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 The
Sundarbans
covering some 1,000,000 ha of land and water
are part of one of the world's greatest deltas, formed by
sediments deposited by three great rivers, the Ganges, Brahmaputra
and the Meghna. Almost 62 per cent of the Sundarbans is situated
in Bangladesh while the remaining western portion, comprising
38 per cent of the region, lies within India. The name Sundarbans
has three possible derivations, these being the forest of
the sundari (Heritiera fomes); beautiful (sundar) forests;
and forests of the sea (samundraban).
This marshy region stretches across southern
deltaic parts of both India and Bangladesh down to the Bay
of Bengal. This is the world's single largest mangrove forest.
On the Indian side alone, this forest equals sixty percent
of India's total mangrove population. The total geographic
area of Indian Sundarbans is 9630 sq.Km. including both the
Sundarban mangroves and the human settlements, agricultural
fields, aquacultural firms etc. Actually the united Sundarbans
consists of 10200 sq km of mangrove forest, spread over India
(4200 sq km of Reserve Forest) and Bangladesh (approx 6000
sq km of Reserve Forest). Another 5400 sq km of non-forest
inhabited region in India, along the north and northwestern
fringe of mangrove forest, is also known as Sundarban region
in India (Raha and Saha, 2004) The Indian Sundarbans lie at
the apex of the Bay of Bengal and include the areas bordering
the Hooghly, Muriganga, Saptamukhi, Thakuran, Gosaba. Bidya,
Matla and Harinbhanga estuaries, known as the Hooghly-Matla
estuarine complex.
Many complicated network of rivers, channels,
creeks and estuaries have made the larger part of the Sundarbans
virtually untrespassable and uninhabitable. The magnificent
flora and fauna of Sundarbans not only have made this place
a rich biodiversity zone but serve to save the mangrove ecosystem
and the hinterlands from uncertain natural calamities. The
Sundarbans is best described as a combination of wetlands
and jungle, its many deltaic islands are surrounded by highly
saline water and characterized by their changing forms.
Sundarban is famous for its mangrove forests.
Mangroves are special group of plants of diverse families,
which can survive in this tidal and saline swampland which
are inundated and exposed routinely in every 6 hours by the
coming and ebbing tides and have the various interesting adaptations
like neumatophores (breathing
roots), viviparous germination
(germination of seeds when the fruits are attached with the
parent plant), stilt and bow roots, salt glands etc. Mangroves
are important for many other reasons, e.g. these
halophytic plants offer protection against storms, tidal
waves, and erosion. Their root systems also provide haven
for fish, crustaceans, and other
marine organisms. The litter of mangroves (shedding of their
leaves) contribute a great deal of organic matter to estuarine
and other marine environments and provides food for tiny planktonic,
pelagic and benthic
organisms which, in turn, is being taken by larger organisms,
and so on. As a result, marine life around mangrove communities
is often greater than that found in other areas and this huge
load of nutrient out welling support a highly productive fishery
in our coastal area.
Many charismatic mega species of animals
reside within the Sundarbans mangrove ecosystem. Creatures
living here include chital deer, wild boars, rhesus monkeys,
olive ridley turtle, river terrapine, dolphins, sharks, pythons,
water monitors, crocodiles and many species of fishes. This
area was home to many spectacular species like wild water
buffalo, Javan rhinoceros, hog deer, and swamp deer once upon
a time and still home to many highly endangered species like
Goliath Heron, Adjutant stork, White bellied sea eagle, Fishing
cat and King cobra etc. But the animal that has brought fame
to the Sundarbans, however, is the Royal Bengal tiger, for
which the project Tiger was initiated in the eastern part
of river Matla (South- eastern part of Sundarbans) in 1973
with an area of 2585 sq. Km, the core area of which (1330.12
sq. Km.) declared as National Park in 1984.The entire Sundarbans
including the protected area of Sundarban Tiger Reserve was
declared as Biosphere Reserve in 1989. And in 1987, the Sundarban
National Park, forming the core area of the Sundarban Tiger
Reserve, had received the recognition as a natural World Heritage
Site by the UNESCO.
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