Detection and Analysis of Depletion of Mangrove Forest of Indian Sundarban Using Remote Sensing and GIS

Abstract

The deltaic Sundarban of eastern India is the largest single block of tidal halophytic mangrove forest in the world and got the inscription as a 'UNESCO World Heritage Site'. The area occupied by the swampy vegetation is about 4260 km² of the huge inter-tidal area of 9630 km² of Indian Sundarban. Unfortunately, the forest has been continuously depleted due to various reasons which in turn will not only disturb the balance of the whole ecosystem but also severely affect the physical, social and economic condition of the people inhabited mainly in the lower Gangetic plain.

In this regard, management and planning of the forest through only age-old manual inspection has been the tough task to overcome the problems. So, the situation demanded the application of modern technologies and in this context, the present paper seeks to highlight the necessity of understanding and application of using Remote Sensing and GIS, which are opening up new vistas for monitoring, mapping, analysing and management of world natural resources, especially forest based resources. Moreover, the same technologies enable us to compile gross forest vegetation resource data of the area under investigation in a single format and finally help to conserve the heritage like Sundarban in every concern.

The study areas under investigation are the salinity prone south-western part of Indian Sundarban covering Lothian, Siuth-Surendranagar and Dhanchi islands. The main objective of selection of these three islands is the conservation of mangrove forest with the help of periodic map analysis. Finally, the paper also locates the problems associated with the forest conservation and concludes with probable suggestions.