Sundarbans National Park

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The proposed Sundarbans Cetacean Diversity Protected Area, [10] includes the coastal waters off Sundarbans that host critical habitats for endangered cetaceans; [11] resident groups of Bryde's whales, a newly rediscovered critical population of Irrawaddy dolphins, [12] Spinner dolphins, Ganges river dolphins, [13] and Chinese white dolphins. Indo-Pacific finless porpoises, Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphins, and Pantropical spotted dolphins are also regularly found in this area, [14] while Minke whales and Rough-toothed dolphins and False killer whales are rarer. [15] [16]

Management and special projects

Patrolling boat in Sundarbans Sundarban police boat.jpg
Patrolling boat in Sundarbans

The Bengal tiger is the commonly found species in the park. Having protection since its creation, the core area is free from all human disturbances such as collection of wood, honey, fishing, and other forest products. However, in the buffer area, these activities are permitted in limited form. The forest staff, using motorboats and launches, protect the park from illegal poaching and theft. Forest offices and camps are located at several important parts of the park. Under the supervision of a range officer, two or three experienced workers manage anti-poaching camps.[ citation needed ]

Habitat of wildlife is maintained through eco-conservation, eco-development, training, education and research. Ten Forest Protection Committees and 14 Eco-development Committees have been formed in the fringe of Sundarbans Tiger Reserve to help in this regard. Seminars, workshops and awareness camps are organised in the vicinity of park to educate the people on eco-conservation, eco-development, and such other issues. Mangrove and other plants are planted in the fringe area to meet the local need of fuel wood for about 1000 villages and to conserve the buffer area. Conservation of soil is done to maintain the ecological balance. Several sweet water ponds have been dug up inside the park to provide drinking water for the wild animals.[ citation needed ]

Controlling man-eating tigers is another major activity. The number of casualties has been reduced from 40 to 10 per year. The reduction in number of casualties is a result of strict control over the movement of the people inside the tiger reserve, alternative income generation and awareness building among people. It is also believed that due to use of human masks and electric human dummies the tigers will stay away from the people. Straying of tigers into nearby villages is prevented through measures such as nylon net fencing and solar illumination of villages. The youths of the villages are given training in controlling the straying of tigers into the villages.[ citation needed ]

The Mangrove Interpretation Centre is established at Sajnekhali to make the local people and tourists aware of the importance of conservation of nature in general and specially the mangrove ecosystems.[ citation needed ]

Constraints

Though protection exists in the park, there are a few loopholes. The geographical topography with hostile terrain cris-crossed by several rivers and their tributaries, long international border with Bangladesh, fishing trawlers and launches enables poaching and the cutting of wood, affecting the mangrove forests. Lack of staff, infrastructure and lack of funds exacerbate the situation.[ citation needed ]

Park-specific information

Entry to Dobanki Camp Dobanki Camp.JPG
Entry to Dobanki Camp

The only means of travelling the park is by boat, down the various lanes formed by the many flowing rivers. Local boats or vessels operated by the West Bengal Tourism Development Corporation, namely M.V. Chitrarekha and M.V. Sarbajaya. Accommodation on land and cruise safaris are provided by Sunderban Tiger Camp, the only government-approved resort in the region. They conduct fixed departures and private tours from Kolkata throughout the year.

Closed jetty of Sundhanyakhali Sudhanyakhali Jetty.JPG
Closed jetty of Sundhanyakhali

Apart from viewing the wildlife from boat safaris, visitors also visit the Sudhanyakali Watch Tower, Dobanki Watch Tower, Burirdabri Watch Tower, Netidhopani Watch Tower, Sajnekhali Bird Sanctuary, Bhagabatpur Crocodile Project (a crocodile breeding farm), Sagar Island, Jambudweep, Haliday Island, and Kanak.

Sunderban Tiger Reserve

Background

The Sunderban Tiger Reserve is located in the South 24 Parganas district of the Indian state of West Bengal, and has a total geographical area of 2585 km2, with 1437.4 km2 consisting of populated areas and forest covering the remaining 1474 km2. The Sunderban landscape is contiguous with the mangrove habitat in Bangladesh.

Sunderban mangroves form part of the largest mangrove system of the Indian subcontinent with a tiger population in a distinct ecological setting. These forests have saltwater crocodiles, estuarine and marine turtles, and a number of bird species. The reserve also contains species of the fishing cat, spotted deer, rhesus monkey, and wild pig.

The Sunderban is isolated with no forest connection to other tiger-occupied mainlands. Due to this, there is heavy biotic pressure for forest resources. On average, 50 metric tonnes of honey and 3 metric tonnes of wax are collected each year by locals under licence from the Indian Forest Service. The habitat is traversed by many narrow tidal channels forming small to large islands. Tigers readily cross these islands and human-tiger interactions are common.

The estimation of tiger population in Sunderban, as a part of the all India tiger estimation using the refined methodology, could not be carried out owing to the unique habitat and obliteration of evidences due to high and low tides. Phase-I data collection has been completed and process is on for tiger estimation using a combination of radio telemetry and pugmark deposition rate from known tigers. A 2022 survey by the National Tiger Conservation Authority photographed 100 unique tigers. [17]

Damage from Cyclone Aila

Cyclonic Storm Aila on 24 May 2009 (image by NASA) Cyclonic Storm Aila on May 24 2009 at 0723 Z.jpg
Cyclonic Storm Aila on 24 May 2009 (image by NASA)

Cyclone Aila struck Sunderban on 25 May 2009, causing damage to field camps and fringe villages bordering the reserve. Breaches in the embankments on the village side have caused large scale flooding, leaving lakhs of people marooned in the area. The field camps were under 12 to 15 feet of water for around seven hours, resulting in soil erosion and damage to staff quarters, generators and bamboo pilling. There was a report of a tiger wandering inside an abandoned cattle shed in a village, which was captured and released back in the wild. No tiger death has been reported, apart from the mortality of two spotted deer. Several NGOs have been involved in the relief operation.

The Forest Department of the State has constituted a Committee and has assessed damage of almost Rs. 11150,000. Central assistance amounting to Rs. 10 million under Project Tiger has been provided to the State for restoring the damage done to infrastructure.

Damage from Cyclone Amphan

Cyclone Amphan made landfall near Sagar Island of South 24 Parganas district on 20 May 2020. Lives have been lost and damage has been meted out to infrastructure. [18] The cyclone damaged "almost the entire nylon fencing" in the forest which prevents the tigers from entering the forest-fringe villages, thereby keeping a check on the man-animal conflict. Besides the fencing, the cyclone also damaged "dozens of forest camp offices, tents, watch towers and staff quarters". [19] The West Bengal Forest Department were initially apprehensive about tigers being harmed or killed by the cyclone but the post cyclone patrolling revealed no dead bodies of the tigers and instead offered glimpses of the animals roaming around in the forest. [20]

Challenges

The Sunderban Tiger Reserve has several challenges to its future operations. Due to wandering tigers, human-tiger conflict continues to be an issue. Sunderban tigers hunt humans, and it is estimated that over a thousand of the local people have been killed by tigers over the past four decades. [21] An estimation of the number of tigers present in the reserve using the refined method has not yet been completed. A tiger conservation plan is awaited as are constitutions for the State level Steering Committee under the Chairmanship of the Chief Minister and the reserve-specific Tiger Conservation Foundation.

Sundarban Transport

Air: Sundarban National Park is located 140 kilometres from Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport, which operates international flights across the world.

Rail: The nearest railway station to Sundarbans National Park is Canning railway station which is located 29 km far from the Gate way of Sundarban (i.e. Godhkhali).

Road: The national park can be accessed from Kolkata via West Bengal's State Highway 3.

Ecosystem valuation

A 2015 economic assessment study of the Sundarbans estimated that the national park provides flow benefits worth ₹12.8 billion (approximately ₹50,000 per hectare of land) annually.

Important ecosystem services and their annual valuations include nursery function (₹5.17 billion), gene-pool protection (₹2.87 billion), provisioning of fish (₹1.6 billion) and waste assimilation services (₹1.5 billion). The study also mentioned services such as the generation of employment for local communities (₹36 million), moderation of cyclonic storms (₹275 million), provision of habitat and refugia for wildlife (₹360 million) and sequestration of carbon (₹462 million). [22]

See also

Related Research Articles

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The 2014 Sundarbans oil spill was an oil spill that occurred on 9 December 2014 at the Shela River in Sundarbans, Bangladesh, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The spill occurred when an oil-tanker named Southern Star VII, carrying 350,000 litres of furnace oil, was in collision with a cargo vessel and sank in the river. By 17 December, the oil had spread over a 350 km2 (140 sq mi) area. The oil spread to a second river and a network of canals in Sundarbans, which blackened the shoreline. The spill threatened trees, plankton, and vast populations of small fish and dolphins. The spill occurred at a protected mangrove area, home to rare Irrawaddy and Ganges river dolphins. By 12 January 2015, 70,000 litres of oil had been cleaned up by local residents, the Bangladesh Navy, and the government of Bangladesh.

Environmental impact of development in the Sundarbans, is the study of environmental impact on Sundarban, the largest single tract mangrove forest. It consist of a geographical area of 9,629 square kilometres (3,718 sq mi), including 4,185 square kilometres (1,616 sq mi) of reserve forest land, and is a natural region located partly in southern Bangladesh and partly in the Indian state of West Bengal. It is ecologically a southern part of the Gangetic delta between the Hooghly river in India on the west and the Meghna river in Bangladesh on the east and is bounded by the Ganga-Padma, the Padma-Meghna on the north and by the Bay of Bengal on the south. The area that is not reserve forest land is inhabited by human settlements with a total population around 4 million (2003).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sundarbans settlements</span> Human settlements in West Bengal, India

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The Sundarbans Biosphere Reserve is a biosphere reserve in the Indian state of West Bengal, based on the UNESCO Man and the Biosphere (MAB) Programme list. It is one of the 18 biosphere reserves in India and the third largest in terms of area. The Biosphere Reserve is constituted of the Sundarbans area spread across South 24 Parganas and North 24 Parganas district districts of West Bengal. The Indian Sundarbans as a Biosphere Reserve is bounded by the Muri Ganga River in the west and the Hariabhanga and Raimangal rivers in the east. Sundarbans has a very rich diversity of aquatic and terrestrial flora and fauna. In fact, the highly productive ecosystems of the Sundarbans act as natural fish nurseries. It provides habitat for the Royal Bengal Tiger.

References

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  10. Sundarbans, Bay Of Bengal Archived 22 December 2015 at the Wayback Machine . whales.org
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Sunderbans National Park
Sundarban Tiger.jpg
Tiger from Sundarbans Tiger Reserve
West Bengal relief map.svg
Red pog.svg
Location in West Bengal, India
India relief location map.jpg
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Sundarbans National Park (India)
Location South 24 Parganas, West Bengal, India
Nearest city Kolkata
Coordinates 21°50′17″N88°53′07″E / 21.8380°N 88.8852°E / 21.8380; 88.8852
Area1330.10 sq. km.
Established1984;40 years ago (1984)
Governing body Government of India
Criteria Natural: (ix), (x)
Reference 452
Inscription1987 (11th Session)
Area133,010 ha (513.6 sq mi)