West Bengal Minister vows to restore mangroves lost to encroachments in Sundarbans
West Bengal's Environment Minister has pledged to restore mangrove forests in the Sundarbans that were cleared for illegal fish ponds. Experts are calling for a dedicated management authority to protect the region's biodiversity.
Why it matters
Mangroves are critical for coastal protection and climate resilience; their destruction poses a significant environmental threat to the Sundarbans.
In the Sundarbans, hundreds of acres of mangrove forests have been lost to encroachments, including the construction of shallow fish ponds. West Bengal Environment and Forest Minister Manoj Kumar Oraon, who recently visited an island where over 100 hectares of mangroves have been encroached on, said on Friday that such areas would be restored.
“In one of the islands with green mangrove cover till a few years ago, I saw that the entire island has been turned into fisheries. There are hundreds of such examples,” Mr. Oraon said, referring to Kripakhali in the Sundarbans.
The Minister said when one travels along the water bodies and creeks of the Sundarbans, from the outside it appears that there is a dense mangrove forest, but inside the forest, the mangrove cover has been cleared and the land has been encroached upon.
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