Seminar on Petroliferous Basins of India, 1991, Vol. 1, pp. 1-46, in Biswas, S. K. et al. (Eds.): Indian Petroleum Publishers, Dehradun, India.

  • Case Studies of Climate Change, UNESCO, 2007.

  • Foundation, Thomson. “ ‘Everyday disasters’ driving flight from Sundarbans”. www.trust.org. Retrieved 2015-06-05.

  • Foundation, Thomson. “Poor planning, climate shifts devastating India’s Sundarbans”. www.trust.org. Retrieved 2015-06-05.

  • Hussain, Z. and G. Acharya, 1994. (Eds.) Mangroves of the Sundarbans. Volume two : Bangladesh. IUCN, Bangkok, Thailand.

  • Milliman, J. D., Broadus, D. J. M. and Gable, F. 1989. Environmental and economic implications of rising sea level and subsiding deltas: The Nile and Bengal examples. Ambio, 18(6): 340-345.

  • Morgan, J. P. and McIntire, W. G. 1959. Quaternary Geology of the Bengal Basin, East Pakistan and Burma. Bull. Geol. Sic. Am. 70: 319-342.

  • Raman, K. S. and Neogi, B. B. 1986. Exploration leads from the study of geochemical data. Bull. Oil Natural Gas Comm., 23(1): 163-174.

  • Roy, R. 2015. “Sagor o Sunderbon” Aandabazar Patrika, 50, 24th April, 2015.

  • Thakur, D. G. 2015. “Sunderban Marche: Amra Darshoker Bhumikaye”. Anandabarzar Patrika, 7th April, 2015.


Abstract Views: 258

PDF Views: 1




  • The Vulnerable Sunderban Ecosystem:Problems Ahead from Ecological and Biological Perspectives

Abstract Views: 258  |  PDF Views: 1

Authors

Dipan Adhikari
Hooghly Mohsin College, Chinsurah, Hooghly-712101, India

Abstract


Sunderban is found at the coast of the Ganges river and designated as the world’s single largest mangrove forest with 3.5 percent of the world’s mangroves covering an area of 6017 sq km. The Sunderban wetlands act as a natural buffer that protects the coastal area from storm surges and cyclones in pre and post monsoon periods. However, due to increase in irrigation of agriculture, industrial activity and the diversion of Ganges water at Farakka Barrage (India) in early 1975, both siltation and salinity have increased in Sunderban which has become an ever-increasing threat for the Sunderban ecosystem. Consequently the dominant Sundari (Heritiera fomes) and Goran (Ceriops decendra) are affected by top-dying disease which has been emerging as a great point of concern. Management of water salinity simulation and landscape modelling would be a proper tool for decision making and allow planners to protect the Sunderban ecosystem from this threat in future. Sunderban, the only mangrove tiger-land of the globe is presently under threat of severe coastal erosion due to relative sea level rise. The once largest progressing delta which registers the highest species diversity in terms of mangrove and mangrove associate flora and fauna is now showing evidences which suggest that rich biodiversity is under tremendous threat. Increasingly, this deltaic island system is facing degradation due to natural and anthropogenic changes. Frequent embankment failures, submergence and flooding, beach erosion and siltation at jetties and navigational channels, cyclone and storm surges are all promulgating this area increasingly vulnerable. In addition, alarming growth of population in this ecologically sensitive and fragile niche has posed a major threat for its very existence. Wide scale reclamation, deforestation and unsustainable resource exploitation practices have together produced changes in the physical and socio-biological dynamics of the coastal system.

Keywords


Delta, River Ganges, Sunderban, Mangrove Ecosystem, Royal Bengal Tiger, Sundari, Cyclone, Deforestation.

References