A few new species of insects, recently identified in the Sundarbans, could pose a threat to the mangrove forest there, a senior West Bengal forest department official warned today.
Assistant divisional forest officer Balaram Panja said that the forest department was in touch with the Zoological Survey of India to study the insects.
Panja was speaking on the sidelines of a programme organised by the Nature Environment & Wildlife Society, an NGO working in the Sundarbans.
The mangrove ecosystem of the Sundabans is the only line of natural defense, acting as a bio-shield, against storms originating in the Bay of Bengal and affecting the entire population of southern Bengal, including Kolkata, speakers in the programme noted.
The mangrove ecosystem is the most productive ecosystem in the world and is justly called the nursery of fish, crustaceans and fin-fishes, they said.
It accounts for a rich supply of shrimp prawn and crabs, among others, which provides livelihood for a large section of people.
A Sundarbans expert, Tushar Kanjilal, said that there was a need to raise awareness about the threats that the forest ecosystem was facing.
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