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Outside of South Asia, I find not many people know about the Sundarbans. So I'm going to do a basic thread about this.
The Sundarbans is a 10k sq km mangrove forest, formed at the delta of three rivers, straddling two nations, home to 4.5 million of the worldâs poorest people.
The Sundarbans is a 10k sq km mangrove forest, formed at the delta of three rivers, straddling two nations, home to 4.5 million of the worldâs poorest people.
Itâs a UNESCO World Heritage Site, with a unique ecology particularly vulnerable to climate change. Bengalis on both sides of the border depend on the Sundarbans in more ways than they may realize: for food, natural resources, and for climate regulation. https://www.nationalgeographic.com/magazine/2019/07/sundarbans-mangrove-forest-in-bangladesh-india-threatened-by-rising-waters-illegal-logging/
The Sundarbans bear the direct brunt of tides from the Bay of Bengal. With increased deforestation and agriculture, the mangrove cover that holds the soil together has been thinning. And the oceans are rising.
By about 8 mm a year now. Between 1969 and 2001, the Sundarbans lost 163 sq km, an area the size of Washington DC, to coastal erosion. A 45 cm rise in sea level together with other anthropogenic stresses would destroy 75% of the mangrove forest. https://earthjournalism.net/stories/as-the-seas-around-the-sundarbans-erode-coasts-the-threat-of-displacement-grows
As arable and habitable land shrinks, thereâs more population pressure on the islands. The people of the Sundarbans are small agriculturists, fishermen, honey gatherers. These people stand to lose everything to saltwater flooding, rising temperatures, and cyclones like #Amphan.
What will follow? Mass displacement, poverty, and conflict over resources among the poorest of these people. And for the rest of us: diminished food supply, a migrant crisis, recurring and ever more destructive tropical storms. https://thediplomat.com/2020/05/in-the-indian-sundarbans-the-sea-is-coming/
I havenât even mentioned the loss of native flora and fauna. The Bengal tiger, the estuarine crocodile, the Gangetic dolphin, the Olive Ridley turtle, the iconic sundari tree that gives the region its name: how much of our natural heritage will we lose in the years and to come?
Iâm saying these obvious things because well-intentioned people in the west (and at home) who know about the Great Barrier Reef and the Amazon rainforest, have never heard of the Sundarbans. It's the largest ecosystem of its kind and crucial to the survival of millions.
We need you to know whoâs at the frontlines of the climate emergency. Global media needs to pay attention to the Sundarbans as a bellwether for climate change. The world needs to send aid to the people of Bengal and Bangladesh like they did for the Australian wildfire.
âSundar banâ means âbeautiful forestâ. In school we did environmental science projects about it, took field trips to look at tiger pugmarks. Standard stuff. Now I think of those islands with disbelief and grief. Every year feels like another one closer to some inevitable end.
Please please donate what you can to relief efforts for #Amphan. Thousands of people are displaced and homeless across Bengal and Odisha. Link to the CM's relief fund and some civil society initiatives below. https://twitter.com/Ornithophobix/status/1263480228720017411?s=20
Here's a document with details about the many groups doing relief work on the ground in the aftermath of #Amphan. Anything you can send them will go a long way. https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1BmyPazZDnhSXLQ-UzCnLlDPuRUwDmaAE9wetAApV8sY/edit?usp=drivesdk
If you don't know about #Amphan (given how poorly the national media is covering it and the Indian govt is ignoring its severity), here's a document with information, news links, and the same donation info as above. Please share with your networks. https://docs.google.com/document/d/14lAGoYGToveHeEEIjGdQzmmfDiSUMHtXyQwbynD2U9s/edit?usp=drivesdk
