Tiger conservation of Sundarbans

The Sundarbans

Peoples cry to protect the Sundarbans from the onslaughts of the International Oil Companies (IOC) has gone unheeded. Ignoring their protest, both at home and abroad, the government has   to go ahead with the PSC (production sharing contract) deal on block 5, covering the Sundarbans and its adjacent areas, which had been initialed some one and many years ago.

Recently, the cabinet committee on the finance and financial affairs has given its nod to PS (1sinitia1ed earlier on the blocks 5 and 10. Ang1oDutch oil company Shell and its British partner Cairn Energy Plc won exploration contracts for the two blocks under the country’s second round bidding.

Earlier the government had signed another PSC on block 7, adjacent to the Sundarbans, with Uncoil, the US oil company for exploration of oil or gas, ignoring the consequences on the ecosystem of the Sundarbans forest area.

According to the Ecofile, a periodical on life and nature, the Sundarbans spans over an area of about S,77,D00 hectares of which 70 per cent is on land and 30 per cent in water bodies. Some 62 per cent of the total Sundarbans area lies in Bangladesh, constituting about 51 per cent of Bangladesh’s reserved forest.

The Bangladesh area of the Sundarbans offers habitation to 425 species of wildlife, which include 49 species of mammals, 315 of birds, 53 of reptiles and eight kind of amphibians, More than 120 species of fish are also available in the different rivers in and around the Sundarbans area.

The Sundarbans deserves conservation attention from the economic point of view. Besides contributing four percent forest revenue, it is the source of livelihood for about 0.5 to 0.6 million people. These people enter the Sundarbans almost every day from its surrounding villages under five Upazillas to catch fish fry, collect honey wood resources and for other economic purposes. The Sundarbans is not only the world’s largest mangrove forest, some parts of it have been declared as 'World Heritage Site'. Some 139,700 hectares area of the Sundarbans east, south and west have been identified as the World Heritage Site by the UNESCO.

Considering the great importance of environment and other related issues, people in general and, environmentalists and civil societies in particular have raised their voice against the opening of the Sundarbans and its adjacent areas for hydrocarbon exploration activities.

A national conference to protect the Sundarbans held in Khulna on February 14-16, 2001 expressed concern that exploration of oil and gas in blocks 5 and 7 may endanger the world’s largest mangrove forest and the World Heritage Site.

Not only the environmentalists and civil societies, the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MOEF) have also expressed concern at the possible negative impact on the Sundarbans, if it is opened for hydrocarbon exploration. The MOEF's position is that the entire Sundarbans and its adjacent areas up to 20 kilometers should be kept out of any exploration activities.

If the position of the MOEF is taken into consideration then there should not be any PSC deal on block 5 and the deal on block 7 should not be allowed to proceed in its present form.

But the Cabinet committee on finance and financial affairs did not take into consideration the concerns expressed by the MOEE environmentalists and the civil societies and approved the PSC deal on block 5, allowing the IOCs to conduct the exploration activities in the northern pan of block 5.

The IOC side pleaded that there would not be any negative impact on the Sundarbans’ ecosystem if the exploration is conducted outside the reserved forest areas. The environmentalists and the civil societies have contested this argument. They said that for exploration purposes, different chemicals are likely to he used which would endanger the bio-diversity of the Sundarbans forest.

It seems that the government has accepted the position of the IOCs and ignored the counter-argument though it has signed the World Biodiversity Convention, e Prime Minister and tl1e Environment Minister, in their messages on the world environment day early this year, made firm commitments to protect the country‘s environment. The Environment Minister told a discussion meeting on the environment day that exploration activities would not be allowed within 20 kilometers of the Sundarbans.

But the actions of the Cabinet committee on finance and financial affairs with regard to the approval of the PSC deal on block 5 did not reflect the commitment made by the Environment Minister Under the circumstances, the question has been raised whether the government leaders are providing only lip service to the environmental issues,

The Prime Minister is the Chairman of the National Environment Council. But she did not consider the environment and bio-diversity aspects while approving the second round bidding proposal for exploration of oil and gas in different blocks

Thus the government appeared to have ignored both national and international concerns about the Sundarbans forest. The Friends of Earth, UK and its Netherlands chapter in recent past staged demonstration in front of the Shell’s office in London demanding stoppage of exploration activities in the Sundarbans and its adjacent areas. A two-member delegation of the Friends of Earth also visited Dhaka and expressed their conoem to the government and the non-government officials.

The Sundarbans at a glance

Worlds biggest single mangrove forest -- the Sundarbans - is a unique reservoir of biodiversity. The forest is five thousand three hundred years old,

Geographical location: Sixty-two percent of the Sundarbans is in Bangladesh and the rest 58 percent is in West Bengal in India, This forest is situated between 890 and 89.550 north latitude.

To the north of the Sundarbans are Shyamnagar Upazila in Satkhira district, Kaira and Dakope Upazilas in Khulna district and Morelganj and Sarankhola in Bagerhat district, to the east is Mathbaria Upazila in Pirozepur district, to the west is the Indian portion of the Sundarbans and to the South lays the Bay of Bengal. Not to speak of the eighteenth century, even at the beginning of the nineteenth century the Sundarbans extended up to the suburbs of Kolkata city.

Area/ Extent: The area of the Sundarbans is about five lakh 77 thousand 285 hectares, in kilometers 10 thousand square kilometers. Of this, 5,800 square kilometers is in Bangladesh. The forest area is 4 lakh 1600 hectares and rivers and canals occupy one lakh 75 thousand 685 hectares. For convenience of administration, the Sundarbans has been divided into 55 pans known as compartments. This mangrove forest is 4.2 per cent of the total area of Bangladesh and 44 per cent of the total forestland in the country.

Climate: Average annual rainfall in the Sundarbans is 2,000 millimeters. Hottest months are April and May and the coldest is January.

Soil and water: The Sundarbans soil is alluvial loam. PH in the soil is between 5.4 and 7.8. Water is mainly saline. There are 102 islands in the Sundarbans area, of which some S8 are inhabited. Soil in the Sundarbans is very fertile. But the degree of salinity is not constant in the soil and water of this forest. The degree of salinity varies from year to year and from season to season. This has a negative effect. However

                          

the general tendency is that salinity is increasing. This increase in salinity is a serious threat to the environment and habitation in the Sundarbans. `

‘Some observation on the rivers of the Sundarbans and salinity` said increase in salinity has become an obstacle to natural growth and spread of flora and fauna in the Sundarbans. If one moves from east to west one will find the condition of Sundari trees is deteriorating day by day They feared that if the trend of increase in salinity remains uninterrupted, then quite a few species of trees including Sundari and goran may vanish in the near future. Salinity may also cause some species of animals to vanish gradually.

Rivers: There are rivers and canals spread across this forest like a net with their innumerable branches. Nearly 450 large and small rivers occupy about one lakh 75 thousands 685 hectares or about 50 per cent of the Sundarbans. The biggest river is the Pusur. Other rivers worth-mention are Baleswar, Sibsa, Arpangasia, Bhola, Horinbhanga Kalindi, Andharmanik, Raimangal, Kapotakssha, Koira, Shela Bhadra etc. As one proceeds to the south, the rivers widen. Some rivers are so wide that one can not see one bank from the other. Baleswar and Pusur rivers and their tributaries and distributaries are connected with the Ganges. As a result, these rivers and their branches have flow of sweet water: The Sibsa and other rivers in the western part have their source of sweet water only in the Ganges and the northern portion of the Sundarbans depends upon the rain water As a result, the sweet water flow in these rivers decreases during the dry season when there is a massive intrusion of saline water: Moreover the condition of the rivers and canals in the Sundarbans is deteriorating. Shoals are forming and navigability is declining. River erosion is taking place at some places.

Forest, forest fauna and fish: Of the total area of the Sundarbans, some 5,230,540 hectares comprises classified forests and about 26,807 hectares unclassified forest. Of all the trees in this forest, 64 per cent is sundari and 36 per cent is gewa, goran, golpata keora, dhundul and various other kinds of tree. Though there are innumerable trees in the Sundarbans, actual fruit-bearing trees are rare. Fruits borne by certain trees are unfit for human consumption. The trees here are 30 to 60 feet tall but they are less bulky. There are 49 species of mammals, 315 species of birds, 53 species of reptiles, 8 species of amphibians and more than 120 species of fish available in the forest. The main attractions of this forest are the Royal Bengal Tiger; deer and crocodiles. Though the Bangladesh portion of the forest is generally supposed to have 450 tigers, experts believe that their actual number is more or less 200.

Productivity: Productivity of the Sundarbans is 1.12 cubic meter per hectare per year which is the lowest among the mangrove forests in the world. And productivity is reducing day by day because all kinds of flora and fauna, including trees, fish and birds, are decreasing.

World heritage: Considering the importance of preserving bio-diversity of the Sundarbans, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) had on December 6, 1997, declared this forest as the 798th world heritage site. Under the world heritage site is 159,700 hectares area of the eastern, southern and western sanctuari of the Sundarbans. The southern sanctuary is constituted with the compartment nos. 45 and 4/t, Sundarbans east sanctuary with compartment nos. 4, 5 and 6 part of compartment no. 7 and Sundarbans west sanctuary with compartment nos. 55, 54 and S5 part of compartment no 49,

People’s dependence: There is no correct statistics on how many people are dependent on this forest. A rough estimate says that 50,000 people enter the Sundarbans daily to extract resources for their livelihood. During the dry season, this figure becomes double. The Sundarbans is like a natural shield for the thousands of people of the south-western coastal areas of the country. For centuries, this forest has been protecting people in the coastal belt from the onslaughts of cyclones and tidal surges. During the last century 17 disastrous cyclones had struck the area along the Sundarbans. But due to the vast expanse of the Sundarbans forest, those storms could not cause much damage on the coastal habitations.

New danger: As it is, the Sundarbans is vanishing little by little, day after day due to human encroachment. With this two more threats have been added. The Sundarbans is being brought under oil and gas exploration and plans are afoot to set up a nuclear power station in the Indian portion of the forest. These are causing a new concern with regard to the future of this ancient mangrove forest.

Tiger conservation of Sundarbans

By Dr.Fourkan Ali

My conservation action or initiative affects people and, therefore, conservation of biological diversity and protection of natural environments should be ecologically and socially sustainable: this concept is now well realized among conservationists. From a narrowed concept of conservation of a given species we should try to preserve the complexity and integrity of the entire ecosystem in relation to human context. Such initiatives can serve local population which depend on the exploitation of natural resources to look at an ecosystem as a sustainable resource base for future. It also serves the interest of the local stakeholders who depend on sustainable use of their resource base and, therefore, they should be apart of what we are trying to save.

The key to survival of tiger in the wild in the long run is the maintenance of their habitats. Tiger habitats must be sufficiently large to support the number of animals that provide for an adequate genetic variety (Taming, 1993). The effect of human population growth accompanied by reduction and degradation of habitat has resulted in fast decrease in tiger population and extinction in Asia. Surviving populations are isolated, scattered and mostly confined to protected areas.