Subash Chandra Das
Department of Geography and Environment, Jahangirnagar University, Savar, Dhaka, Bangladesh
Md. Wahiduzzaman*
Department of Geography and Environment, Jahangirnagar University, Savar, Dhaka, Bangladesh
Climate change, Sea level rise, IPCC, The Sundarbans
The Sundarbans areas
Risk Management in Agriculture
Climate change, Vulnerable
Impact on mangrove bio-diversity The rise in sea level and availability of less fresh water particularly during winter low rainfall will cause inland intrusion of saline water. As a result, many mangrove species, intolerant of increased salinity, may be disappeared. In addition, the highly dense human settlements just outside the mangrove area will restrict the migration of the mangrove areas to less saline areas. The shrinking of the mangrove areas will have effect on the country's economy. Many industries which depend on raw materials from the Sundarbans will be closed and create large scale unemployment. Climate change is real a threat to ecosystem. The Sundarbans may be completely inundated by a 1m rise in sea level. The area may shrink and many flora and fauna may face extinction. A wide range of mammals, birds, amphibians, reptiles, crustaceans, and above all the Royal Bengal Tiger will face extinction. The coastal length covered by mangrove forest will be exposed to cyclones and storm surges.
Impact on Mangrove Ecosystem In recognition of the forest’s significance in biodiversity wealth, UNESCO has declared three wildlife sanctuaries in the southern part of the forest as World Heritage Sites in 1997. As a consequence of salinity penetration in the Sundarbans, majority of the mesohaline areas will be transformed into polyhaline areas, while oligohaline areas would be reduced to only a small pocket along the lower-Baleswar river in the eastern part of the forest. Therefore, a different environmental condition might be expected in the winter months with lesser freshwater supply in the rivers facilitating greater saline ingress into the Sundarbans. If the saline water moves further inland, Sundri could be threatened. The existing oligohaline zone might even be completely transformed into mesohaline zone. Species in the two other ecological zones (mesohaline and polyhaline) would also suffer over time, as salinity increases. In other words commercially more valuable sundari could be replaced by gewa (now dominant in oligohaline area), and gewa by less valuable goran (now dominant in mesohaline area). In addition, more than half a million people, dependent on forest products in the Sundarbans, would also be exposed to economic uncertainties. Preliminary estimates suggested that, disappearance of oligohaline area combined with decreasing mesohaline area would result into over 50% loss of merchantable wood from the Sundarbans. Increase in salinity in the Indian side of the forest would have compounding effect to the existing poor productivity of the forest.
Degradation of the Sundarbans Forest The causes of degradation of the Sundarbans are the following: Over Population: Bangladesh is a small country with a huge population. In November 2009, the total population was 162.2 million (UNFPA, 2009). The density of population is the highest in the world. Man land ratio is very small. Due to the scarcity of land and resources people have move towards even disaster prone areas of the coast. This people are also exploiting the available resources of the Sundarbans for their livelihood. Poverty: The people living around the Sundarbans are very poor, illiterate and deprived of any basic needs from the government of the country. They are cutting the forest for fulfilling the present needs without thinking about their next generations. Unemployment: About 500,000 people depend on forest directly or indirectly for their livelihood. The poor people living around the Sundarbans are mainly engaged in harvesting wood, fish, honey, golpata etc. They do not have any other alternative livelihoods excepting the exploitation of resources from the Sundarbans. Increase of demand of fuel wood and wood: With the increase of population the demands of the fuel woods for cooking and burning the bricks as well as for furniture wood has been increasing at an alarming rate. To satisfy the demands of fuel wood and wood the people are attracted to cut wood indiscriminately without taking any consideration for the future generation.
Forest policies: The current forest policy enacted in 1994 represents an initial move in the right direction. It has incorporated some of the issues which are considered vital for a people-oriented forest policy, such as sustainable development, poverty alleviation, people’s participation in forest protection. The implementation of the present forest policy will definitely accelerate the development of the forest resources of the country.
Khulna University Studies Special Issue (SESB 2010): 49-52: June, 2010
Journal