Abstract
The Sundarbans, designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site and recognised as the world’s largest contiguous mangrove forest, is an ecologically critical region. This unique ecosystem faces significant vulnerability to a range of natural hazards, including cyclones, coastal erosion, land loss, and pollution—all of which contribute to the degradation of its biodiversity and the disruption of essential ecosystem services. Addressing these multifaceted challenges demands an integrated, transboundary approach that harmonises ecological conservation with socioeconomic development. This involves not only safeguarding forest habitats but also enhancing livelihoods and reducing poverty among local communities. To enable a comprehensive analysis of both the Indian and Bangladesh parts of the Sundarbans, it is vital to leverage temporal insights from archived geospatial data sets—such as historical topographic maps, declassified satellite-based photographs, and satellite imagery from various Earth observation platforms. In this chapter, we examine a variety of data sources that can offer more in-depth insights into the dynamics of this ecosystem. We also compare the utility of contemporary remote sensing data with archived information dating back to the mid-eighteenth century.