The Sundarbans: Severely affected by climate change

DW (English)

The Sundarbans in India's West Bengal state are one of the largest mangrove forests in the world. But also one of the most disaster-prone areas, where some of the most vulnerable communities live. Why is this region particularly affected?

Transcript

00:00 The waters of the Sundarbans delta are warming fast.

00:04 Water expands as it heats up, so it occupies more space.

00:08 That, along with the melting polar caps and glaciers, is pushing up sea levels worldwide.

00:14 And the Indian Ocean is no exception.

00:17 There is one additional reason that is attributed to sea level rise,

00:23 particularly in the East Indian region, close to Sundarbans and all the North and Bay of Bengal region.

00:30 And that is the subsidence or the sinking of land.

00:34 That double whammy has already made a number of Sundarban islands become uninhabitable.

00:40 The huge mangrove forests provide the perfect natural barrier to the sea

00:48 and to the annual cyclones that hit this area.

00:52 The forests are home to many rare animal and plant species.

00:56 The Sundarbans are also invaluable as carbon sinks.

01:00 But deforestation and the rising sea levels are having a devastating impact on this unique ecosystem.

01:08 That is also making the delicate ecosystem more vulnerable to the extreme weather events that climate change has brought to the region.

01:18 Along with the sea level rise and the storm surge from the cyclone,

01:23 and the same cyclones are bringing in more rains than earlier.

01:28 Two years ago, Cyclone Yas had a dramatic impact.

01:33 The heavy rains swelled the rivers so that they were unable to absorb the storm surge from the sea.

01:41 The salt water was intruding in land. So the intrusion of salt water went up to several kilometers.

01:53 I heard up to 60 kilometers in land, which is like huge.

01:58 And we have to remember this is not fresh water.

02:01 This is salt water on agricultural land, which will damage that agriculture for years to come.

02:10 And meteorologists expect such extreme weather events to increase, putting more pressure on the region.

02:17 (applause)

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