has been a concern of emerging scholarship by environmental historians. Indian historian Vinita Damodaran has extensively profiled famine management practices by the East India Company, and related these practices to major ecological changes wrought about by forest and land management practices. Debjani Bhattacharyya has shown how Calcutta was constructed as an urban centre through tracing ecological changes wrought upon by colonial powers involving land, water and humans throughout the mid-18th to the early 20th centuries. In terms of recent scholarship that focuses more on the eastern part of the Bengal/Ganges Delta, Iftekhar Iqbal argues for the inclusion of the Bengal Delta as an ecological framework within which to study the dynamics of agrarian prosperity or decline, communal conflicts, poverty and famine, especially throughout the colonial period. Iqbal has tried to show how resistance movements such as the Faraizi movement can be studied in relation to colonial ecological management practices. A strong criticism of environmental history scholarship with regards to the Bengal/Ganges delta is that most of the scholarship is limited to the 18th to the 21st centuries, with a general dearth of ecological history of the region prior to the 18th century. Future of the delta One of the greatest challenges people living on the Ganges Delta may face in coming years is the threat of rising sea levels caused by climate change. An increase in sea level of could result in six million people losing their homes in Bangladesh. Important gas reserves have been discovered in the delta, such as in the Titas and Bakhrabad gas fields. Several major oil companies have invested in exploration of the Ganges Delta region. Tidal river management To offset land loss, tidal river management has been implemented in the delta. This method has been implemented in 5 beels and resulted in benefits including decreased waterlogging, creation of agricultural areas, improved navigation and land creation. View See also Doab Gangotri Gangetic Plain Indian Subcontinent Bay of Bengal Bengal Tiger Notes References External links The Golden Fibre Trade Centre: Ganges Delta: Most Fertile Land for Growing Raw Jute . Ganges basin River deltas of Asia Bay of Bengal Landforms of Bangladesh Landforms of India Landforms of West Bengal Environment of Bangladesh Environment of West Bengal Sundarbans Regions of West Bengal Regions of India