m Location and extent of Sunderban.

m Sunderban in the 17th century.

m Physiography of Sunderban.
m Resource function of the Sunderban.
m Historical phases of land reclamation.
m Polderization of the landscape & topographic change.
m Drainage character & their changing behaviour.
m Hazards of the Sunderban «..
- River bank erosion.
- Cyclone and tidal wave.
- Floods and inundations.
- Soil and water salinity.
- Impact of sea level rise.
m Human impact in the Sunderban.
m Sunderban biosphere reserve.
m Prospects of eco-tourism in Sunderban.
 jhe Sunderban is the world·s single largest mangrove
forest that extends across Bangladesh and the Indian
state of West Bengal on the coastal zone of Ganga delta.

-: FORESj AREAS :-

m Bangladesh : 6017 km2 (1874 km2 constitute

the river water area)
m West Bengal, India : 4264 km2 (1100 km2 constitutes
the river water area)
jhe Sundarban comprises an extensive tidal flat, low-lying coastal and
deltaic land formed by the deposition of fluvio-marine sediments at the
confluence of the three mighty rivers of the Ganges, Brahmaputra and
Meghna. It is criss-crossed by large tidal rivers as well as channels and
creeks, all discharging into the Bay of Bengal.
 j
 
     



 
 
   



 
 
 

 

 
 


  
 









 
 




   
 j

     


 
    







j   

 


 


 
 


  

 




 



 






 jhe human population was
limited to a few fisherman, salt
makers, smugglers and pirates
living on the island of the coastal
mangrove. Parties of woodcutters
and hunters made regular forays
into the interior forest by boats but
rarely, if ever, made permanent
home in the wetland.
 jhe Sundarban, along with other
lands lying outside the area of
cultivation and settlement full
under state ownership due to new
rule of landed property imposed
for Bengal under the terms of the ´
„
     µ in 1793.
 jhe Bengal government has appointed
a civil officer as commissioners of Sundarban.
jhis officer was charged with demarcating and
managing the water logged forests and swamps
of the lower delta in1816. However the
commissioner was above all to ensure that
private landowners cleared, settled and
reclaimed the Sunderban swamps for rice
cultivation.

A protracted survey operation

completed in1830 demarcated boundaries and
offered security to tenure to improve
landowners in this difficult terrain.
(Hunter,1875; Pargiter, 1934)
 jhe Bengal Government slowly but
steadily invested in canals, levees and
embankment for water control. jhe river
system offered a long-standing efficient
transport network for the country boats and
increasing numbers of steamers.
Finally modest investment in piloting
aids and port facilities were deemed
sufficient to meet the needs of growing river
tariff between the delta and the larger cities.
 Land reclamation and settlement in the
Sunderban progressed each year as the
wetlands proved to be generally fertile and
productive. jherefore the ubiquitous
depression had to be embanked, and
channels dug and maintained to control the
inflow of water from riverine flooding.
 An intensive reconstruction of land
6





 
 ,!
use changes in Bengal for past centuries
6
confirms
 this! picture
!" of !#
wetland !$depletion.
!



Within districts of 24-parganas(India),
Bakarganj and Khalna(Bangladesh) which
includes
j 
 

#'(the$#
Sundarban
') at$(
its boundary,
" " "$ total

wetland declined by 2750 km2 in the 60 years-



% between
" & 1880 and 1940. Between 1940 and
1980 '$
j  the pace
)!$of )!#
reclamation
"# quickened
') (by
*

 2 as
5230
%"&
km subsistance3 demand for
population and crowding in the countryside
pressure
j  ''against
$ every
 available
' scrap
'! of "'
land.
+ 


%
&
 By 1947 some 10,000 km2 Sundarban
lands full under government forest status.
After independence, 60% went to the East
Pakistan (Later Bangladesh) and the remaining
40% to India.
 Following administrative blocks are
mostly or partially affected by salinity,

 
  
   .
 

 

  

 
/

 

0  
 
1






- "#,
 
2 
 

 
 3 


 
 .  
4 
 


.
 / 3

 

.   
+    



 "#, 3 - 
  
 

 Major hazards and disasters of the
Sunderban region :

1 

5 

" 6
 



)   

 

#    


 

'  
  
  

 jhe whole Sunderban of active and abandoned parts of the
Ganga delta is intersected by networks of rivers and water
resources. jhe great trunk channels enter the Sunderban from
the north and are connected by innumerable distributaries,
which, after endless bifurcation and inter lacings, united into
large estuaries falling into the Bay of Bengal.
jhe principal of these arms of the sea , proceeding from west
to east, are-
01. jhe Hugli
02. jhe Saptamukhi
03. jhe Jamir
04. jhe Matla
05. jhe Bangaduni
06. jhe Gosaba
07. jhe Raimangal
08. jhe Malancha
09. jhe Barapanga
10. jhe Marjata or kaga
11. jhe Bangara
12. jhe Haringhata or Baleswar
13. jhe Rabnabad Channel
14. jhe Meghna river
 Sunderban is selected as biosphere reserve for the
following reasons,
1. Among the mangrove forest of the world Royal
Bengal tiger is only found in the Sundarban.
2. Sundarban mangroves occupy over 60% area of
Indian mangrove forest.
3. Such diversity of mangrove trees are not found
in any other mangrove belt of the world. About 64
mangrove species are found in the Sundarban.
4. Among the endangered species a few animals
and plants are steel available in the Sundarban forest.
5. Sundarban mangrove act as buffer against the
cyclonic storm and they stabilize the coastal belt from
erosive forces of sea wave and tidal currents.
 Sundarban rivers can be grouped on the
basis of distribution of the various source of supply.
jheses sources are,
a. Upland fresh water
b. Local drainage from the land which
concentrate in the bills
c. jidal water from the bay.
Group (a) includes the Bhagirarhi, Jalangi and
Mathabhanga and sometimes the Moynacotta.
Group (b) includes the Kulpatooa, Habra Gong,
Seepsah, Bhudder and Rampal rivers.
Group (c) includes the Saptamukhi, jhakusoan,
Peali and Matla rivers.
jhe Hooghly, Pusur and Bagerhat river,
Kaliganga, Swarupkati, Urialkhan and Barisal rivers
are example of semi fresh water and tidal rivers.
 Some of the Sundarban rivers obtain a
supply of more silt than the others. Purely
tidal rivers of this group are dying rapidly by
the silt supply from the bay and other semi
fresh water river. jhe flood tide picks the
ndeposit of estuary mouth and carries it up
the maion river, where it settles and remain as
a fixed deposit owing to the weakness of the
ebb current.
Diaqmond Harbour creek and the
Bidyadhari are already deteriorated, and
Saptamukhi, jhakuran and Matla rivers are
rapidly being filled up with silts.
 Storm waves of the previous centuries
generated on the Bay of Bengal have pushed
upward along the natural passage of
Sundarban rivers and produced damages to
the bank. Other disturbances are recorded as,

 6
  
 

 




"  
  

  
   
) 1

 
 

# 

 

 
 
 


  
' 7