Mangroves of Indian Sunderbans Depleting Alarmingly Over the Past Few Decades

Indian Sundarbans is tidal halophytic mangrove forest in the world. It is intersected by a complex network of tidal waterways, mudflats, and small islands of salt-tolerant mangrove forests. A variety of habitats have developed to accommodate the wildlife, including beaches, estuaries, permanent and semi-permanent swamps, tidal flats, tidal creeks, coastal dunes, back dunes and levees (Shapiro and Ari 2016). Besides a high number of mangrove tree species, additional plant species can be found here. The forest cover of the study area also provide a vital buffer against cyclones that are common in that part of the world and has been called "a natural safeguard for people (Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia 2017). The lives of the study area residents are frequently affected by human-animal conflicts; a few tiger and crocodile attacks every year are common. Because of issues such as deaths and injuries due to human-animal conflict, over-fishing and deforestation, the state imposed several restrictions on livelihood strategies. The state forest department have tried to reduce the local people's dependency on the forest for their livelihood by taking several management practices on infrastructure development projects such as building roads and jetties, excavating irrigation channels and ponds, providing solar lamps and establishing a few medical facilities (Ghosh and Priyanka 2015). Studies have shown that majority of population understand and support the conservation of mangroves and it ecosystems. However, perceived socio-demographic factors such as severe poverty, lack of political commitment, and absence of community level institutions are often barriers to the successful implementation of conservation policies (Das and Mandal 2016). Dr. Sayantani Nath (Bhadra)"Mangroves of Indian Sunderbans Depleting Alarmingly Over the Past Few Decades" Published in International Journal of Trend in Scientific Research and Development (ijtsrd), ISSN: 2456-6470, Volume-2 | Issue-4 , June 2018, URL: http://www.ijtsrd.com/papers/ijtsrd14464.pdf http://www.ijtsrd.com/humanities-and-the-arts/environmental-science/14464/mangroves-of-indian-sunderbans-depleting-alarmingly-over-the-past-few-decades/dr-sayantani-nath-bhadra