It is estimated that India has 6740 square kilometres of land with mangroves. Sundarbans, world’s largest mangrove forest spreads over ten thousand square kilometres of land in West Bengal and Bangladesh. This amazing mangrove forest lies in the vast delta region in different islands in Bay of Bengal, formed by the confluence of River Ganga and River Brahmaputra. It has been declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO. The name Sundarbans was named after the ‘Sundari’ trees found in abundance here. There are over 425 animals and over 300 plant species here. This includes many medicinal herbs and the endangered Bengal tiger.
The mangroves grow in sand dunes, marshes and swamps in saltwater. These are evergreen plants. They are salt tolerant. The soil carried to the delta from the river has high density of nutrients and is very fertile. This along with the mineral deposits from the sea during high tide makes Sundarbans one of the best habitats in the world for the survival of thousands of aquatic animals and birds. The mangroves here can absorb 50 times more carbon than the trees in tropical forests. Studies have proved that these plants can check pollution, landslides, floods and salinity of water. It is said that Pichavaram and Muthupedu, the two places close to Chennai had been saved from Tsunami due to the presence of mangroves in the region. The Sundarbans has kept the Indian coast safe from the natural calamities which have often hit the neighbouring Bangladesh. Kerala which had 700 square kilometres of mangroves now has only 17 square kilometres of mangroves along her coast. This is something to worry about
