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Vulnerability of Mangrove Forests and Wetland Ecosystems in the Sundarbans Natural World Heritage Site (Bangladesh)

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Threats to Mangrove Forests

Part of the book series: Coastal Research Library ((COASTALRL,volume 25))

Abstract

The Sundarbans Natural World Heritage Site is lying within the Bangladesh coastal region, which is gifted with vast natural resources, a delta, tidal flat, mangrove forests, marches, lagoons, bars, spilt, estuaries and coastal ecological environment. These habitats, biotopes and ecosystems also serve as potential resources for anthropogenic communities: 36.8 million people are living within the coastal region of Bangladesh and being dependent on coastal water resources, for which the Sundarbans Natural World Heritage Site is giving some protective management support. Nevertheless the natural coastal resources are drastically reducing due to unplanned use by the community and the stakeholders, although the Ganges-Brahmaputra-Meghna Rivers are carrying 6 million m3/s water. As a result, the Sundarbans mangrove forests and wetlands are vastly affected through these developments. The present situation demands that an integrated natural resource management plan is necessary for the protection of the mangrove coastal ecosystem. This chapter was prepared based on primary and secondary data sources, as the objectives were to analyze the present coastal mangrove natural resources management status. The study investigates the deltaic Sundarbans natural world heritage site with its mangrove forests and wetlands ecosystem development and management strategies to ensure less vulnerability and a sustainable development of coastal mangrove resources in the Ganges-Brahmaputra Rivers deltaic coastal floodplain region of Bangladesh.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    The first marine protected area is placed over here at SoNG in Bangladesh, which is also called Ganga Trough.

  2. 2.

    For instance published papers in journals and books.

  3. 3.

    Central Region: The Ganges-Brahmaputra-Meghna (GBM) River systems fall into the Bay of Bengal through the Meghna estuary. The Meghna estuary is located in the central region of the coastal area of Bangladesh. The central region is more unstable and most vulnerable. Coastal char formation, river erosion and accretions are the regular activities and building up the character of region (Figs. 11.1 and 11.2).

  4. 4.

    Pacific Type: The eastern region of Chittagong specially is a narrow strip with a long sandy beach in Cox’s Bazar, known as Eastern Region. It is a long strip until Teknaf and St. Martins Coral Reef Island. The eastern part of Bengal coastal region is a hotspot of biodiversity and displaying coastal narrow floodplain and mountainous characters. This eastern region has Pacific characteristics (Figs. 11.1 and 11.2).

  5. 5.

    The cultural World heritage sites are the Historic Mosque City of Bagherat (1985) and the Ruins of the Bhuddist Vihara at Paharpur (1985) (Islam 2003).

  6. 6.

    ‘Sunder’ means ‘beautiful’ and ‘ban’ ‘forest’ (Islam 2003).

  7. 7.

    It is estimated that some 1.5–1.8 billion tons of sediment is denounced in the Bay of Bengal per year (Nishat 1988; Rahman 1988) but Anwar (1988) and Jabbar (1979) mentioned that the mighty rivers Ganges, Brahmaputra and Meghna transports about 2.4 billion tons of sediments annually to the Bay of Bengal. Curray and Morre (1971, 1978) show an enormous sub aqueous delta beneath the Bay of Bengal formed by the sediment derived from the Ganges-Brahmaputra-Meghna Rivers, the Bengal Deep Sea Fan, and the largest deep sea fan in the world. Sediments deposited on top of the upper most peat are fluvial controlled. These are the sediments deposited by the Ganges-Brahmaputra-Meghna rivers system (Islam 2001).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Geography, Development and Environmental Studies, University of Brunei Darussalam (UBD), Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei Darussalam

    Shafi Noor Islam

  2. Department of Environmental Planning, Brandenburg University of Technology Cottbus-Senftenberg, Cottbus, Germany

    Sandra Reinstädtler

  3. Department of Ecosystems and Environmental Informatics, Brandenburg University of Technology Cottbus-Senftenberg, Cottbus, Germany

    Albrecht Gnauck

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  1. Shafi Noor Islam
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Correspondence to Shafi Noor Islam .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Coastal Education & Research Foundation (CERF), Coconut Creek, Florida, USA

    Christopher Makowski

  2. Coastal Education & Research Foundation (CERF), Asheville, North Carolina, USA

    Charles W. Finkl

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Islam, S.N., Reinstädtler, S., Gnauck, A. (2018). Vulnerability of Mangrove Forests and Wetland Ecosystems in the Sundarbans Natural World Heritage Site (Bangladesh). In: Makowski, C., Finkl, C. (eds) Threats to Mangrove Forests. Coastal Research Library, vol 25. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-73016-5_11

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