Sundarban, the largest mangrove delta of the world is the only mangrove forest of the world having largest floral and faunal diversity that houses the critically endangered species- tiger.
There are 102 islands of which 58 are inhabited and 48 forested. About 5.1 million people live in the forest fringe villages in Sunderbans in the forest fringe areas .Though agriculture is the main source of livelihood of the people living in fringe-villages,but due mono-cropping nature of agriculture a large number of population depend on the forest and forest products such as prawn-seed collection, unscientific fishing, wood cutting, illegal honey collection and sometimes indulge themselves on poaching and illegal wildlife trade thereby threatening the tiger and other endangered flora and fauna population. In this situation, on one hand majority of people live here far below poverty line and on the other hand the treasure of mangrove ecosystem along with its unique biodiversity is facing severe threat.
Literacy percentage of the villagers varies between 5% and 15%. The embankments which form the lifeline of the people of Sunderbans are facing the threats of breaches due to unsustainable practices of mangrove plantation in the region. Aila in May 2009 have proved that wherever there was a mangrove line of protection there were no breaches and no inundation. It has been proved time and again how this mangrove belt acts as a buffer between the mainland and oceanic storms and waves protecting the megapolis of Kolkata.
Moreover, the health care facilities of the region is very poor and people have to go miles by boat in order to avail basic treatment from the primary health centre which lack the basic infrastructural facilities.
Last but not the least, drinking water crisis in the Sunderbans is acute. People queue up for hours under the scorching sun for a pot of water from the only tube well of the village.
The strategic position of Sunderban has helped her to house maximum number of tigers in the country in a natural way but it is still under continual threat due to poaching, illegal trade with tiger parts as also predominant pirate activities which needs to addressed involving the stakeholders through their capacity building.
After years of practice of conservation since Indian Wildlife Protection Act, 1972, experiences have showed that participatory mode of conservation approaches with the community, as pioneered in Bengal, by ‘Arabari model’ should be the prime approach. Hence their integration and capacity building in various interventions is the prime approach.
The main objectives of this project were :
● To provide alternative livelihood to 450 families, who lives below poverty line in the forest fringe villages of the Sundarbans.
● To save the fragile river embankment through mangrove restoration with the community, the model practiced and tested by NEWS in their project with the British Deputy High Commission, Kolkata.
● To provide basic health care facilities and supply safe drinking water.
● To generate awareness & arrange for capacity building among the village community to build capacity against natural disasters reduce the incidences of snake bites & also control illegal felling, poaching.
The benefits that are to be received from this projects are sustainable use of nature and natural resources in Sundarban and build capacities on conservation approaches at local stakeholder levels.
The project was funded by Royal Bank of Scotland Foundation and was implemented by Nature Environment & Wildlife Society.
The project was implemented in four villages – Tridibnagar in Sunderbans Biosphere Reserve and Mathurakhand, Sonagaon and Dulki in Sunderban Tiger Reserve.
However, Aila which caused havoc devastation in the area was a great lesson for all the partners working and also the stakeholders at various levels. The priorities changed and we are thankful to the Board members of RBS Foundation who understood the scenario and were agreeable to redesign the unspent money to cater to the needs of the village community.
Aila in Sunderbans was an experience that is a nightmare to every person attached to Sunderbans and people till date have not yet recovered from the catastrophe. Sunderbans delta has been particularly vulnerable to storm, cyclone and climate change including sea level rise over recnt years. As per IPCC reports it falls within the low elevation coastal zone and the entire area including Kolkata bear the threat of submergence .The mangroves play an important role in maintaining the stability and sustainability of this fragile ecosystem which we once again have experienced through the recent cyclone Aila.
A cyclone Aila had hit the Sunderbans particularly from the Eastern side covering hingalganj,basanti, goasaba, satjelia , patharpratima block on 27th May 2009.The wind speed,at 80-100 km/hr combined with a major tidal wave had inundated the fields , breached embankments and rendered lakhs of people homeless overnight. According to government reports , more than twenty five lakh people have been effected , more than two lakh houses have been obliterated , the damage also includes loss of aman paddy worth 11.5 crore , betel leaves worth 2.5 crore , vegetables worth 9 crore , fishes in aquaculture ponds worth 5 crore and 450 km embankments with 138 reported deaths.
However one can assume that the actual impact was far beyond this, both physical and psychological.
Immediately after Aila, we had observed 80% of the mangroves planted at the project site had survived, but during relief distribution, people waited on the mudflats for the vessels to reach and many were trampled.
A call was given on 12th September when the wise villagers gathered in huge numbers esp women and children and planted saplings on the barren mudflats to show their understanding of the importance of mangroves after Aila.
Even after one month we had seen about 60 % of the saplings planted have survived. But in some villages like Sonagaon&Dulki , most of the saplings have been eaten up by the goats who were facing fodder crisis.The non mangrove plantation except the coconut , subabul , chikoo trees have all suffered badly due to saline touch. The ponds and canals turned saline , acute dearth of drinking water and even water for agricultural activities , break of enteric diseases were prevalent .
Tubewells have served the people in times of distress but in the initial stage they were almost drowned and hence need to be raised on higher platforms to prevent salinization of water inside in the future.
Complete lack of preparedness towards such disaster and community vulnerability was exposed in Aila .The initial drills and exercises of disaster mitigation strategies with awareness programmes/trainings/workshops at village levels were the need of the hour and NEWS readily prompted with not only relief materials but also took intense community based activities to restore their livelihoods , bring their confidence through series of health camps , raised tube wells to ensure clean drinking water, distributed seed packets of vegetables/fruits were supplied to encourage kitchen garden at homestead that can supply the necessary support in times of crisis.
Awareness programmes on how to adapt to flood/disaster situation, building core teams with young boys and girls , about housing styles /provision of rain water harvesting/developing early warning signal systems/ Training of the trainers-core teams to cope up with disaster situations/Stakeholder workshops in understanding the agricultural crop pattern typical to the area/developing family medical kit were undertaken .Distribution of packet of seeds of salt tolerant paddy/fruits/vegetables and learning the techniques to maintain the seed bank.
Awareness through skits involving school children and women , proved to be a very vibrant and effective communication tool.
PARTNERS :
West Bengal University of Animal Husbandry and Fisheries Sciences , in imparting veterinary training , care and camps.
Mr Dipankar Dasgupta , Member-National Disaster Management Authority along with Mr Keshav Mahapatra , from Government department took the initial lead in imparting training of Community based Disaster Risk Management (CBDRM) tools .Later on Father Puthumai Nazrene and Subhra Jha, from Centre of Knowkedge and skills , Santiniketan gave the PLA training to the villagers.
Doctors from Chittaranjan National Medical College , Kolkata and R A Ahmed Dental College supported immensely in organizing health camps.
Impact Assessment and Audit:
Several visits were made by the Funding Authorities including their CEO- Ms Meeraanyal, Vice President- Mr Sunil N Kumar,Programme Manager – Ms Maneesha Chadha along with Project Manager – Ms Dhruvi Shah.Besides volunteers from RBS office also took a survey based assessment of the beneficiaries to understand the typical ecosystem and the impact of the project. The final report on impact assessment to be prepared by Mr Subimal Roy , ex-IFS and consultant to World Bank projects is in progress.
Third party Audit by Mukherjee, Biswas and Pathak was organized by the funding authorities.
