Has climate change affected Sunderbans?

KOLKATA: With reports of rise in the water level in the Sunderbans because of global warming, foresters have demanded a proper study of climate change in the world's largest mangrove forest stating that the royal Bengal tiger and other wildlife might be affected if it was true.

Both water level and salinity were increasing in Sunderbans due to climate change, claimed Biswajit Roy Chowdhury, secretary of Nature, Environment and Wildlife Society, a wildlife NGO, and said there was no proper study.

“Due to rise in water level salinity is also increasing. Wildlife including tigers have a salinity tolerance level. If it continues to increase, it will badly hit wildlife,” he said.

He also claimed that swamp deer and water buffalo which were once found in Sunderbans were now extinct due to habitat loss triggered by climate change.

“Even barking deer cannot be spotted there now,” Roy Chowdhury, also a member of the state wildlife board, said.

Pradeep Vyas, director of Sunderban Biosphere Reserve (SBR), however, said “There should be a proper study on carbon emission and rise in water level. At present there is no concrete research on climate change in the Sunderbans and there is a significant rise in water level.”