Guest Blog: Reflections from the Sundarbans: Short-Term Progress, Long-Term Strategies?
23/06/09 11:57
It has been almost a month since tropical cyclone Aila hit the Sundarbans but the agricultural fields are still waterlogged and the salinity level is as high as 30 ppt (ED: parts per thousand; mean ocean salinity is about 35 ppt). Remember, agriculture is the mainstay of the local economy in the Sundarbans. In the worst hit places people are being fed in community kitchens and are being provided with freshwater, clothes and other essentials. Enteric diseases are claiming lives although not in epidemic proportions. A few have also lost lives due to snake bite. It will be quite a while before the affected are able to pick themselves up and get moving in terms of their lives and livelihood.
We at WWF Sundarbans Programme feel that we cannot continue with relief work much longer (our last consignment will last for the next 10 days at the most) and therefore the population (that we are directly involved with) needs to be engaged in activities so that they can start earning or else they will begin to venture into the forest. The idea is to help these people to start cooking at home when the community kitchen ceases to operate. This has a couple of immediate challenges, (i) money to buy food, (ii) pots, pans and other utensils, and (iii) fuel for cooking (as of now the Panchayat [ED: local government] provides liquid propane gas bottles to the community kitchens).
On an immediate basis we will get the people to work on dewatering the ponds and raising their embankments so that when rain comes the ponds have freshwater again. We will also get the ponds stocked with fish once these get filled with rain water (next month the ponds were to be harvested but all that has been lost). Small donations may be available for pots and pans but cooking fuel is going to be a problem and the pressure on the forest for firewood is bound to go up. We will try and establish efficient cookstoves.
The bigger challenge is to get the population back in the agricultural fields and to get houses reconstructed in a manner that these can withstand high wind velocity. Salt tolerant rice paddies, raised-bed kitchen gardens, backyard poultry/duckery, and inland fisheries are possible options in the agriculture (food) sector. A French architect who works in India is already working on low-cost house designs.
The biggest challenge is to cope with climate vulnerability in the Sundarbans delta. Two options seem clear: Should we help communities remain here by making their resource use and livelihoods more sustainable or should we encourage people to leave the region? The scientific literature confirms that cyclones and tidal surges are already more frequent and intense, that sea level is rising at rates higher than global average, and that coastal erosion is accelerating. The other alternative is to taking a planned and informed decision to move out of the delta. Coping in situ will require investments in secure housing and in securing livelihood. Of course, the embankments will have to be strengthened but that can only be taken up by the government (what concrete embankments will do to the ecosystem will need to be examined). Moving out of the delta will take longer; over a generation unless the population is mercilessly pushed out, and unfortunately there is official precedent in this regard. Moving out will become attractive for the population if (i) entire islands are purchased at very high prices compared to prevailing rates [the island can then be turned over to Nature], OR (ii) children are put through proper and adequate training in formal education or trades so that they are employable outside the region. Such children when they turn adults are unlikely to come back to the Sundarbans to make a living and to make babies.
The Sundarbans situation is akin to unplanned parenthood. People are already present (in hordes) where they should not have been. Now, what? Is it more of higher and stronger embankments or planned retreat (to begin with at least from the most vulnerable islands)? What is it that the stakeholders (local, national and global) wish for the Sundarbans? Therefore, a Delta Vision is in order and could be the starting point for long term planning and action.
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Dr. A. Anurag Danda
Sr. Programme Coordinator
WWF-India SundarBans Programme
54/1B Hindusthan Park
Kolkata 700 029, INDIA
Tel.+91-33-40086584, Cell. +91-9748499301
Email: anuragdanda@wwfindia.net
