The Sundarbans, a UNESCO world heritage site, is of immense importance for its ecological and economic utilities. This paper attempts to identify, assess and classify the degree of vulnerability along the 269 km coastal stretches of Indian Sundarbans using GIS-based composite index. This study implies five physical and one social variable (geomorphology, regional elevation, absolute sea level rise, erosion-accretion, tidal range and population density) for calculating Coastal Vulnerability Index (CVI). The results indicate that nearly half of the coastlines (114 km) are under moderate to very high vulnerability regime. Inhabited mouzas like Beguakhali and Sibpur are found to be highly vulnerable on account of its high population densities, reclaimed coastline, moderate elevation, moderate erosion and medium tidal range. Lower elevation and higher rate of sea level rise were responsible for high vulnerability in uninhabited islands like Bhangadauni, Gosaba-E, Island-2 and Harin-W. Among the geomorphic categories, supra-tidal areas mostly belong to the high vulnerability category. This study provides valuable information to the decision makers and planners for understanding the problems and formulating suitable management strategies for this area. It also clarifies the major forcing factors and concludes that prioritization should be done based on relative importance, even if complete management is not feasible.

被联合国教科文组织列为世界遗产的Sundarbans，对其生态和经济用途极为重要。本文尝试使用基于GIS的综合指数来识别，评估和分类印度Sundarbans 269公里沿海地区的脆弱程度。这项研究暗示了五个物理变量和一个社会变量（地貌，区域海拔，绝对海平面上升，侵蚀积聚，潮汐范围和人口密度）来计算沿海脆弱性指数（CVI）。结果表明，近一半的海岸线（114公里）处于中度到极高的脆弱性状态。由于高人口密度，开垦的海岸线，中等海拔，中等侵蚀和中等潮位，人们发现像Beguakhali和Sibpur这样的有人居住的mouzas非常脆弱。在Bhangadauni，Gosaba-E，Island-2和Harin-W等无人居住的岛屿中，高度脆弱的原因是海拔较低和海平面上升率较高。在地貌类别中，超潮区大部分属于高脆弱性类别。这项研究为决策者和计划者提供了有价值的信息，以帮助他们理解问题并制定适合该领域的管理策略。它还阐明了主要的强迫因素，并得出结论，即使无法进行全面管理，也应该基于相对重要性来确定优先级。这项研究为决策者和计划者提供了有价值的信息，以帮助他们理解问题并制定适合该领域的管理策略。它还阐明了主要的强迫因素，并得出结论，即使无法进行全面管理，也应该基于相对重要性来确定优先级。这项研究为决策者和计划者提供了有价值的信息，以帮助他们理解问题并制定适合该领域的管理策略。它还阐明了主要的强迫因素，并得出结论，即使无法进行全面管理，也应该基于相对重要性来确定优先级。