Man-animal conflict to rise in Sunderbans : study
Growing salinity in water is all set to destroy much of the mangrove vegetation in the Sunderbans in next few decades which would lead to a rise in human-animal conflict, according to a survey.
Kolkata
The rising salinity and vanishing mangrove plant species such as Sundari would badly hit the Royal Bengal tiger and its main source of food - the deer, the report 'Impact of Sea Level Rise on Mangrove Vegetation of Sunderban Tiger Reserve' by former principal chief conservator of forest Atanu Raha said.
The study was conducted in collaboration with National Remote Sensing Centre (NRSC) in Hyderabad. The data for last 15 years has also been analysed in the study.
"The most important outcome of the survey is faster degradation of mangrove vegetation in the northern/central zones of the Sunderbans Tiger Reserve (STR) and faster degradation of mangrove density in the western zone of the reserve," Raha told PTI.
The study also brought out the fact that most of the dense mangrove forest will degrade into less dense, open mangrove forest by the turn of 2050, he said adding it also predicts an enhanced human-wildlife/ tiger-human conflict threatening the long term conservation of the highly endangered Bengal tiger population in the world’s largest delta.
The study also indicates a real-time threat to the tiger reserve due to global warming and calls for more pro-active action towards conservation of the Bengal tiger and its ecosystem in Indian Sundarbans.
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