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Benefits of planting native trees
* They help stop global warming by reducing greenhouse gases
* They reduce soil erosion and water pollution
* They provide habitat for native wildlife (including songbirds)
* They improve human health by producing oxygen and improving air quality
* They reduce home energy needs by providing shade in summer and a windbreak
in winter
Mangrove Plantation
Mangroves play a fundamental role in moderating monsoon
tidal floods and coastal protection. The depletion of mangroves is a cause of serious
environmental and economic concern to many developing countries. Problems of sustainability
of mangrove ecosystems are not only technical but also socio-economic.
The eco-region that forms the Sundarbans is both unique,
and uniquely fragile. Unique because it is one of the most extensive mangrove forests
in the world, existing in a vast deltaic region where freshwater and seawater mix.
The mangrove forests of the Sundarbans are one of the most significant strongholds
of the Royal Bengal Tiger, an endangered species, and the national animal of India.
Also unique, because the human population that exists on the fringes of the coastal
forest, in land that has been slowly adapted to cultivation over the last two centuries,
confront challenges from both land, air, and sea that few other local populations
have to contend with. And further unique, because the flora of the Sundarbans, the
mangrove, presents a natural buffer, a bulwark against coastal erosion and seawater
ingress into one of the most densely populated regions of the world.
Ironically, the Sundarbans' fragility stems from its
uniqueness. This report is an attempt to highlight that fragility in the context
of a fairly recent global phenomenon – human induced climate change. The delicate
balance that has for many centuries existed in the Sundarbans between land, air,
and sea, is today under threat, and indeed, in certain areas, the effects have been
disastrous.
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