Shared between Bangladesh and India, the 'Sundarban' mangroves are situated in the Ganges delta and are the only contiguous and largest coastal wetland system in the world. While home to the legendary sanctuary of the famous Royal Bengal Tiger, its biodiversity also includes about 350 species of vascular plants, 120 species of fish, 270 types of birds alongside various species of phytoplankton,fungi,bacteria,zoo-plankton,benthic invertebrates, mollusks,reptiles,amphibians and mammals.
It is estimated that the Sundarbans originally covered more than 40,000 sq. km in coastal Bengal; the biodiversity of the Sundarbans,however,has been affected by centuries of human exploitation of the forest, its conversion to paddy fields and reclamation of the land for various uses. Today, the Sundarbans cover roughly 10,000 sq.km.This case study explores the threat to the Sundarbans as a result of human activity; it focuses on the mangrove ecosystem’s degeneration because of the construction of India’s Farakka Dam in 1975 .