Global warming poses multiple threats to Sunderbans; Rs 1,290 cr loss to exchequ

Sunderbans, the world’s largest mangrove delta is facing a grave threat. Huge environmental damage caused by global warming is taking its toll on the region and posing a double threat to local residents.

Climatic changes are forcing tigers to move closer to human habitation in search of food, giving rise to man-animal conflicts. This is apart from the impact environmental damage is having on lives and livelihood.

Ecological damage to the Sunderbans is causing an annual  loss of close to Rs 1,290 crore to the exchequer, according to a recent report by the World Bank. The report,
“Building Resilience for Sustainable Development of the Sunderbans”, prepared in collaboration with the state government, points out that while the cost of environmental damage is about Rs 670 crore, the cost of health effects due to poor environment is estimated at another Rs 620 crore.

“The losses stem from a combination of factors associated with unsustainable and inefficient economic activities like mangrove destruction, impact of cyclones, reduced agricultural yields and unsustainable fisheries, as well as destruction of ecosystem services,” the report states.

An archipelago of 54 islands and home to around 44 lakh people, the UNESCO World Heritage site has been hit hard by an increase in floods, storms, salinity and erosion caused by rising sea levels and global warming. The United Nation’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change projects that increasing sea levels and rise in climatic variability will cause further problems.

“The dense mangrove system acts like a sponge absorbing most of the momentum of storms and cyclones before they could hit Kolkata. It saves the city from being destroyed but this system is at risk now because of climate change and human pressure,” said Pranabesh Sanyal, former chief of the state forest department. Experts noted that there have been “increasing cases of man-animal conflict”.

“Since tigers cannot be made to understand what lines they should or should not cross, the onus is on us to learn that difference,” Sanyal said. “People in the region are living through sleepless nights because tiger movements have become erratic,” said Sushovan Sarkar, who lives in a village on the fringe of the tigers’ hunting grounds.