Affiliations: Department of Knowledge Management for Development, Young Power in Social Action, Chittagong, Bangladesh
| Department of Sociology and Sustainable Development, Premier University, Chittagong, Bangladesh
| Department of Marine Sciences, University of Calcutta, West Bengal, India
Abstract: Bangladesh’s complicated socioeconomic background serves as an example of the 21st-century worldwide environmental challenges. With a land area of 10,200 km2, the ‘Sundarbans’ is the world’s biggest mangrove forest, a hotspot for biodiversity, and home to several rare or endangered birds, reptiles, and mammals. Issues with biodiversity and climate change are linked here. Bangladesh and India share this important carbon sink ecosystem downstream of the Ganges Brahmaputra Meghna River complex. The Sundarbans are extremely beneficial to the local population because they produce beeswax, honey, and an abundance of seafood. They also prevent saltwater intrusion onto arable land, accumulate sediment as sea levels rise, and lessen the effects of seasonal droughts and monsoon floods. The mangrove is the main source of food and money for a large number of the impoverished residents that live in and around this forest, mostly from farming and fishing. The negative effects of climate change are becoming more and more evident. Preserving this worldwide treasure is of utmost importance; nevertheless, how can this forest be sustained over the long haul? In order to ensure the effective conservation of this globally significant ecosystem in the context of climate mitigation, this paper evaluates the advantages of the Sundarbans ecosystem’s good ecosystem function and lays out an integrated approach at the national (Bangladesh), bi-national (India-Bangladesh), and regional (with all countries of the Sundarbans river catchment system) levels.
Keywords: Sundarbans, Climate change, Cyclones and monsoon, Mangroves, Mitigation
