Sinking Sunderbans

Sinking Sunderbans

K S VENKATARAMAN

If a boat is sinking in water with somebody in it

and if you happen to see it, how you would feel?

A vast, beautiful region called Sunderbans is sinking

with all its life-forms because of Global Warming

that is nothing but a blunder of human beings.

Scientists say that there is still hope,

if only we act in a united manner all over the world.

Do we have leaders, who have global perception and

who can inspire the world population enough

to save itself from apocalypse in time?

Enchanting Sunderbans

One of the most beautiful regions of the world is Sunderbans of West Bengal in India. This is the world’s largest delta formed by the river Ganga. Situated in 22.00° N – 89.00° E, Sunderbans comprises 54 tiny lands at present. Sunderbans got this name because of the large number of Sundari trees available here. A number of tributaries of the river Ganga crisscross Sunderbans, the world’s largest estuarine forest.

Sunderbans is rich in its flora and fauna. Its flora includes Genwa, Dhundal, Passur, Garjan and Kankra trees. Goran trees of 1.8 – 3.6 meters height may be seen in large numbers all over the region.

The area of Sunderbans is 9630 sq. km. But 70% of its surface is under saline water. 

Sunderbans is the world’s largest estuarine forest. The bayonet-like roots of mangrove forests that stick out above the water level provide a remarkable sight indeed. No wonder this region is celebrated as the abode of a number of divine beings including the goddess of forest (Ma Bonobibi) and Kapil Muni (an incarnation of Maha Vishnu.

Sunderbans is inhabited by Royal Bengal Tigers, other jungle cats, fishing cats, Axis deer, wild boar, Rhesus monkeys, mongooses and the largest estuarine crocodiles in the world. September to March is the right season for tiger-watching here.

The list of its avifauna is also impressive. It is the breeding ground of many birds like Heron, Egret, Cormorant, Fishing Eagle, White Bellied Sea Eagle, Seagull, Tern, Kingfisher as well as migratory birds like Whimprel, Black-tailed Godwit, Little Stint, Eastern Knot, Curlew, Sandpiper, Golden Plover, Pintail, White-eyed Pochard and also Whistling teal. Come and discover wide variety of aquatic and reptile life forms that include Olive Ridley sea turtle, hard-shelled Batgur Terrapin, Pythons, King cobra, Chequered killback, Monitor and lizards including the Salvator lizards.

All is not well with Sunderbans

Sunderbans, the world’s largest single block of tidal mangrove, is on the verge of destruction! This seasonally flooded region is threatened by rising water levels because of global warming.

I told you that there are at present 54 islands here. But it was no so till recently. Even before 1850, this was a single mass of land. Is it not difficult to believe that such a single piece of land has become a group of islands? Now it is intersected by a network of tidal waves, mudflats and tiny islands of mangrove!

Sometime around 1850, Sunderbans was divided into two parts: They came to be known as Lohachara and Ghoramara islands. In the beginning of the last century Ghoramara became two, the new one being called as Sagar Island! By 1985 Lohachara became totally submerged in sea water!

In less than 160 years what was a single region has changed as a group of 54 islands. The period after 1965 has seen increase of general temperature by one degree Celsius with corresponding increase in sea water level.

Sunderbans is losing its uniqueness very fast. Not only Sunderbans; the surrounding region in Bangladesh and India is a vast Low Elevation Coastal Zone, i.e. just less than 10 meters above sea level.

Need for world-wide action

The region that claimed to be an impenetrable mangrove forest is likely to vanish as an irretrievable piece of land, along with the flora and fauna native to it.

If a boat with somebody in it, is sinking in water and if you happen to see it, how you would feel? A vast, beautiful region called Sunderbans is sinking with all its life-forms because of Global Warming; that is nothing but a blunder of human beings. Scientists say that there is still hope if we act in a united manner all over the world. Do we have leaders, who have global perception and who can inspire the world population enough to save itself from apocalypse in time?

Sources

http://www.wbtourism.com/wildlife/sunderbans/index.htm

http://www.sunderbansnationalpark.com/

The Indian Express, May 30, 2009

K S Venkataraman is Associate Editor, Dynamic Youth Online Magazine. He may be contacted through e-mail: dynamicyouth_development@yahoo.com

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