SUNDARBANS BIRD FESTIVAL - ENVIRONMENT
News: 145
bird species spotted during the first bird festival in Sundarbans
What's in the news?
● Birders,
wildlife enthusiasts and forest officials have sighted 145 different bird
species during the first Sundarban Bird
Festival.
Key takeaways:
● The
first-ever festival was organized by the Sundarban Tiger Reserve (STR) division
of West Bengal Forest Department, where six teams visited different areas
inside the Sundarban Biosphere Reserve.
Birds and Sundarbans:
● The
Sundarbans are part of the migratory
routes of the Central Asian Flyway and experts have called for protection
of winter-resting and bird-breeding habitats in the Sundarbans.
Species recorded:
● The
species recorded during the Bird Festival included 78 forest birds and 42
species of waders, raptors etc.
○ A
publication by Zoological Survey of India, (ZSI) in 2021, had recorded 428 bird
species in the Sundarbans which is one-third of all the avian species found in
the country.
Threats:
● Plantation activity
along the chars (river islands) which disturbs the birds.
● Illegal activities
along chars and uninhabited islands.
● Climate
change
● Use
of destructive fishing nets in the Sundarbans.
Conservation Measures:
● Need
for increasing protection along non-forest areas for birds as well as creating
small protected areas in the non-forest regions at critical locations for
bird-breeding and migration.
Go back to basics:
Sundarbans:
● Sundarbans
is a vast contiguous mangrove forest
ecosystem in the coastal region of Bay of Bengal spread across India and
Bangladesh.
● It
covers approximately 10,000 square kilometers of area of which 60% is in Bangladesh and remaining in
India.
● It
is located in the delta region of Padma,
Meghna and Brahmaputra river basins.
● It
is the largest tidal halophytic mangrove
forest in the world.
● The
Sunderbans Delta is the only mangrove
forest in the world inhabited by tigers.
● Sundarbans
forests are known for Royal Bengal Tiger and other numerous species of animals,
including Chital Deer, Crocodile and Snakes.
Protection:
● The
Sundarbans delta is a National Park, a
Tiger Reserve, and a Biosphere Reserve. This delta is densely forested, and
it is one of the Bengal tiger's most important habitats. A variety of bird,
reptile, and invertebrate species, including the saltwater crocodile, live in
this park.
● In
1973, the current Sundarbans National Park was designated as the core area of
the Sundarbans Tiger Reserve, and in 1977, it was designated as a wildlife
sanctuary.
● It
was designated as a National Park on May 4, 1984.
● It
was recognized as a UNESCO World
Heritage Site in 1987.
● Sundarban
Wetland, India was recognized as the ‘Wetland
of International Importance’ under the Ramsar Convention in January 2019.
Threats:
● It
is facing threats from climate change
and rising sea levels.
● It
also faces threat from widespread construction
and clearing of mangrove forests for fisheries.