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Population an land cover dinamics of Sundarbans impact zone is Bangladesh
1-13Views:238Sundarbans is the largest mangrove forest of the world that lies in Bangladesh and India. This paper examined the correlation among population dynamics of Sundarbans impact zone (SIZ) from 1974 to 2011; impact of climate change on the forest; and changes in land cover of the forest from 1973 to 2010. Population size of SIZ was increased by 1.6 times between 1974 and 2011, whereas decreased by 2% during 2001 to 2011. During 1973 to 2010, water bodies, barren land and vegetated land reduced by 7.35%, 49.56% and 15.92% respectively; while grass land increased by 228.14% during the same period. But both population size and vegetated land declined during 2001 and 2011. This was due to the landfall of two severe cyclones in 2007 and 2009 through Sundarbans which resulted thousands of human casualties and out migration, and destruction of the forest. In addition, anthropogenic interventions like low flow from Ganges River and policy constraints also contributed to the demolition of Sundarbans. Thus, population growth, climate change and anthropogenic interventions are playing a decisive role to the depletion of forest resources from the Sundarbans mangrove forest.
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Vegetation changes of Sundarbans based on Landsat imagery analysis between 1975 and 2006
1-9Views:365The Sundarbans in Bangladesh and India is the largest single block of tidal halophytic mangrove forest in the world. This forest is threatened by effect of climate change and manmade activities. The aim of this paper is to show changes in vegetation cover of Sundarbans since 1975 using Landsat imagery. Normalized Difference Vegetation Index is applied to quantify and qualify density of vegetation on a patch of land. Estimated land area (excluded water body) of this forest is 66% in Bangladesh, and 34% in India, respectively. Net erosion since 1975 to 2006 is ~5.9%. In vicinity of human settlement, areal changes are not observed since 1975. The mangrove forest is decreased by 19.3% due severe tropical cyclone in 1977 and 1988. Moreover, the dense forest is damaged by about 50%. However, more than 25 years is taken by Sundarbans to recover from damage by a severe tropical cyclone. The biodiversity of Sundarbans depends to fresh water flow through it. Therefore, the future of Sundarbans depends to the impact of climate change which has further effect to increasing intensity and frequency of severe tropical cyclone and salinity in water channels in Sundarbans.