Ladies discussing

On July 7, 2015 DECCMA Researchers from Jadavpur University and Centre for Environment and Development, Kolkata, India interacted with local residents of Satjelia island of Gosaba block (sub-district), of the Indian Bengal Delta for a focus group discussion (FGD). Attended by 15 men and 10 women, the discussion was conducted in local language (Bangla) in two separate male-female groups.

Prof. Sugata Hazra introduced the objectives of DECCMA. Although Satjelia does not face the risk of erosion as faced by some other islands of this delta, the responses from this FGD were important to understand other stresses experienced by the people of this region.

The following themes were discussed:

Perceived Climatic Changes: Imbalances in climatic conditions have become more prevalent since the occurrence of Cyclone Aila in 2009. These changes include unpredictable weather, untimely setting in of seasons, erratic rainfall, increase in temperature, floods and cyclones and saline water intrusion.

Effects on Livelihoods: Whiplash of environmental stress is being faced by all age groups, across all livelihoods. Farmers are worst affected followed by the fishermen, honey and crab collectors. Not only are the people shifting between livelihoods but also competing to carry those out in limited available space.

Coping and Adaptation strategies: Adaptation measures include successful cultivation of salt tolerant rice varieties. Development initiatives include introduction of solar power since the island has no electricity. The villagers are also adopting coping mechanisms to survive by constructing temporary mud embankments which are unreliable.

Migration as a response to the stresses – People are mostly migrating to the nearest urban and peri-urban areas to work in bags, hosiery manufacturing units and tanneries. Young people are migrating seeking education. A lot of women who have school education are now going to Kolkata to work as care-givers for patients.

Migration successful or unsuccessful?: Success for these people is a very grey area. Migration is ushering in economic success but the pitfalls include diseases. Family as a social unit is getting disrupted at the cost of economic gains. Exploitation at the hands of middlemen hardly makes migration successful.

Impacts of migration: Households are devoid of men, women and young people. The social structure is thus getting affected with mostly the elderly being left behind. The island is gradually becoming home to trapped population.

If you are interested please contact Sumana (sumana.ju.deccma@gmail.com) for a full version of the report

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

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’