Sundarbans to come as a global tourist destination

The Sundarbans, world’s largest mangrove forest is all set to be developed into a global tourist destination by preserving its rich eco-diversity by the West Bengal government.

A master plan has been chalked out to accord global status to this vast mangrove forest. Earlier United Nation World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) conducted a study to develop the area for tourism.

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The largest halophytic mangrove forest is recognised as UNESCO Heritage Site in 1997. It is known for its amazing flora and fauna, and for its rich biodiversity and natural resources. Royal Bengal Tiger, the spotted deer, several mammals, reptiles, birds and other rare species adorned the forest.

Located on the delta of rivers Hooghly, Brahmaputra and Meghna, the forest also supports estuarine crocodile, the Indian python, besides 260 bird species and covers an area of 10,000 sq km out of which 4262 sq km is in India while rest lies in Bangladesh. Many rare verities of mangrove are also found in India.

Since the area is environmentally sensitive, utmost care has been taken to develop the plan without disturbing the wildlife inhabiting the forest but coastal erosion has been a major environmental issue as several islands are swallowed up by the sea in the recent past.

The Planning Commission and the Union Tourism Ministry had already cleared the proposal to conduct a detailed study with the support of the UNDP.

Developing basic infrastructure facilities including road, power and water along with proposal of setting up ecotel in association with private partnership, Mahindra Holidays and Resorts India Ltd (MHRIL) has already signed MoU with the state to set up an ecotel in the area along with Greenfield resorts which will pave the state government effort to develop the area on the basis of eco-tourism.

West Bengal government is in touch with Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the World Bank for financial assistance to this mega project.

This unique forest of Sundari trees plays a protective role by reclaiming coastal lands, and settle the silt carried by the rivers while acting as barrier against natural disasters.

Issues of Importance

The Sundarbans is the only ecological habitat of endangered Royal Bengal tiger but climatic changes have been a major threat to this mangrove forest. Last year the eastern part of the forest that comes under Bangladesh was devastated by a cyclone that hit the coast on Nov 15, 2007. Forty percent of the site was deeply affected by the cyclone as per the reports of UNESCO.

According to recent study, several islands have sunk into the sea losing several square kilometers. This growing population adds pressure on the forest eco-system thereby bringing critical ecological disaster and then soil erosion with rising sea level.

Before developing it into a world tourist’s destination the administration needs to address all these environmental concerning factors and take appropriate measures in order to ensure no irreversible damage to this unique eco-system.