As new islands are still taking birth in Sundarbans delta through a natural process of erosion and accretion, rise in sea level due to global warming is not a major threat to survival of the archipelago, claims a new research, contradicting previous studies.
"Compared to the much publicised belief, the islands of Sundarban are not facing similar threat from the impacts of global warming.
"While the predicted sea level rise will have marginal impact on the Sundarban islands having mangrove cover, formation and emergence of new islands, through accretion and deposition of silt load, gives a new dimension to the profile of this estuary," says a report by a group of foresters and scientists.
Atanu Raha, the lead author of the study, also the former principal chief conservator of forests of the state, points out that if sea level rise is at play in the Sundarbans, then the effect of shrinking will be noticed on all sides across islands.
"But in some places we see erosion and at others we see accretion. So it means the net loss of land is due to a natural process of formation of estuary and delta through the cycle of twice a day floods," Raha told PTI.
An archipelago group of 102 islands, the low-lying Sundarbans delta is home to 42 lakh people and also 76 tigers, according to the last census.
Based on the UN's climate science body IPCC's report that the sea had risen on an average by 3.2 mm per year since 1993, a number of research reports had so far claimed the sea level rise is causing havoc in the Sundarbans, a UNESCO World Heritage site.
After the loss of Lohachara and Suparibhanga islands in the last two decades, the Sundarbans came to be known as the 'vanishing islands.
