(IN) Sinking feeling over Sunderbans, a UNESCO heritage zone

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State gets a sinking feeling over Sunderbans

Shiv Sahay Singh Posted: Friday , Nov 27, 2009 at 0409 hrs

 

Kolkata: As the world debates on the emission norms and strategies to combat

climate change at Copenhagen on December 7, thousands of students,

environmentalists, academicians and common people in Kolkata will march from

Victoria Memorial to Netaji Indoor Stadium where Chief Minister Buddhdeb

Bhattacharjee will address them to highlight the cause of the Sunderbans which

many say is facing a clear and present danger due to global warming.

 

Departments like the Sunderbans Affairs, West Bengal Environment Department and

West Bengal Green Energy Development Corporation have come together to drive

home the point.

 

“We want the Centre to put its foot down and say emission should be controlled

to preserve the Sunderbans region. Many developed countries are not too keen on

emission cuts, but we want some solution,” said Kanti Ganguly, minister for

Sunderban Affairs.

 

Earlier, state Environment Minister Sailen Sarkar had written to the Centre

asking it to raise the issue at the Copenhagen meet. In his letter to Union

Minister for Environment and Forests Jairam Ramesh, Sarkar had said while the

world’s attention is directed at Maldives and Los Angeles, the Sunderbans is

sinking into oblivion.

Academicians and social workers say the Sunderbans is most vulnerable to climate

change than any other place in the country and even in the world. “The

Sunderbans is one of the three most vulnerable regions of the globe due to

climate change — the other two being the Nile delta and the area comprising

Philippines and Cambodia. The rising sea level and frequent storms are a cause

for alarm and migration from the delta is also increasing,” said S P

Gonchowdhury, the chairman of the West Bengal Green Energy Development

Corporation.

 

Gonchowhury, who is known for his contribution to green energy and is an invitee

at the Copenhagen summit, said there is a possibility of an international fund

for Climate Refugees being set up at the summit and it is important for both the

state and Central governments to highlight the situation in the Sunderbans.

 

Of the 100-odd existing islands in the Sunderbans region, 52 have a total

population of 4.5 million while the rest are covered by forests. The state

government has recently undertaken a proposal to erect dykes and embankments on

the 3500-km stretch of the island after Cyclone Aila struck the delta on May 28

this year.

 

Experts Tushar Kanjilal and others who have been working at the Sunderbans for

over three decades say over the year, there has been a massive migration of

locals.

 

“After Aila struck the islands in May this year, over 30,000 people have

migrated out of the area. There has also been migration from smaller islands to

bigger ones like the Sagar Islands. In islands like Rangabelia, more than 5,000

youths have migrated to various parts of the country,” Kanjilal said.

 

In the past 20 years, the water levels in the rivers surrounding the islands

have increased three-fold and if the sea level rises further, as is being

projected by environmentalists, many islands would be submerged.

 

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