Sundarbans Flashcards
Where is the Sundarbans?
A coastal zone occupying the worlds largest delta that extends over 10,000 km^2 of southern Bangladesh and India on the Bay of Bengal.
How is the Delta formed?
The delta is formed from the sediment deposited by three of the worlds great rivers, the Ganges, Brahmaputra and Meghna.
What is the primary natural process that shapes the Sundarbans?
Tidal action
What flows across the clay and silt deposits?
A dense well-developed network of interconnecting river channels.
What are the characteristics of the larger channels?
Generally straight and up to two or more kilometres wide, flowing generally north to south due to the strong tidal currents.
What happens to the non-cohesive sediments like sand?
They are washed out of the delta and deposited on banks, or chars at the river mouths, where the string south-westerly monsoon winds then blow them into large ranges of sand dunes.
What are the natural challenges to the people of the Sundarbans?
- Coastal flooding
- Cyclones
- High levels of salinity in the soil
- Instability of the Islands
- Accessibility and remoteness
- Human-eating tigers
What are the human-induced challenges to the people of the Sundarbans?
- Over exploitation of coastal resources from vulnerable habitats
- Conversion of wetlands to intensive agriculture and settlements
- Destructive fishing techniques
- Lack of awareness of the environmental and economic importance of the region
- Resource-use conflicts
-Lack of awareness of coastal issues by decision makers
Examples of goods from the mangrove forests of the Sundarbans:
- Fuel - Firewood, charcoal
- Construction materials - Timber, poles, thatch
- Fishing materials - floats, poles, herbal poison
- Household items - furniture, glue, wax
- Food and drink - Fish, shrimp crab and molluscs; leaves and fruits; honey; cooking oil; alcohol; vinegar
- Textiles - Furs and skins; synthetic fibres; Tannins and dyes
- Other products - Aquarium fish, medicines, fodder for cattle and manure, paper
Examples of services from the mangrove forests of the Sundarbans:
- Protection - flooding, shoreline erosion, cyclone, wave
- Provision - breeding grounds, nursery grounds, fishing grounds, coastal livelihoods, local and global climate controls
- Maintenance - Biodiversity and genetic resources; ecosystem resilience; supports other coastal ecosystems; organic matter and fertility; soil formation and fertility; water catchment and ground water recharge; storage and recycling of organic material, nutrients and pollutants.
- Value - cultural spiritual and religious; educational and scientific information; recreation and tourism; heritage
What do the mangrove forests provide significant protection from?
- storm winds
- floods
- tsunamis
- coastal erosion
What said to be able to reduce the destructive force of a tsunami by up to 90%?
A density of 30 trees per 0.01 hectares.
How much is it estimated that one hectare of the mangrove forest is worth?
over $12,000
The mangroves could present resistance to poverty for the country which is one of the poorest in the world.
Why has there been significant investment in physical infrastructure?
Due to the ever present threat of natural disasters.
Why is the level of poverty and marginalisation of some coastal communities rising?
- Shrinking of the open access resources
- degradation of ecosystems
- Corruption of both local and national political institutions
- conflicts over land ownership
- Increasing deaths by tigers (widowed wives can struggle in a male dominated society, may not have finished education due to marrying early).
What are some of the future challenges that the people of the Sundarbans may face?
- Increased frequency and intensity of floods
- Flood waters remaining for longer
- Permanent embankments built by the commercial shrimping industry are encouraging the deposition of silt, thus raising water levels in the rivers.
- Rising temps contribute to increased salinity levels in the soil
- Increased pesticide and fertiliser is affecting the water quality
- Changes to seasonal patterns of rainfall
What are some of the adaptations to deal with the future challenges in the Sundarbans?
- Grassroots NGOs run educational programmes to get farmers to be more eco-friendly
- NGOs provide education about preparing for disasters
- Organisations like USAID train communities to become resilient to future climate shocks
- Build more multi-purpose cyclone shelters
- New salt tolerant rice varieties that can be submerged in sea water for 2 weeks
- NGOs educate people on water and sanitation and water-borne diseases
- Distribute water tight containers for belongings in floods
What did the government do in coastal Bangladesh between 2011 and 2015 and then in 2019?
They built 100 cyclone shelters between 2011 and 2015.
750 more were proposed in 2019
