15% of Sunderbans will be submerged: UNDP report

KOLKATA: An estimated 15% of the Sunderbans delta will go under the sea by 2020, the UN Development Programme has warned.

A UNDP report while describing the Sunderbans delta, which has the world's largest mangrove forest, as highly vulnerable to climate change, said, "Neglecting the Sunderbans can have global implications."

The report of a district-wise human development survey was released by the UNDP's chief of South and West Asia division and Regional Bureau for Asia and the Pacific, Fadzai Gwaradzimba, here today.

It says 54 of the 102 islands are inhabited and characterised by poor infrastructure which leaves the local poor with few alternative livelihood options.

"Over-reliance on natural resources by the delta's inhabitants can harm an already fragile eco system that is critical to maintaining the region's biological balance," the report said.