West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on the occasion of International Day for the Conservation of the Mangrove Ecosystem on Friday said Bengal has the world’s largest mangrove forest, the Sundarbans.
“Today is International Day for the Conservation of the Mangrove Ecosystem. #Bangla has the world’s largest mangrove forest, the Sundarbans,” Banerjee posted on her social networking page.
“We must all work together to preserve the unique ecosystems that mangrove forests host,” she added. The International Day for the Conservation of the Mangrove Ecosystem, adopted by the General Conference of UNESCO in 2015 and celebrated each year on July 26, aims to raise awareness of the importance of mangrove ecosystems as “a unique,
special and vulnerable ecosystem” and to promote solutions for their sustainable management, conservation and uses. 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.
The World Heritage property is comprised of three wildlife sanctuaries which form
the core breeding area of a number of species of endangered wildlife. Areas of unique
natural beauty, ethno botanical interest, special marine faunal interest, rivers, creeks,
islands, swamps, estuaries, mud flats, and tidal flats are also included in the property.
The boundaries of the property protect all major mangrove vegetation types, areas
of high floral and faunal values and important bird areas. The integrity of the property
is further enhanced by terrestrial and aquatic buffer zones that surround, but are not
part of the inscribed property.
(UNI)
