Sunderbans Tiger Reserve (STR)

Subject – Environment

Context – On New Year, fourth incident of a tiger straying into the islands

Concept –

Sundarban is the largest deltaic region of the world and encompasses over hundreds of islands (105), with a maze of innumerable rivers, rivulets, and creeks.
The name ‘Sundarban’ means “beautiful forest” and it is believed to be derived from a mangrove tree species ‘Sundari’ (Heritierafomes).
The Indian Sundarban is the southernmost part of the estuarine delta formed by the River Ganges and Brahmaputra, bordering the Bay of Bengal.
It is located little south of the Tropic of Cancer.
The Dampier-Hodges line separates the Sundarbans from the rest of West Bengal.
On the eastern boundary lies Bangladesh separated by the rivers Kalindi, Raimangal, and Harinbhanga.

Sundarban National Park

The Sundarban National Park is located in the south-east of Calcutta in the District of West Bengal and forms part of the Gangetic Delta.
The Sundarbans mangrove forest, one of the largest such forests in the world, lies across India and Bangladesh on the delta of the Ganges, Brahmaputra and Meghna rivers on the Bay of Bengal.
It is adjacent to the border of India’s Sundarbans World Heritage site inscribed in 1987.
The site is intersected by a complex network of tidal waterways, mudflats and small islands of salt-tolerant mangrove forests, and presents an excellent example of ongoing ecological processes.
The area is known for its wide range of fauna, including 260 bird species, the Bengal tiger and other threatened species such as the estuarine crocodile and the Indian python.
It is home to many rare and globally threatened wildlife species such as the estuarine crocodile, Royal Bengal Tiger, Water monitor lizard, Gangetic dolphin, and olive ridley turtles.
Sundarban Wetland, India was recognised as the ‘Wetland of International Importance’ under the Ramsar Convention in January 2019.
The Sunderbans Delta is the only mangrove forest in the world inhabited by tigers.