Current Affairs

Issue

Continuous loss of biodiversity has been observed along the human settlement areas of Sundarbans of India.

 

Background

The world has recently completed United Nations Decade on Biodiversity (2011-2020). The importance of biodiversity has been slowly realized.

 

Details

• The Sundarban region is famous for many rare and threatened flora and fauna. They are necessary to maintain the integrity of the mangrove ecosystem.

• The development of coastal infrastructure along with short term gains has gradually eroded the mangrove forests.

• The loss of small patches may look less significant but these small patches host unique plant species that are natural habitats for several exotic fauna.

 

The upcoming threats

• Coastal fisheries are the biggest culprit behind the drastic loss of mangrove habitats. Plants are being cleared for fisheries, aquaculture, pisciculture, shrimp farming, crab farming.

• The pisciculture and aquaculture farming in Sundarban is a source of income for many people. This has made them extremely popular reason for destruction of habitat.

 

Importance

• The building of dykes for protecting coastal villages against storm surges has been a big problem. The marine nutrients are unable to reach deeper mangrove areas.

• As mangrove plants get destroyed, new exotic species will replace them. Many threatened species depending on mangrove plants will permanently extinct.

• The discharges from fish ponds have polluted natural streams. Diverse molluscs and crustaceans have reported decline in their numbers. Many have vanished from human areas.