The Sundarbans

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Sundarbans Devastated by November Cyclone [ , by Somini Sengupta, published December 13, 2007 ] : Unesco said that the cyclone that struck southern Bangladesh last month and killed 3,000 people also destroyed 40 percent of the Sundarbans, one of the world’s largest mangrove forests and a World Heritage site. The Sundarbans, on the delta of the Ganges, Brahmaputra and Meghna Rivers, is home to several endangered species, including the Bengal tiger, and is a source of livelihood for hundreds of thousands of people who subsist on fishing and shrimping. Unesco estimated that regeneration of the Sundarbans ecosystem would take 10 to 15 years.

Brief description

Source : http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/798

The Sundarbans mangrove forest, one of the largest such forests in the world (140,000 ha), lies on the delta of the Ganges, Brahmaputra and Meghna rivers on the Bay of Bengal. It is adjacent to the border of India's Sundarbans World Heritage site inscribed in 1987. The site is intersected by a complex network of tidal waterways, mudflats and small islands of salt-tolerant mangrove forests, and presents an excellent example of ongoing ecological processes. The area is known for its wide range of fauna, including 260 bird species, the Bengal tiger and other threatened species such as the estuarine crocodile and the Indian python.

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