Bangladesh - In The Sundarban Islands, Trees Suddenly Dying From The Top Down - New Phenomenon

[hatrack]

The Sundarbans nature reserve in Bangladesh's south-west is one of the last untouched places on Earth - and home to the largest population of tigers left in the wild. But the trees in the Sundarbans have suddenly started dying. And not just that: they have started dying in a way nobody has seen before, from the top down.

Nobody is sure what the cause is, but the country's leading scientists think the trees are dying because, in recent years, the water has turned from fresh to salty. The Sundarbans is a massive mangrove swamp, and the sea has begun encroaching. What we are seeing may be one of the first casualties of rising sea levels caused by global warming. "Nobody can say for sure whether it is climate change because there haven't been proper in-depth studies," says Professor Ainun Nishat, one of the country's leading environmentalists, and one of those involved in the UN's recent climate change report. "But this is the sort of effect rising sea levels will have on Bangladesh. We are fighting climate change on the front line. But the battle has to be integrated across all countries."

Then there were the deaths of thousands of fishermen off Bangladesh last summer. The Bay of Bengal was unusually rough. Usually, the authorities only issue a storm warning to fishermen to stay at home once or twice a year. Last year, four warnings were issued in the space of two months. Every warning meant the fishermen lost valuable days at sea. When the last warning came, they could not afford to stay ashore and went to sea anyway. Officially 1,700 drowned, but many Bangladeshis believe the real number may be closer to 10,000. "Was it climate change? We don't know," says Dr Nishat. "Was it unusual? Yes."

EDIT

It is not just the Sundarbans that is already suffering the effects of rising salinity. Farmers in coastal areas who used to grow rice have switched to farming prawns, after the water in their paddy fields got too salty. The country has just developed a new strain of rice that will grow in salty water. For a country where agriculture makes up 21 per cent of GDP - and with 147 million people to feed - rising levels of salinity are a serious threat. Already, Bangladeshi farmers can only produce 8 tons of rice per hectare, compared to 17 tons in China. But it could be more serious than that, Dr Nishat warns. "The direction of the monsoon has changed in the last few years," he says. "The depression that brings the rain used to advance north across Bangladesh. Now it is heading west." That could have devastating implications in the event of a tropical cyclone, he says.

EDIT

http://news.independent.co.uk/environment/article2283929.ece

[villager]

1. how close is this to where India had their recent, unexplained "orange rain?"

n/t

[phantom power]

3. that reminds me, I wonder if that orange rain had any connection with..

the recent orange snow in russia?

[villager]

4. good question...

n/t

[phantom power]

2. Yes, let's not be hasty and assume it's -- gasp -- climate change.

For crying out loud, what *else* would it be? What's the competing theory?

[NNadir]

5. Bangladesh is on the delta of the Ganges.

Increasingly the water of the Ganges is being diverted in India and outflows are decreasing.

http://www.aaas.org/international/ehn/waterpop/bang.htm

The internal use of Ganges water is further reducing out flows from the river.

In addition the Himilaya glaciers that provide the river's source are melting.

The country is low lying and vastly over populated.

The ground water is contaminated with arsenic from natural geological arsenic containing formations.

This is the front lines, one of the most active flash points of the tragedy that is falling upon us.

Indeed the problem extends beyond the country's borders into surrounding India.

This is going to break our hearts. It is going to be an unimaginable tragedy.