Sundarban in a Global Perspective
PAPER IND 2017 DISCUSSION PAPER SUNDARBAN IN A GLOBAL PERSPECTIVE: LONG TERM ADAPTATION AND DEVELOPMENT THE SUNDARBAN LANDSCAPE IN A GLOBAL SETTING The Sundarban landscape/eco-region formed by the Rivers Ganga, Meghna and Brahmaputra is the tidally active lower part of the largest delta in the world consisting of a warren of rivers, creeks, marshes and alluvial floodplain. Morphological zones of this lower part of the delta are the Ganga tidal plain (West) between rivers Hugli and Baleswar, the Ganga tidal plain (East) between rivers Baleswar and Tetulia, and the Meghna deltaic plain stretching from river Tetulia until Chittagong coastal plain. At the confluence of the delta and the Bay of Bengal, is the single largest mangrove patch of the world spread across about 10,300 sq km of which about 60 percent is in Bangladesh and the rest in India. This mangrove patch is acknowledged worldwide for its outstanding biodiversity, including the Bengal Tiger, and designated as World Heritage Site in both the countries. This littoral mangrove forest besides serving as the habitat for about 200 tigers, accounting for five percent of the global population in the wild, also imparts protection from storm surges caused by tropical cyclones by attenuating the impact of cyclones that recur on sub-decadal time scales in the Bay of Bengal. For the purpose of this discussion paper, the Sundarban landscape/eco-region encompasses the Sundarban Reserve Forest (SRF) of about 6000 sq km (including 1397 sq km of Protected Area (PA)) and the Sundarban Impact Zone (SIZ) in Bangladesh, and parts of Barguna and Perojpur districts outside the SIZ due to their similar characteristics because of presence of tidal channels (Figure 1).
[Show full text]