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Sundarban Wetland
| Site Name | Sundarban Wetland |
|---|---|
| State | West Bengal The Headquaters of the Sundarban Tiger Reserve is located at Canning town, South 24 Parganas district and is connected with broad gauge railway line with Sealdah South suburban station, which is 46 kms from Canning. |
| Ramsar Site Number | 2370 |
| Ramsar Designation Date | 30 Jan 2019 |
| Area | 423000 hectares |
| Latitude | 21.7749 |
| Longitude | 88.7144 |
| Categories | Marine or coastal wetland Estuarine water Coastal brackish / saline lagoon |
| Elevation min / max | 0 / 6 |
| Listed in Montreux Record? | No |
| Spans over more than one country? | Yes |
| Details | |
| Sundarban Wetland is located within the largest mangrove forest in the world, the Sundarbans, that encompasses hundreds of islands and a maze of rivers, rivulets and creeks, in the delta of the Rivers Ganges and Brahmaputra on the Bay of Bengal in India and Bangladesh. The Indian Sundarban, covering the south-westernmost part of the delta, constitutes over 60% of the country’s total mangrove forest area and includes 90% of Indian mangrove species. The mangrove forests protect the hinterland from storms, cyclones, tidal surges, and the seepage and intrusion of saltwater inland and into waterways. They serve as nurseries to shellfish and finfish and sustain the fisheries of the entire eastern coast. The Sundarban Tiger Reserve is situated within the Site and part of it has been declared a “critical tiger habitat” under national law and also a “Tiger Conservation Landscape” of global importance. The Sundarbans are the only mangrove habitat which supports a significant population of tigers, and they have unique aquatic hunting skills. The Site is also home to a large number of rare and globally threatened species such as the critically endangered northern river terrapin (Batagur baska), the endangered Irrawaddy dolphin (Orcaella brevirostris), and the vulnerable fishing cat (Prionailurus viverrinus). Two of the world’s four horseshoe crab species, and eight of India’s 12 species of kingfisher are also found here. The uniqueness of the habitat and its biodiversity, and the many tangible and intangible, local, regional and global services they provide, makes the Site’s protection and management a conservation priority. | |
| Threats | |
| Human settlements (non agricultural), Tourism and recreation areas, Water regulation, Dredging, Salinisation, Energy production and mining, Oil and gas drilling, Transportation and service corridors, Utility and service lines (e.g., pipelines), Biological resource use, Fishing and harvesting aquatic resources, Hunting and collecting terrestrial animals, Logging and wood harvesting, Human intrusions & disturbance, Recreational and tourism activities, Pollution, Air-borne pollutants | |
