IU geography awarded grant to study mangrove changes

IU researchers were recently awarded a $637,000 grant by NASA to study the impact of human and climate changes on the Sundarban mangrove forests of Bangladesh, the largest remaining continuous patch of mangrove forests in the world. 

Faiz Rahman and Rinku Roy Chowdhury from the IU Department of Geography will spend the next three years collecting samples of the forests that lie directly on the coast of the salty waters of the Bay of Bengal.

In addition to collecting and studying the physical characteristics of one of the most understudied parts of the world, a significant portion of their work will also be spent surveying the populations who use the forests and rely on them for their livelihood.
   
“One stipulation of NASA’s funding was that researchers had to show the human interaction” Rahman said. “This forest is consistently changing by somewhat natural changes, but also the human impact is a big one.”

Originally from Bangladesh, Rahman visited the area shortly after a 2007 cyclone caused significant damage to the country, including its precious mangrove forests.
 
While surveying the damage, he drew a connection between the devastation brought to the coasts of Louisiana in 2005 by Hurricane Katrina and the multitude of studies that followed afterward and decided there was a need to further investigate the Sundarban forests and understand their global impact. 

The grant from NASA allows both him and Chowdhury to study the effects of a changing climate on these forests and gain more insight into the scope of human interaction. 

“It is quite exciting to be able to start looking at questions of forest management closer to my native landscapes,” said

Chowdhury, who is from neighboring West Bengal, India. “The fact that this ecosystem is so critical in terms of carbon dynamics and biodiversity, as well as for local livelihoods makes it all the more significant.”

Rahman said currently Bangladesh doesn’t have any information about how much carbon its forests have, but an organization called Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation has been trying to change that.

“It’s more like a carbon market but organized globally. A lot of these countries that do not have their baseline (carbon) information cannot get into that market,” Rahman said. “You need to know how much you have in your pocket if you want to go to the market. We are hoping our research will be helpful in finding some of this out.” 

Their work will also include gaining a sense of the amount of human involvement that has become vital in understanding the types of interaction that takes place within the forest.   

“We will also be visiting the villages and the people that live around the forests, talk to them, find out how they use the forests,” Rahman said. “It’s not always a negative relationship, but we are seeing a lot of land degradation in that area. We are trying to figure out how do they feel about the degradation of the forest and if they do, how are they going maintain it for the next generation to use as well.”