9th Prakash Gole Memorial Lecture : Sundar Sundarbans – The Amphibious Land

 On 17th December 2022, the 9th Prakash Gole Memorial Lecture was delivered by Prof Silanjan Bhattacharyya from the West Bengal State University, Kolkata. The topic was ‘Sundar Sundarbans’. Prof Bhattacharyya, an authority on the unique ecosystem of Sundarbans and student of Prof Madhav Gadgil, gave the attendees an enchanting perspective about the formation of Sundarbans, the unique ecosystem of this area, the ecological services it has been providing, the humans who have made this place their home, and how their forefathers were forced to live off this land during the British Raj. 

Sundarbans, on the confluence of the rivers Ganga, Brahmaputra and Padma in the bay of Bengal are the largest single patch of estuarian mangroves. And today there are over 4.5 million human inhabitants who live on this naturally unstable landmass which goes under high tide water regularly and also faces frequent cyclones. These people are mostly dependent on farming, fishing and forest honey gathering for their livelihood. 

The tigers of Sundarbans are also uniquely adapted to this unusual terrain and have developed traits different from other tigers. They can swim for miles to reach different islands. They have turned habitual man-eaters and attack humans who enter the forest, but do not hunt humans inside human settlements. The human dwellers are fully aware of the risks they are facing from tigers and crocodiles, but are forced to enter the forest area, many times illegally, in order to gather the much-valued mangrove honey. To this delicate balance, now a new dimension of tourism is added. The tourist activity is putting further pressure on this ecosystem. Additionally, the fragile Sundarbans are being severely threatened by the changing climate. 

The very informative session was followed by lively questions from the highly engaged audience, making everyone forget it is a virtual meeting.

- Santosh Lalwani

santoshlalwani21@gmail.com