By Paul Homewood
Today’s BBC propaganda!
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/world-asia-india-57929463
This latest ludicrous piece of climate propaganda shows a total lack of understanding of how deltas function and deliberate ignorance of some of the real factors involved.
Much of the video is devoted to recent cyclones there, which are of course directly attributed to climate change.
So let’s look at some of the things the BBC did not tell you:
1) The major reason why the delta is sinking is subsidence, due to a combination of isostatic subsidence and dewatering, which estimates put at 2.2cm a year and more. In comparison global sea level rise is around 2mm a year.
The population of the Sunderbans has exploded to 4 million, putting huge pressure on the delta, in particular water extraction.
2) Human pressure remains the largest threat to the Sundarbans like any other mangroves across the world. Though Sundarbans is claimed to be pristine in state, more than 50% of the north-western parts and intertidal lands of Sundarbans delta have been continuously cleared for human habitation and settlement, agriculture and brackish water fisheries. Land use change, pollution from industrialization and economic activities e.g. shipping port close to the forest, intensive aquaculture and over-extraction of resources remain the major threat to the forest.
It has been estimated that agricultural activities had destroyed around 17,179 hectares (42,450 acres) of mangroves within three decades (1975–2010). Shrimp cultivation had destroyed another 7,554 hectares (18,670 acres).
3) The BBC even ridiculously claim that global warming induced melting of Himalayan glaciers is flooding the Sunderbans! In the the problem is the opposite – construction of the Farakka barrage in India in 1975 has diverted water away from the delta, reducing freshwater supply and thus increasing salinity, which mangroves are extremely sensitive to.
4) Land clearance, increasing salinity and pollution from industry and shipping have all contributed to the decline of the mangrove forest. The forest is, of course, absolutely crucial to the delta, as it helps to reduce erosion and trap sedimentation.
5) The report highlights islands which are gradually disappearing under the sea. But this shows a total ignorance of how deltas form and evolve. Low lying islands and mud flats are forever shifting as they erode and grow back, caught between the forces of tides, storms, sedimentation and flooding. There is no reason why any island there should be permanent.
But instead of giving viewers the actual facts, the BBC would rather peddle climate propaganda.
via NOT A LOT OF PEOPLE KNOW THAT
July 23, 2021
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