 |
 Land
Use
The increased pressure on, and demand for
forest resources and agricultural land due to the growth and
migration have led to widespread degradation of the Sundarbans
forests over the last 200 years. Despite a long history of
scientific management of the reserved forest and recent conservation
efforts, an extensive period of exploitation and conversion
of Sundarbans has resulted in the loss of forest cover and
degradation of the mangrove ecosystem. Anthropogenic stress
in terms of land- use, over exploitation and pollution continues
to affect the mangrove forests and their dependent floral
and faunal communities and in turn adversely affect the socio-
economic condition of the local people.
Cultivation started in the Matla and the
Bidyadhari basins in the early 19th century. The history of
large-scale reclamation and resettlement in the Sundarbans
started soon after the 24- Parganas were handed over to the
east India Company by Mir Jafar after the fall of Sirajuddaula,
King of Bengal. Once the forests have been cleared, the swampy
ground was protected against the ingression of tidal water
by the construction of embankment. This premature reclamation
has given rise to environmental problems, particularly for
drainage (Pargiter, 1934). These embankments now extend over
to more than 3500 km.
From 1830 to the early 1900,
about 3737 sq km of the total forest area of 7908 sq km located
to the south of Dampier- Hodges line, had been cleared for
cultivation and settlements (District Census report of 24
Parganas, 1951). Another estimate made in 1872 showed that
the total area under cultivation was 2783 sq km of which two-
thirds was reclaimed between 1830- 1872. By the early 20th
century, over 5000 sq km had been brought under cultivation.
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Land
Use Changes in Indian Sundarbans ( Williams , 1991 )
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Land
Use Type
|
1880
|
1900
|
1920
|
1940
|
1960
|
1980
|
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Total
Arable and Settled
|
14570
|
16140
|
15830
|
16710
|
20820
|
21860
|
|
Wet
Rice
|
11240
|
11560
|
12620
|
12120
|
15490
|
16040
|
|
Forest
- Woodlands
|
680
|
630
|
640
|
600
|
440
|
400
|
|
Grass
- Shrub
|
800
|
500
|
820
|
1500
|
1430
|
1790
|
|
Barren
Land
|
500
|
500
|
500
|
500
|
500
|
500
|
|
Total
Wetlands
|
15160
|
13960
|
13940
|
12410
|
8530
|
7180
|
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Mangrove
Tidal
|
6149
|
5574
|
5402
|
5301
|
4231
|
3909
|
|
Surface
Water
|
5740
|
5740
|
5740
|
5740
|
5740
|
5740
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Depletion
of mangrove wetlands in the 60 years span between 1880-1940
took place to the extent of 2246 sq km. Between 1940 and 1980,
the pace of reclamation in the 24 Parganas district increased
dramatically. The wetlands area dwindled by 5230 sq km as
subsistence demands for the population and hunger in the countryside
made increasing demands upon every available area of land
(Williams, 1991). Thus mangrove areas have been severely depleted
in a number of forest blocks and in the intertidal zones (Chaudhuri
and Choudhury, 1994).
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