A Delta in Peril

One of the largest deltas in the world is threatened by a thermal power plant. Sunderbans is home to a plethora of flora and fauna and the plant might devastate this huge carbon sink. The author shares his deep concern about the consequences of this development project on the world’s most beautiful forests!

- Deepansh Mishra

THE “SUNDARI” FORESTS

On the far eastern face of India, floating over the strong tidal waves of Bay of Bengal lie the world’s largest delta, the Sundarbans. Drained by two major rivers Ganga and Brahmaputra, it covers more than 105,000 square kilometres in India and Bangladesh, it forms the largest single block of tidal halophytic mangrove forest. “Sundarban” or the beautiful forest is a Biosphere Reserve as well as a World Heritage site. The present Sundarban National Park was declared as the core area of Sundarban Tiger Reserve in 1973, a sanctuary in 1997 and finally a National Park in 1984 encompassing 56 islands.