Sundarbans mangrove forest of Bangladesh: causes of degradation and sustainable management options

Sundarbans are highly productive mangrove wetland ecosystems, contributing several social, financial and environmental benefits. The forests have a great role in the countries national economy, and provides livelihood for the local people through fishing, tourism, wood and non-wood products. But despite several laws, policies and management plans, the forest is now showing clear signs of degradation. The aim of this study is to explore the major causes of degradation of Sundarbans mangrove forest in Bangladesh and to propose a management approach for its sustenance. It was found that, biodiversity and ecosystem of the Sundarbans is threatened due to several natural and human induced pressures, including overexploitation of forest resources, changes in coastal land use, pollution from industrial and agricultural sources, oil spillage, upstream water flow reduction, increased salinity level, disease outbreaks, fire occurrence, climate change, rise in sea level, natural disasters, lack of knowledge about forest conservation, uncontrolled tourism, inadequate planning and management, and increase in man–animal conflicts. In this background, an integrated approach is proposed, by refining the existing management and combining updated information through supplementary scientific studies and expeditions on mangrove forests. Proper implementation of the proposed resilient strategies i.e., incorporate all stakeholders to protect the forest, awareness programs, reduced forest dependency of local people, strengthen monitoring, ecological restoration, implementation of legal bindings, disaster management and adequate research and planning can be helpful for sustainable management of Sundarbans and similar mangrove forests around the world.