In Dhangmari, Bangladesh, the Sundarbans, the world’s largest contiguous mangrove forest, lies directly alongside the village, shaping the lives and livelihoods of people who depend on its rivers, tidal creeks and forest resources. For many communities, the waterways are not simply part of the natural landscape; they are a source of food, income and everyday survival.
For 60-year-old Suchitra Sardar, these waters have provided a livelihood for decades. After her husband and son passed away, she became the only earner in a household of two, herself and her daughter-in-law. Each day, she enters the shallow waters and creeks near her home to catch prawns, which she sells at the local bazaar.
Everyone in Dhangmari knows that crocodiles inhabit these waterways. Yet for Suchitra, fishing is not a choice between safety and conservation. It is a livelihood necessity.
A dangerous encounter
One day, while fishing, Suchitra was suddenly attacked by a saltwater crocodile. The animal seized her leg, but she managed to break free and make her way back towards the village. She was subsequently taken to hospital, where she spent 12 days receiving treatment for her injuries. Even a year later, the wounds had not completely healed.
Yet Suchitra eventually returned to the same creeks.
Her return illustrates one of the central challenges of conservation in human-dominated landscapes: people may understand the risks associated with wildlife, but economic necessity can leave them with few alternatives.
This is particularly important in the Sundarbans, where fishing, shrimp collection, honey gathering and other forest-dependent activities remain essential sources of income for local communities.
The saltwater crocodile: a powerful coastal predator
The saltwater crocodile (Crocodylus porosus), also known as the estuarine crocodile, is the largest living reptile and one of the most powerful predators associated with tropical wetlands.
The species is adapted to a wide range of aquatic habitats, including mangrove forests, tidal rivers, estuaries, coastal lagoons, creeks and near-shore marine environments. Although its common name emphasizes its association with saltwater, C. porosus is not restricted to marine or saline environments. It can tolerate freshwater and move through interconnected river systems, sometimes travelling considerable distances inland.
This adaptability is particularly relevant in the Sundarbans, where freshwater flows, tidal exchange and saline intrusion create a highly dynamic mosaic of aquatic habitats.
Adult males can attain very large body sizes, with exceptional individuals exceeding six meters in length, although such sizes are uncommon. Their muscular bodies, powerful tails and extremely strong jaws make them formidable ambush predators.
The saltwater crocodile (Crocodylus porosus)
Unlike animals that actively pursue prey over long distances, crocodiles often rely on stealth. They can remain almost completely submerged, with only their eyes and nostrils visible above the water. An individual may therefore remain difficult to detect until it is very close to a person working at the water’s edge.
Why can encounters become dangerous?
The danger posed by saltwater crocodiles is closely associated with the overlap between their habitat and human activities.
Crocodiles may use riverbanks, creeks and shallow waters where people fish, collect aquatic resources, travel by boat or perform other livelihood activities. This overlap creates opportunities for encounters, particularly when visibility is poor or when people enter the water without being able to assess what is beneath the surface.
A large crocodile possesses enormous physical strength and a highly effective bite. An attack can therefore result in deep lacerations, fractures, tissue damage, loss of limbs and, in severe cases, death.
However, the ecological presence of crocodiles should not automatically be interpreted as a conservation failure or as a reason for indiscriminate removal. The saltwater crocodile is a native component of the Sundarbans ecosystem and occupies an important position within its aquatic food web.
The conservation challenge is consequently more complex: how can viable crocodile populations be maintained while reducing the probability of dangerous encounters with people?
That is fundamentally an ecosystem-management question.
When wildlife habitat is also a livelihood landscape
The case of Dhangmari demonstrates why human-wildlife interactions in the Sundarbans should be considered within the broader context of ecosystem management.
A river or creek can simultaneously be:
- crocodile habitat;
- fish and prawn nursery habitat;
- part of a mangrove ecological network;
- a transportation route; and
- a source of income for local households.
These functions are not necessarily incompatible, but they require careful management.
From an ecosystem-based perspective, conservation cannot focus on a single species in isolation. The ecological relationships among mangroves, tidal channels, fish and crustacean populations, water quality, hydrological connectivity, wildlife and surrounding communities all need to be considered together.
This is particularly important in a system as dynamic as the Sundarbans, where changes in salinity, freshwater discharge, tides, sedimentation, climate variability and human use can influence the distribution and availability of aquatic habitats.
Crocodiles beyond the immediate Sundarbans
Another issue requiring scientific attention is the observation of saltwater crocodiles in freshwater rivers beyond the immediate Sundarbans landscape.
Crocodiles have been observed in waterways with tidal influence in Bagerhat and the Madhumati River and, according to reported observations, even farther away in the Padma River. The presence of C. porosus in freshwater itself is not biologically unexpected. Saltwater crocodiles can enter and remain in freshwater environments, particularly where rivers are connected to estuarine and coastal systems.
What requires further investigation is the spatial and temporal pattern of these observations.
Are crocodiles expanding into new areas? Are individuals undertaking seasonal movements? Are changes in hydrological connectivity or prey availability influencing their distribution? Could changes in human observation and reporting account for some of the apparent increase?
These questions cannot be answered reliably through isolated sightings. They require systematic monitoring of distribution, abundance, movement, habitat use and seasonal patterns.
The value of ecological monitoring
Through the Conservation and Restoration Initiatives in the Sundarbans Region (CRIS) project, IUCN Bangladesh is conducting comprehensive faunal surveys and ecological monitoring to strengthen knowledge of species distribution, abundance and habitat use across the Sundarbans.
For saltwater crocodiles, such information can provide a scientific basis for understanding:
- population distribution and abundance;
- habitat preferences;
- movement between rivers, creeks and estuarine areas;
- breeding and nesting patterns;
- seasonal changes in habitat use;
- locations where crocodiles occur frequently; and
- areas where crocodile habitat overlaps with human livelihood activities.
This type of evidence is essential for moving from anecdotal observations to evidence-based ecosystem management.
Mapping crocodile occurrence alongside fishing grounds, settlements, boat routes and other human-use areas could help identify locations where the probability of encounters is relatively high. Such information could subsequently support targeted awareness programmes, local warning systems, safer fishing practices and other site-specific measures.
From human-wildlife conflict to coexistence
The relationship between people and crocodiles in the Sundarbans should not be viewed simply as a conflict between conservation and human welfare.
It is better understood as a shared-landscape challenge.
The same ecological connectivity that allows crocodiles to move through the Sundarbans also supports fisheries, nutrient exchange, sediment transport and the ecological functioning of mangrove ecosystems. Protecting that connectivity is important for ecosystem resilience, but it also means acknowledging that humans and wildlife will continue to occupy overlapping spaces.
From an ecosystem-based management perspective, the objective should therefore be to maintain ecological integrity while reducing avoidable risks to communities.
This requires more than awareness campaigns. Community knowledge should be incorporated into monitoring and management because local fishers and forest users possess detailed knowledge of waterways, seasonal conditions and wildlife encounters. Their observations can complement scientific surveys and help identify locations and periods of elevated risk.
At the same time, communities need practical alternatives and risk-reduction measures. Where people have no realistic livelihood alternative to entering crocodile habitat, simply advising them to avoid the water is unlikely to provide an effective long-term solution.
Climate change adds another dimension
Climate change makes the need for ecosystem-based approaches even more important.
The Sundarbans is already exposed to changing climatic and environmental conditions, including sea-level rise, cyclones, storm surges, changing salinity regimes and altered freshwater availability. Such changes can modify mangrove habitats and aquatic ecosystems and may consequently influence the distribution of both wildlife and human activities.
Changes in fish and prawn distribution, for example, can alter where and when people enter waterways. At the same time, changes in water conditions and prey availability may influence crocodile habitat use.
This does not mean that climate change should automatically be attributed as the cause of increased crocodile sightings. Rather, it highlights the need to examine wildlife movements within the broader context of ecosystem resilience and environmental change.
Adaptation strategies should therefore consider biodiversity conservation and community safety together rather than treating them as separate objectives.
A broader conservation perspective
My perspective as a Commission Member of the IUCN Commission on Ecosystem Management (CEM) for the 2026–2029 cycle, with membership in the West Asia Regional Network, Coastal and Marine Ecosystems Specialist Group, and Ecosystem-Based Aquaculture Specialist Group, reinforces the importance of viewing cases such as this through an integrated ecosystem-management lens.
The Sundarbans illustrates why conservation of coastal and aquatic ecosystems cannot be separated from fisheries, biodiversity, local livelihoods, ecosystem resilience and climate adaptation.
The saltwater crocodile is not merely a dangerous animal that needs to be kept away from people. It is also part of a functioning coastal and estuarine ecosystem. Conversely, the people entering these waterways are not simply an external pressure on wildlife; they are communities whose livelihoods are historically and economically connected to the ecosystem.
Effective management must therefore address both sides of this relationship.
Building safer coexistence
The story of Suchitra Sardar provides a human face to a much broader conservation challenge.
Her experience demonstrates that human safety, livelihood security and wildlife conservation are interconnected components of ecosystem management. Protecting crocodiles without addressing the vulnerability of communities would be incomplete conservation. Likewise, protecting communities without maintaining the ecological integrity of the Sundarbans would undermine the natural systems on which those communities depend.
The way forward lies in better evidence, stronger community participation and management approaches that recognize the Sundarbans as a connected social-ecological system.
Scientific monitoring can reveal where crocodiles occur and how they use waterways. Local knowledge can help explain how those patterns intersect with daily livelihood activities. Together, these sources of information can support practical measures to reduce risk while maintaining viable wildlife populations.
For communities living alongside the Sundarbans, safer coexistence begins with understanding the wildlife with which they share the landscape. For conservationists and ecosystem managers, it begins with recognizing that biodiversity conservation, fisheries management, community livelihoods, ecosystem resilience and human safety are not separate challenges, they are interconnected dimensions of the same coastal ecosystem.
The future of the Sundarbans will depend not on eliminating this interaction, but on managing it scientifically, responsibly and equitably
