3rd DECCMA Consortium Workshop, Ghana

8th September 201528th February 2017Lucy Graves Leave a comment

Attendees of the workshop

DECCMA PI, Professor Robert Nicholls mentioned “Building the Consortium” as an important part of the functioning of the project and what better way to do it than organising face-to-face meetings for the entire consortium. The entire DECCMA consortium meets every six months, this time being the 3rd Consortium Workshop at Accra, Ghana. The Regional Institute of Population Studies (RIPS) of the University of Ghana (UoG), the lead institution for the DECCMA African team, hosted DECCMA members from Bangladesh, India, Italy, Spain, and the United Kingdom.

One might think that research project workshops only entail updating each other on research progress and discussing future research plans. DECCMA not only discussed these but also did much more. The first aim of the workshop was to refresh and reinforce relationships across the wider project, especially in work package teams and build on consortia development. This was achieved when the key members of the Northern team reached the University of Ghana a day ahead of the workshop to get better acquainted with the entire Ghanaian research team. Also, a day was dedicated to facilitate training sessions and discussions with respect to each work package. On 24th July 2015, members huddled around tables deep in discussion or diligently learning from the others during training sessions. This encouraged dialogues within the WPs with respect to delta-specific issues. As a part of the management team, I can proudly say that I attended my WP session outside the meeting venue at the steps in a garden. It was liberating in a way to discuss work yet not feel like doing work! A key outcome from this day was the clarification from each country team on the respective study areas. It was unanimously decided by all WP leads and member leads that administrative units in deltaic areas which are being dissected by the 5 metre contour line in each country shall be wholly considered as being in the DECCMA study area. The day closed with a cocktail dinner accompanied by live African music. The gentle evening breeze, Ghanaian food and the lively beats relaxed us after the long day.

The workshop officially kicked off on the 25th of July with Professor Samuel Codjoe, the DECCMA Ghana Lead, welcoming everyone to Accra and the University of Ghana. Prof Robert Nicholls then took everyone on a journey of the inception of DECCMA, right from its proposal drafting workshop in September 2013, through the kick-off workshop at Dhaka in June 2014, to the last workshop held in India in January 2015. He welcomed any new member attending the consortium workshop for the first time and asked the country leads to do the same from their respective country teams. He reintroduced DECCMA, its objectives, work package structure, aims and timeline to everyone and reminded us that we are 32% through! The reminder of the timeline helped everyone to reflect on the status of work being done. The goals and timetable of this workshop were reiterated. This was followed by formal presentations on the delta boundaries of the Bangladesh Delta, Indian Bengal Delta, Mahanadi Delta and the Volta Delta. The day then continued with presentations on the research progress of each work package (WP) where the WP leads either introduced the overall WP activities or summarised the discussions. The country teams presented on their WP progress and it was a good chance to learn about the commonalities and differences across the deltas. While governance and policies of each country are unique, the effect of climate change was common for all. Although the physical stressors varied from one delta to the other, the effects on the people were comparable. Analysing secondary data and literature reviews showed migration from the hotspot areas of these deltas and the observed adaptation options were also learnt. But stakeholder interactions, focus group discussions gave first-hand accounts of such results. These can be fully validated and more information can be garnered once the DECCMA team ventures out to conduct the household surveys. An effective dialogue between the WPs was initiated to facilitate incorporation of questions from each WP into the household survey questionnaire and also to enhance the integrated modelling framework which relies on inputs from all the other WPs. The day closed with the monthly closed meeting of the DECCMA Management Committee. This was followed by a sumptuous dinner at a local restaurant which also had a live band. It was the perfect setting for everyone to unwind after the day, and work took a backseat for most of us!

Workshops like these enhance working relationships and offer chances for better communication. The added advantage of hosting a workshop at a study area is that the wider project team gains a first-hand exposure to a new study site and on the 26th of July, the DECCMA team went for a field visit to the Volta delta. It was an enriching experience and good to see the Keta Sea Defense Project that is active in the region. As a student of humanities, African Literature had introduced me to the horrors of slave trade which was once dominant in the continent and the visit to Fort Prinzenstein etched it loud and clear in my psyche, the gruesome and inhuman past. The heart-wrenching echoes off the walls were louder than the sounds of the Atlantic Ocean. With lots of activities for us in the field visit, I did not get much time to ponder over this gloom. The team was taken to a farm where wind energy and biomass energy were effectively used and we got a chance to walk through pigsty, maize and shallot fields. The afternoon sun could have got the better of us had it not been for the refreshing tender-coconut water which was kindly served to us at the farm. Ghanaian hospitality at its best!

On the 27th of July, stakeholders from the Volta delta were present at the workshop. It was a nice gesture to begin the day with a prayer followed by an introduction to the CARIAA programme by Michele Leone and an introduction to DECCMA by Prof Robert Nicholls. The documentaries on each delta were shown, which was promptly followed by the climate change skit. It was a delight to watch such a serious issue being enacted in such a simple manner, which was easily relatable by any person, irrespective of their nationality. This was followed by presentations on related projects in each delta and this session also gave enough opportunity for discussion and learning. The next session had a reminder of the key project documents that every DECCMA member should be familiar with. The Research into Use and Theory of Change presentations made the country teams more eloquent with the way DECCMA envisages using RiU to better effect research. It was communicated that an effective RiU strategy should be developed based on the audience as different groups have different needs and engagement efforts should be made accordingly. The next slot dealt with adaptation and personally speaking I benefitted a lot from the interactive session based on identifying which activity would be adaptation, development, mitigation, coping or maladaptation. It made all of us think, debate and learn. This was followed by a discussion on the gender-sensitive approach in DECCMA and the team was reminded once again of the importance of including gender right from the beginning of the project.

The last day of the workshop had discussion on formulation of the expert advisory groups in each country and the future plans with respect to each WP. The research plans, publication plans and upcoming training workshops were all discussed and shared among the members. The workshop closed with a vote of thanks to the Ghanaian team for their hospitality and all the members for attending the workshop and making it a success.

The workshop was successful not only in terms of what was formally presented and discussed during the sessions but also when the members were scheduling catch-ups with one another during the tea-breaks and meals. The interactions were effective amidst the picturesque campus of the University of Ghana with its bountiful dose of greens and birds. I look forward to returning to Ghana but right now I am looking forward to meeting the DECCMA team at Southampton in January 2016!

Keta – Point of no return

17th August 20159th March 2017Lucy Graves Leave a comment

Coast in the Volta delta

On 26 July 2015, the DECCMA team visited the district of Keta on the coast of Ghana as part of a field program. The first stop was Fort Prinzenstein on the Gulf of Guinea. Fort Prinzenstein is one of several ‘point of no return’ locations for the slaves who were transported across the Atlantic. It is hard to fathom the thought of those unfortunate souls who were looking at the far away ocean while passing through this ‘point of no return’.

Whilst inside the fort, it was difficult to hear the heart wrenching story of enslavement and the debasement of humanity during the time of slave trading. Fort Prinzenstein has stood for hundreds of years as a reminder of our inhumanity.

Now, half of the fort is gone to the raging sea which is trying to engulf the fort as if to erase our shameful past. In front of half of the fort, a line of sea defence has been erected to protect Keta from further erosion. I could not help but ponder to myself whether, we as mankind, have reached another kind of ‘point of no return’ and this time another human folly – climate change.

The defence is impressive and appears to be impregnable. It took 15 million cubic meters of sand and one million tonnes of granite to build this steely defence. Coming from Bangladesh, I could not help but gaze at this impressive defence with envy, but will it hold against the rising sea? Will it prove to be a successful adaptation to climate change or turn out to be a maladaptation in the end?

Such ‘hold the shoreline’ defences are now necessary given the current threats, but how have we reached this stage? A major cause of increasing sea erosion is the loss of sediment nourishment due to the Akosombo Dam on the Volta River. Research by our Ghana colleagues shows that this sea defence is causing down drift erosion, transferring the risk downstream. The defence is itself at risk due to bottom scouring. Our Indian colleagues informed us that in their part of the Mahanadi delta in Odisha, sand dunes are being looked at more favourably as a better natural defence than hard structures.

For a developing country like Bangladesh, we know how difficult it is to maintain such structures. The construction and maintenance of the sea defence are of much better quality, indicating a better governance system in place in Ghana than in our delta. What makes it tick in Ghana? Can we translate these to our part of the delta where we have to frequently engage armed forces to ensure quality and time of construction?

During the next 4 to 5 years we will have more opportunities to evaluate this impressive defence as an adaptation measure. We intend to learn from it and transfer the learning to our delta. We hope that it will stand its guard. Till then – looking at you Keta!

by Rezaur Rahman, DECCMA Bangladesh

Incorporating gender into the DECCMA Indian team’s research

29th June 201528th February 2017Lucy Graves Leave a comment

The DECCMA India team organised a Gender Workshop on the 1st of June 2015, primarily to discuss DECCMA’s working paper on gender DECCMA’s approach to the incorporation of gender (Vincent, K. and Cull, T. 2015).

The workshop began with an introduction by Prof. Sugata Hazra where he highlighted the project objectives and how gender lies at its core. Following this, Ms. Anchita Ghatak, gender focal point for the DECCMA Indian team, discussed DECCMA’s approach to gender. She used power point presentations prepared by Kulima to initiate the discussion.

The presentation pointed out that while “sex” is the biological identifier, “gender” is a social construct. Gendering begins right from the birth of a child and it is almost as if society hands out a rulebook containing the dos and don’ts based on the sex of the child. This concept was further discussed by the team by sharing things which take place around us all the time and are intrinsic to our culture and way of life. We, therefore, take them as ‘natural’ and accept them unquestioningly. For instance, the gendering of toys for children has always been there but it seems that we take it for granted that that is how it is supposed to be.

We also talked about the fact that many thinkers and activists no longer make a distinction between nature and nurture. They are of the opinion that it is difficult to distinguish between what is biology and where socialisation begins. We also discussed the fact that gender identity is not necessarily fixed or static. While it is a fact that most people in the world subscribe to a gender identity of either male or female, they are many who choose other identities for themselves. Also, someone assigned ‘male’ (or female) at birth may not continue to ascribe to being male (or female) later in life. We need to develop an understanding of gender that goes beyond binaries and also appreciate new knowledge that says that we can see a spectrum of gender identities and an individual may be at different parts of the spectrum during their life. Also, it is important to understand that all people are also not necessarily heterosexual. Of course, a non binary understanding of gender necessarily explodes the idea of a solely heterosexual world.

Gender as a marker of identity works with other identifiers such as age, ethnicity, caste, religion, wealth, class and disability. Depending on where we are in our patriarchal society as a combination of these markers, we are privileged or oppressed. Compare a Brahmin, able bodied man in India with a Dalit girl with a disability. Different struggles to create an equal world do not aim at imposing sameness but strive for equality of opportunity for all – specific measures have to be put in place for oppressed / disadvantaged groups. Consequently, creation of a gender equal world often requires establishing equitable conditions. For example, we cannot expect girls to attend school if there are no toilets for them.

Patriarchy privileges males and a certain idea of maleness. The world gets divided into a ‘male’ world and a ‘female’ world – these are manifested differently in different cultures. The gender division of labour too, is almost always seen as ‘natural’, and women and girls are burdened with a disproportionate amount of domestic tasks.
The “public” and “private” domains have been starkly divided where women are trained to comply with the duties of the private world tending to household needs and carrying out reproductive activities. This demarcation has been so strong that it has been considered inappropriate for women to venture into tasks pertaining to the public domain. This has led to underdevelopment or lack of certain “simple” everyday skills in women. It is necessary for us to sharpen our gender lens to look beyond the norm.

When we look at Gender vis-à-vis Migration and Adaptation, we often find that women stay back to look after the elderly and children and perform reproductive activities. Migration also reinforces gender inequality where the woman who stays back may face exploitation and the ones who migrate may be subject to exploitation and violence. Remittances can also reinforce gender vulnerabilities and hierarchies where remittances sent by family members are handled by the remaining males of the family. Also, women sending remittances can challenge gender hierarchy but few acknowledge the source of earning.

Regarding gender and Adaptation, it was discussed that differential access to resources needed for adaptation gives rise to gender differences in vulnerability to climate change. We also discussed that access does not necessarily mean control. To access those resources required for carrying out household activities, women often have to toil more owing to the impacts of climate change on these resources like water, forest and land.

Developing a gender lens enables us to challenge patriarchy and develop a commitment to justice and equality. The project activities need to demonstrate inclusiveness as well as a commitment to address inequalities of caste, gender, religion, class, ableism, age and others. It is important to remember that gender is a cross cutting issue and issues of gender have to be addressed within all parameters of identity. An empowering vision needs to be developed which we would want to implement and we expect, as part of Research into Use, the research findings will enable a nuanced understanding of empowerment options and lead to suggestions for gender sensitive adaptation proposals.

The DECCMA Work Package structure was also discussed during the Workshop. Work Packages 1, 3 and 6 incorporate gender right from the data collection processes and ensuring equal participation of men, women and others at stakeholder events and household surveys will lead to a gender equitable process. Work Packages 2 and 4 rely on secondary data which is already sex-disaggregated. Under WP4, exploration of the effect of women’s micro-credit self-help groups on women and the economy can be assessed. Since Work Package 5 includes outputs from all the other WPs, gender is already included.

The workshop closed with the prospect of having a next one where the researchers will develop a plan about addressing gender in the work tasks of their different work packages.

Projecting fish production under climate change: A comparative analysis across three vulnerable deltas

25th June 20159th March 2017Lucy Graves Leave a comment

Work flow between Step 1 (data collection and comparative analysis) and Step 2 (modelling).

Plymouth Marine Laboratory (PML) will be conducting a comparative analysis on the importance of fisheries for food security in the three deltas/regions: Volta (Ghana), Mahanadi (India) and Ganges-Brahmaputra-Meghna (Bangladesh) and how climate change could potentially influence marine ecosystems productivity. Deltas communities are strongly dependent on coastal fisheries including shallow wetlands and other semi-enclosed bodies of water. In these three countries fishery is a very important sector and contributes between 4-5% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Despite its importance for the local economy there are marked differences amongst countries, for example, the average per capita consumption (per year) of fish products varies with Ghana consuming the highest amount (25kg) followed by Bangladesh (14kg) and India (8.2kg). Delta communities are ranked amongst the poorest in the world and as a consequence potential impacts of global and regional climate change on the marine ecosystem productivity could have dramatic impacts on their economy and food security.

For the DECCMA project data will be collected from available database and literature to give information about fisheries (e.g. commercial species, time series data of catches, fishing and natural mortality, division between subsistence, artisanal and commercial fisheries) and socio-economic structure (e.g. number of fishermen, type of vessels, incomes/trades, consumption, livelihoods) in Ghana, Bangladesh and India. This part of the work will be conducted in liaison with local partners who will supply PML with local data whenever possible. This information will be summarised for the project report(s) and in published paper(s). The data collected and the information gained from the comparative analysis will support ecosystem modelling also carried out by PML. A model of water circulation and energy transfer (Proudman Oceanographic Laboratory Coastal Ocean Modelling System – POLCOMS) will be coupled with a model of the low trophic levels (the European Regional Seas Ecosystem Model – ERSEM) and fisheries models (size-spectrum and species based). The output from this framework will be fish production potential under climate change scenarios across the three delta/regions. Finally these results will inform other work packages in the DECCMA project (migration, integration, economics and adaptation).

Water recedes, but water-borne diseases rise on Mousuni island

27th March 20159th March 2017Lucy Graves Leave a comment

Water recedes

12 diarrhoea cases reported; absence of doctors compels people to approach quacks
As the water from the high tides, which destroyed hundreds of houses on the Mousuni island, recedes, people are increasingly facing the threat of water-borne diseases. The seawater that submerged large parts of the sinking island has left all the fish in ponds dead and spoiled acres of agricultural lands. Locals complain of a foul smell emanating from different parts of the island.
“At least 12 cases of diarrhoea have been reported. In the absence of regular doctors the people have no option but to turn to quacks,” Sk Golam Muhammad, a member of Mousuni Gram Panchayat told The Hindu on Thursday.
With 1,500 people lodged in eight relief centres and several others in makeshift huts the situation is going to worsen, Mr. Muhammad said, adding that the State administration should take steps to ensure that medicines and other health facilities arrive here in time.
“The people are demanding that health camps be set up on the island,” he said. When The Hindu visited the sinking island on Wednesday there was anger among the people over the lack of health care facilities. The only source of drinking water is a few deep tube wells for a population of 30,000. The health workers, who were supplying medicines and ORS packets, admitted that the supply was not enough.
Dasarth Kisku, Block Medical Officer, admitted that more medical aid is required and said that a doctor and two health assistants visited the island during the day. “We will have to step up the health care facilities on the island. There is a primary health centre that has been providing them facilities over the past few days. We will make arrangements so that patients can be admitted to the health facility at night,” Mr. Kisku said.
Nearly four days after large parts of Mousuni were submerged, local MLA Bamkim Hazra visited the island on Thursday. “The situation is grim,” Mr. Hazra told The Hindu, pointing out that about seven km of embankments has been breached.
“I have taken up the matter with the State’s Irrigation Minister Rajib Banerjee and Minister for Sunderban Development Manturam Pakhira. The people want the embankments to be repaired,” the MLA said.
Mr. Hazra, whose constituency comprises three islands – Sagar, Ghoramara, and Mousuni – was not very hopeful that the repairs could be made in due time. The MLA said that the work for repairing the embankments may not start before the approaching new moon tide that may result in another flooding.

http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/kolkata/water-recedes-but-waterborne-diseases-rise-on-mousuni-island/article6224946.ece

Rising tides pose a threat to sinking island in Sunderbans

27th March 20159th March 2017Lucy Graves Leave a comment

Over 2,000 families affected, acres of farm land submerged

Rising tides are a threat

Large parts of Mousuni, a sinking island in the Sunderbans archipelago, have been submerged with tides rising because of the spring equinox. “More than 2,000 families have been affected and hundreds of acres of agricultural land and several fisheries have been destroyed by the high tides,” Sheikh Ilias, panchayat pradhan of Mousuni told The Hindu on Tuesday. Ilias said that he himself was standing in knee-deep water. Mousuni, one of the 52 inhabited islands of the archipelago, and a vulnerable climate change hotspot, is sinking at a rapid pace. The island with a population of over 20,000 lies in the estuarine system and is open to the sea, said Tuhin Ghosh of the School of Oceanographic Studies, Jadavpur University. “As the sea level continues to rise, flooding will become a regular phenomenon,” Dr Ghosh said.

The 24-sq km island is the second most vulnerable island of the Sunderbans, next to Ghoramara island, whose population is about 5,000. The panchayat pradhan claimed that damage to the island and the impact on the people is far more than it was during super cyclone Aila, which hit the Sunderbans in May 2009. “The embankments here have not been repaired since they were breached by Aila. About nine km of embankments has to repaired to prevent seawater flooding. The western part of the island is vulnerable to tides and regular flooding occurs, but this time the situation is grave,” said Ilias. He said the State government had provided foodgrains, but supply is not proportionate to the number of people affected. A UNDP report published in 2010 said that 15 per cent of the delta will be submerged by 2020.

Original article in ‘The Hindu’

Thousands left homeless in Bengal’s sinking island

27th March 20157th March 2017Lucy Graves Leave a comment

thousands left homeless Kalpana Mandal, in her sixties, stood outside her tiny hut in Mousuni, a sinking island in the Sunderbans, with a long fishing net in her hand. All the land around her has been submerged, and hers is the last house standing. In a desperate attempt to save her humble abode from being washed away, Kalpana has covered most of her hut with the fishing net which she fastened at various points on the ground. But there is little hope of her dwelling being spared by the inexorable rising tide.
Since Sunday, large parts of Mousuni island have been under water, with hundreds of houses swept away by the rising tide caused by the Spring Equinox. “I have lost most of my possessions. Once this house is washed away, I will have to live on the streets,” Kalpana told The Hindu.
There are thousands like Kalpana on the island who have taken shelter either in flood relief camps or makeshift tents set up on the road. “Around 2,000 families in three villages of the island have been affected,” informed Tapas Mandal, Block Development Officer, Namkhana, under which the island falls. According to him, the situation has been worsened by the reluctance of the villagers to relocate to higher ground despite repeated requests from the administration. Mousuni Gram Panchayat Pradhan, Sk Ilias, said that more than three-fourths of the island, whose population stands at around 30,000, have been affected.
“Where do we relocate? We do not want any money from the government. All we have been asking is that the embankment is repaired so that our families can be spared,” said Basanta Giri, whose house was destroyed. There are over 12 km of embankments which need to be repaired, the villagers claim.
With water-borne diseases like diarrhoea spreading in the region, a shortage of medicines is acutely felt. “During the day we have been distributing ORS and other medicines for water borne diseases, but we are falling short as the number affected people is very high,” said a health officer working in the villages. Mousuni, with its proximity to the open sea, is particularly vulnerable to the rising tides. “Over the past few years, the sea level has risen, as well as the sea temperature. These have been the primary reasons for the present situation,” said Tuhin Ghosh, joint director of School of Oceanographic Studies, Jadavpur University. Dr Ghosh has warned that in the coming years the frequency and the intensity of such tidal flooding are likely to increase.
A joint report (Indian Sunderbans Delta: A Vision) published by World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) and School of Oceanographic Studies in 2012 had stated that over a million people in the Sunderbans will be affected by the year 2050 due to climate change. The report has called for a change in the existing policies of the government and suggested a “planned retreat” of the people living in the archipelago to the mainland.

http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/kolkata/thousands-left-homeless-in-bengals-sinking-island/article6219942.ece