Climate Justice Network in West Bengal initiated by SEED

We all always crave for social, political as well as for economic justice at some point of our lives, if not always. This is quite natural, since these issues are the burning issues in our lives. But, we hardly think that a day will come when we all, irrespective of caste, religion, nation and even economic status will have to raise our voice for Climate justice. Unfortunately, those who are least responsible for the changing climate across the world are falling prey and also the most sufferers of the changing climate.

As popularly described, Climate Justice is a vision to dissolve and alleviate the unequal burdens on the people as a consequence of climate change. It is a movement that emphasizes non-violent direct action and public education to mobilize for effective and just solutions to the burning climate crisis. It aims to offer fair treatment to all people without any kind of discrimination while creating and supporting policies and projects addressing the ill effects of climate change and the systems that create climate change.

Global Climate Change mainly affects the poor indigenous communities, immensely affecting their financial as well as health condition. All human beings have equal right to live and work in a healthy environment. The delicate balance between sea, air and land is greatly threatened by various human induced climate changes and so we need to fight against this menace together.

Sundarban, the largest delta in the world, is one of the worst affected areas by global climate changes. The negative impacts of climate change like extreme natural disasters, heat related illness and death, spreading of infectious diseases, increasing energy costs are fast affecting the coastal communities living here. So, it has also become an ethical issue as these worst affected people are least responsible for the changes in climatic conditions. It is their right and our duty to provide them environmental justice along with social justice. 

The problem of Indian Sundarban will not only affect the coastal community per se, but it will have its effect on the people living in nearby metro cities including Kolkata. As a direct effect of Global warming and consequent sea level rise, mangrove islands of Sundarban are under considerable erosion. Added to this, consistent and continuous people’s interference has already destroyed a large number of deltaic mangroves. As a result, the mangrove forest of Sundarban has become sparse and that way weaker to protect against the cyclones and storms. If this trend of destruction of mangroves continues, the city of Kolkata lying near the Bay of Bengal, will soon face the wrath of huge storms as it will intensify potentially and millions will be affected considerably. Rising sea level will lead to higher tides along the adjoining Hooghly River and thus welcoming a dreaded danger of frequent flooding within the city. So, time has now come when we have to decide and take appropriate actions and steps to keep the ecologically rich Sundarbans in the map and save the people of Kolkata and as also those living in Sundarbans.

Climate change and the rising sea level has already taken toll on two islands of Sundarbans - Supari Bhanga and Lohachara Islands, which have been submerged into the sea. More than 60% of another island, namely Ghoramara, has been eroded out due to stronger waves and river current, also an effect of sea level rise. The homeless inhabitants of these islands have migrated to Sagar Island and they are the environmental refugees now working as landless labourers.

Flood affected Sundarban in the mid of 2014

Flood affected Sundarban in the mid of 2014

According to a recent report of the School of Oceanographic Studies, Jadavpur University with World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), approximately one million people would turn climate change refugees by the year 2050 if the present condition persists. This is an alarming indication for all of us to be prepared for the upcoming worst situation in near future.

Climate Change is now affecting our environment, social routines as well as our daily lives directly or indirectly. Considering all these issues, SEED (Society for Socio Economic and Ecological Development) has joined hands with people of different strata to make it a bigger joint mission through a forum titled “People’s Alliance for Climate Justice Network in Sundarban’’ to create awareness about climate change and its effects and how can we adapt in a changed scenario to save our life and livelihood through adaptation and at the same time to take part in mitigation measures also.

On 6th October, 2014, SEED invited some environment scientists, social workers, artists, doctors, students from various districts of West Bengal and several CBOs (Community Based Organizations), Sundarban coastal community members, who are the greatest sufferer of the coastal climate change effects. The aim of bringing people of all strata together under this forum was to create a Climate Justice Network in West Bengal, with main focus on Sundarban coastal region. Dr. Kalyan Acharya, Vice President of SEED, who is also a renowned physician and social activist, addressed the gathering and explained the importance of creating a Climate Justice network in the state. The cultural performance of the students which included many songs and poems on environment and Sundarban was well appreciated by the audience. It is a matter of great pride that the songs and poems were all composed by Dr. Acharya himself. The students also shared their thought about environment and their understanding about climate change. Nevertheless to mention that It is absolutely necessary to involve the student community to this Network as they are the future generation who will take care of the environment and will also motivate their families in doing the same.

Children are performing at the event

The aim of this Network will be to strengthen and promote the environmental rights of the indigenous as well as the affected coastal people and to fight the climate crisis together. A regional movement will be started which will later join and culminate into a national as well as international movement for climate justice. It aims to encourage people at all level to take urgent action so as to work together for mitigating the disastrous climate change.

Sundarban, which has been declared as the World Heritage site by United Nations, is extremely rich in flora and fauna and is an ecological hotspot. It is extremely popular in international level for wildlife biodiversity. Unfortunately, the changing climate is taking its toll on the mesmerizing biodiversity of the 104 islands of Sundarban too. The Climate Justice Network will highlight these issues and will make aware local people about the same and motivate them to protect their surrounding biodiversity.

For a complete and systematic transformation of the society, the core socio economic, political as well as ecological issues will be addressed to improve our understanding of the climate crisis. Without any specific political inclination and bias, the Network will work peacefully towards these goals.

It was indeed a pleasure to have renowned professional painter and installation artist Mr. Rupchand Kundu at the event. One of the themes of his works, namely ‘In search of Nature’, took him to the coastal Sundarban. Mr. Kundu has been creating awareness among the general masses through his artistic works with ecofriendly materials. He aims to take back people closer to the nature again who are knowingly or unknowingly constantly destroying the richness of the Mother Nature. He gave a clear message to the admirers of his work that we should avoid using non-degradable items while preparing our art works and most importantly nature is the most beautiful thing which we should protect with all efforts.

Mr. Rupchand Kundu with other participants at the event

With everyone’s support and insistence, Mr. Rupchand Kundu was declared as the Convenor of this forum “People’s Alliance for Climate Justice Network in Sundarban’’.

Mr. Bhabananda Chatterjee, Director of SEED, discussed on the adverse effects of climate change in Sundarban and how we can fight it together in organized manner. He requested everyone to be a part of different awareness programmes which the organization is going to start very soon. The social activists and environment scientists present on the occasion pledged to contribute on their part to aware people about the dreaded effects of climate change and their bleak future in the backdrop of climate change. The general masses will also be motivated to participate in various programmes for effective adaptation and mitigation of the climate change, which is going to affect their locality, life and also livelihood very dearly in near future. 

Mr. Bhabananda Chatterjee addressing at the event

It was proposed and resolved that SEED with the help of the local social activists and environmentalists will organize school level awareness campaigns at various parts of Sundarban. Later, this will be taken to other districts of West Bengal and more people will be associated with this Climate Action Network in West Bengal. This will be open to people of all strata starting from students to professionals who have keen interest and zeal to work for the Climate Justice in their localities.

Professor Jyotiranjan Naskar, President of SEED as also former Head, Department of Zoology, Sreerampur College, who has been working in the field of biodiversity conservation since last two decades, presided over the programme. He shared his valuable experiences of working in the field of biodiversity conservation with the audience. He remarked that the biodiversity conservation and fighting against climate change are interrelated since both the issues affect each other. He also pointed out that the Climate change is already forcing biodiversity to adapt either through shifting habitat, changing life cycles, or the development of new physical traits and in extreme case, get extinct. Mr. Naskar added that biodiversity can support efforts to reduce the negative effects of climate change also. So, if we conserve surrounding biodiversity, it will automatically add to our efforts for reduction of climate change effects.

It is an initiative to provide a platform to all environmentally conscious people to work for its protection. We hope this will motivate others to protect and act for saving their surrounding environment which as a result will help in the mitigation of global climate change in the coming years. We welcome people of all sections to join hands with us in this mission to save our climate and our people. Recently, Indian government has also reconstituted its Climate Change Panel and started active involvement at the global level. So, we can hope for a better policy in the coming days to fight against the climatic menace.

Climate Change Adaptive Measure Efforts by SEED in Agriculture Sector in Sundarbans

The coastal states of India are most affected due to Global Climate change and consequent sea level rise as these states are subjected to various environmental as well as socio-economic pressures due to this factor. Coastal rural community are the major victims of climate change since the natural resources of these states are getting affected and deteriorated due to climate change and the livelihood and daily lives of the coastal community are greatly dependent on these resources. Moreover, these coastal rural communities are regularly facing the threat of climate change at low lying areas adjacent to coast due to their proximity to sea. They usually lack the modern infrastructure, knowledge and resources to fight the climate related challenges. The objective situation clearly points to the fact that the coastal community have a very limited adaptive capacity to these sudden changes. Thus, a substantial adaptation effort is required on consistent basis to lessen the problems of these coastal communities in Sundarban arising from climate change. A sustainable development plan is also required in order to get them involved in the community based adaptation processes.

Now-a-days, the issue of climate change adaptation and sustainable development are inseparable in nature. Development in coastal areas especially in Sundarban comes at a huge cost. Development of any strategy in Sundarban areas depends on the careful consideration of the present and possible future climate change impacts in this region. A long term planning based on a detailed study on vulnerabilities of the local people due to climate change is also required considering livelihood and infrastructure facilities.

The deadly effects of global climate change have been affecting Sundarban Islands in a noticeable manner through the erratic fluctuation of temperature, unseasonal rains, droughts, floods, heat waves, extreme weather patterns, and high amplitude waves etc., which were unprecedented in Sundarban region a few years back. This results into accelerated coastal erosion and consequent loss of land and property due to flooding, saltwater intrusion, change in distribution pattern and abundance of valuable marine species, loss of habitat and biodiversity. 

Flood affected agricultural lands in Sundarban

Most importantly, the farmers are suffering from low crop yields and in some cases their livelihood is at stake. Apart from supporting them in various adaptation plans in respect of appropriate agriculture, SEED (Society for Socio Economic and Ecological Development), uses to train them to face the worst scenario as a capacity building exercise and how to fight during such natural disaster condition as a result of climate change.

In the year 2009, the coastal areas of Sundarban were among the worst hit areas due to a huge cyclonic disturbance called Aila, causing loss of considerable life and livestock. Property, land and livelihood of thousands of local people were lost due to such cyclone. Intrusion of salt water into agricultural lands over a vast stretch of areas made them uncultivable. At this time, SEED along with agriculture specialists started working towards finding solutions of this problem of the farmers.

In 2011, training cum workshop was organised by SEED on sustainable agriculture at Bharatgar G.P (one of the worst hit blocks due to Aila in Sundarban) of Basanti Block in Sundarban with support from the Food & Agriculture Engineering Department, IIT Kharagpur.  The training was provided to the farmers especially whose lands were inundated by salt water. Since then, SEED was planning to introduce salt tolerant paddy seed varieties to these farmers in a commercial scale.

Training on Sustainable agriculture at Bharatgar GP

In the Year 2012, SEED organised one training cum workshop at Kultali Block of Sundarbans (also a worst hit blocks of Sundarban) with the technical support of Agriculture Department of Calcutta University. Community farming, use of bio-fertilisers and use of bio-pesticides as adaptive measures for climate change were discussed in detail in that workshop. Eminent agriculture scientist, Prof. Ashim Choudhuri was present in this workshop as a resource person. The enthusiasm amongst the local farmers was noticeable.

In the year 2012, SEED organised a training camp on Precision Farming at Shankarpur Gram Panchayat of Baruipur Block of South 24-Parganas. Baruipur block is famous for orchards and the major source of earning of the local farmers is the fruits grown in such orchards and gardens. But, in recent time due to the effects of climate change, the local farmers are greatly affected due to dwindling production. A group of agricultural scientists from Food & Agriculture Engineering Department, IIT Kharagpur  including the eminent scientist Dr. A. K. Karan were present there as resource person. The theme discussion was cantered around various methods of combating the problem of reduced production of fruits due to the effect of climate change as an adaptive measure.

  

Agriculture is the major livelihood of the Indian Sundarban communities and the rest are dependent on fishing and aquaculture. Again, paddy is the major crop grown here. The main livelihood option of the coastal Sundarban is under high threat due to the effects of climate change.

Further, the rising sea level makes the situation even worse especially after monsoon. The recent dreaded flood in Sundarbans particularly affecting Mousuni and Sagar Island is an eye opener. Sudden breach of river embankments along vast stretch caused flooding of agricultural lands over extensive areas wherein salt water entered the agricultural fields making them uncultivable for the current year as well as next few years to come. Definitely, such threat will keep increasing as the experts have warned about rise of sea level at a higher level and more severe storms in the coming years. This will be certainly a great challenge for the coastal communities as they will lose their livelihood and livestock in such a situation. As a consequence, it seems that they will be forced to live in a lesser condition of life by way of opting for either fishing or migrating to unskilled labour in nearby cities.

Keeping in view of such a massive threat emanating from climate change effects, the organization planned to offer some basic adaptation techniques to combat this challenge. SEED, which was trying to come up with a solution of growing crops in salt affected land, finally became able to distribute some salt tolerant varieties of paddy seeds in four islands of Sundarban with the support of Rice Research Station, Government of West Bengal. 

Agriculture Scientists and President of SEED with local farmers

Each farmer was given 4 kilograms of the paddy seeds for an initial adaptive trial. This will enable the farmers to grow paddy even in lands affected by salt water. Just a week after this, high tidal surge caused the breach of river embankments in Mousuni and Sagar Island, as described above, flooding extensive areas, destroying houses and inundating vast stretches of agricultural lands with saline water in several villages. As the water is receding now, in these coastal villages of the two islands, the farmers can at least grow paddy with this salt tolerant varieties in their fields which was inundated with salt water and hopefully their livelihood will be maintained with such an endeavour.

Agriculture Scientists (Dr. Kamal Sen and Mr. Soumen Basu) from SEED visited 4 blocks (Tridibnagar village in Jharkhali Island of Basanti Block), (Mousuni Island in Namkhana Block), (G-Plot in Pathar Pratima Block), (Muriganga 1 GP in Sagar Island) of Sundarbans and provided on farm support to the farmers. The seeds were distributed to about 100 farmers of the four islands, who had experienced salt water inundation in their agricultural fields earlier during cyclonic season. The salt tolerant paddy seed varieties like Jarva, Bina 8, Bina 10, GS5, GS9, RP Bio4919-50-13, Luna Barial, Luna Subarna, Amalman etc. were distributed to the farmers. Apart from these, some scented varieties of paddy seeds like Dadshal, Govinda Bhog, Shitabhog, Radhuni Pagol, Badsha Bhog and China Kamini were distributed amongst few farmers so that they can do good business by selling these costly varieties of rice.

Salt Tolerant Paddy seeds being packed 

36 villagers of Mousuni Island were handed over these salt tolerant varieties of seeds. Among them, Farida Baig was the only female farmer whose agricultural land was badly affected by saline water. She is the head of the family and has to work in the field to earn two meal for her family.

Mohammad Illias, the Gram Pradhan of Mousuni Island thanked SEED for taking this initiative to support the farmers of his village. He said that some of the farmers were left with no other option but to migrate to nearby areas so as to work as daily labourer as their lands have turned saline. But with the availability of such salt tolerant variety, they can now again go back to the farming work.

Sukumar Pattnaik is one of the beneficiaries of Pathar Pratima Block, who lost his all hopes of farming again after Cyclone Aila. Now, he is happy to get this salt tolerant variety of paddy seeds and hopes to get a good yield of crop this year.

Paddy seeds being measured before distribution

Sujan Mondal of Jharkhali Island said that he will 
distribute the seeds to his fellow farmers in next farming season if he gets good result this year.

In Sagar Island,  some of the farmers are in possession of considerable amount of agricultural lands but more than half of it has now turned saline after cyclone Aila and due to annual breach of river embankments. 56 year old farmer Biman Mondal is one such farmer whose 3 bighas of land has turned uncultivable as it got inundated by salt water. He is now cultivating only in the rest 2 bighas of land he owns. Now, he hopes to cultivate in the other 3 bighas too after getting the salt tolerant paddy seeds. He said that his financial condition has deteriorated due to sudden shrinkage of farming land, but he is looking forward to bring his good days back once again.

Unlike others, 55 year old farmer Sukhdeb Patra sounded very low as his son had to leave his studies midway because of this climate change effects since considerable amount of his agricultural land got flooded with salt water thus leaving him penniless for two years.

Farmers after receiving the paddy seeds and one female farmer in her paddy field in Mousuni Island

We cannot assure to bring back their good days all on a sudden in a single go. But we sincerely believe that this small effort will provide them a little support to their livelihood. 

Agriculture Scientists monitoring the paddy farms

The change in climatic condition is not fully in our control but we can at least try our level best to adapt with such changes and look forward to a better life for these coastal communities. However, it will not be limited to paddies only. We will definitely try to provide them salt tolerant seeds of other crops too in near future.

FLOOD DISASTER IN SUNDARBAN

FLOOD SCENARIO IN SAGAR ISLAND, SUNDARBAN

The road from Kachuberia to Gangasagar in Sagar Island, Sundarban

Flood water entering a career coaching centre in Kachuberia village, Muriganga 1 GP, Sagar Island, Sundarban

A villagers house in Shilpara in Muriganga- 1 GP of Sagar Island, Sundarban, has been in inundated with flood water

Flood victims taking shelter in Kachuberia village, Sagar Island, Sundarban

Muriganga Gram Panchayat Office in Sagar Island, Sundarban

Emergency Flood Relief Appeal for Sundarbans

Dear Friends,

Please spare a few minutes of your valuable time to read the below mentioned issue as it is a matter concerning lives of lakhs of peoples living in Sundarbans.

It is a matter of great concern that due to the breach of the river embankment in Sundarbans during high tide on 13.07.2014, both Sagar Island and Mousuni Island have been badly hit by tidal surge. The tidal waves are now freely moving within the affected parts of the islands. Global climate change effect is taking its toll in this coastal region. Sea level rise has become utmost concern of this part of the world as many of the islands are in higher risk of getting submerged under water.

Heavy rainfall has made the situation worse for the coastal inhabitants. Huge parts of the islands have been inundated with flood water destroying human abodes and agricultural lands. Many houses have gone under water due to sudden flood out tidal surge during full moon period and around 50,000 islanders in Mousuni Island and about 1, 00,000 people in Sagar Island and Pathar Pratima have been vastly affected by this dreaded flood.

Apart from losing their homes, these poor people of both the islands have lost their agricultural lands, food grains, livestocks and livelihood all on a sudden due to such flood. With the advent of the monsoon, incessant rain has disrupted communications and routine life of the coastal communities. A large portion of the agricultural land has gone under saline water, which will ultimately become uncultivable. Even if the water gets receded away, the soil will turn saline. It would be difficult for making any agriculture over such land.Apart from crop destruction, the aquaculture, which is one of the major livelihoods here, will also get badly hit as the tidal water which entered the ponds, had taken away all the fishes and the rest will be damaged.

Most of the devastated sufferers have taken shelters in the comparatively high areas within the islands but they are in a precarious situation due to lack of foods and particularly drinking water. The situation is extremely bad particularly for the aged, children and women folks. Each day is passing in a very critical condition where health and sanitation are completely in a precarious situation.  

SEED is trying level best to support them in this critical situation with every possible ways. But, more external support is required to provide them a healthy life with basic amenities and medical support so that they can live in a humanly environment.

Considering this emergency, it would be highly appreciated if you can provide any sorts of help and support for these needy people in crisis. Please come forward to help with your capacity whatever you can by donating for them. SEED is registered under 80G. Any donation to SEED is exempted from Income Tax under section 80G.

SEED TEAM

Climate Change Adaptation- An initiative towards sustainable livelihood

When the whole world is talking about climate change and adaptation strategies, how can we leave behind Sundarban Islands, which are among the most affected areas of climate change in India! But, we cannot expect the poor coastal people to understand the technical meaning of the word ‘climate change adaptation’. However, they understand in simple words that the climate of their area has changed since last few years and they can feel the increasing heat during the summer. They also know about the increasing sea level and the submergence of their neighbour islands under sea water.

Fishermen community of Sagar Island

Climate change impacts the overall productivity of coastal ecosystems as it has direct or indirect effect on health and welfare of coastal communities and thousands of people that depend on the natural resources. Even though Sagar Island is the biggest of the others islands of Sundarban, the option of livelihood for the poor coastal communities is yet limited.

Women are not left behind when it comes to fishing

The adaptive capacity of any community depends on its economic and ecological well-being, infrastructure, mediation measures as well as information and communication systems. All these are at a stake when we talk about Sagar Island. The economic condition of the island is nothing to be proud of. Whereas, the ecological balance is disturbed with constant destruction of biodiversity by the communities itself as most of them are ignorant about its importance for their survival. Fishing is one of the important livelihood options in this coastal area but the amount of fish caught in a day and the quality of fishes have also deteriorated. So, it is no longer a lucrative career here. Since the literacy level is very low, the coastal people cannot also have option to search for a good job. Since, we can hardly do anything to stop the climate change, it is better to teach them about adaptation processes. 

Mr. Choudhury explaining the SHG women about the craft

SEED (Society for Socio Economic and Ecological Development) has been trying to make these venerable coastal people aware of the climate change affects and the adaptation processes. For, this it has also organised various programmes like disaster preparedness, campaign against biodiversity destruction etc. On the occasion of World Environment Day, the organisation planned to offer a small alternate livelihood option to the coastal women of Sagar Island. The salinity of the agricultural land is increasing day by day and most of the people do not have their own land. At this juncture, they were left puzzled for their regular livelihood opportunity. Mr. Prashanta Choudhury, who has been associated with SEED for a long time, brought his nature craft to these poor coastal women.  He has been preparing varieties of nature craft items with his team since last few years and has been able to market them to international clients in USA. The uniqueness of these craft items is it is prepared by natural resources so it will not cost much to get the raw materials. 

Mr. Choudhury showing them the processed water hyacinth

On 5^th June, few SHG women of Rudranagar GP of Sagar Island were brought under a single roof to train them in nature craft making. Along with Mr. Choudhury, two of his team members started the training very enthusiastically. Initially, the women were little hesitant but as time passed and they explained methodically about the craft items, their interest grew and they engrossed in the training process.

The training continues

The team with one of the prepared craft item

Anima Bera, one of the SHG members, had always her heart and soul in craft making but was not getting a direction to take it forward. So, when SEED showed her the path, she grabbed it quickly. Within a couple of hours, she was confident of preparing a photo frame with the help of water hyacinth. On this day, the basic nature resource was the much ignored weed water hyacinth. Yes, you heard it right; water hyacinth was used to prepare base of the items like hand bags, lamp shed, photo frame, coaster etc. The best part of this profession is it can be easily done from home and with easily available low cost materials. 

Initially, SEED has trained only a handful number of women with the support of Mr. Choudhury. But, it has planned to take it forward as a sustainable livelihood option for these coastal women. So, many such training sessions will be organised in the coming days so that they become highly skilled in preparing nature craft items. Once, they are confident to prepare the items on their own, the products can be taken for various exhibition and also to trade fairs to increase its visibility so that they can expect a good return of money. It is a small step towards climate change adaption for the vulnerable coastal women. If this becomes successful, the women can earn good money for their family as well as contribute their part in adapting to the climate change affects.

Light of Education for Lodha tribe in Sundarban’s Sagar Island on World Environment Day

This year, the theme of World Environment Day was the development challenges and environmental problems of small islands. Keeping this in mind, SEED decided to inaugurate the first ever Non-formal school for the Lodha tribe of Sundarban’s Sagar Island on 5^th June, 2014 on the occasion of World Environment Day. After all, there is no better way to develop a community than providing them education. Any community can be enlightened on any developmental and environmental issue provided they have basic education to grab the knowledge. 

Mr. Bankim Chandra Hazra inaugurating the Lodha School

Lodha tribe is considered one of the vulnerable primitive tribe of India. They are usually neglected by the mainstream upper class communities in the Sagar Island. They usually stay away from other community people and are far from the light of education. In fact, their kids were not allowed to mix up with other community kids. However, things have changed now since last two years when SEED started a Non-formal education centre especially for the Lodha children. Initially, the school was started under a temporary shed with just a few kids.

The parents of the Lodha children were hesitant to send them to school as they wanted to follow their traditional livelihood system like catching crabs, hunting etc. However, with constant persuasion from the members of SEED, they agreed to send their children to the school. Now, the school has around 65 children, who regularly attend classes under the guidance of 4 teachers recruited by SEED.

With the increasing number of children, the shed became smaller to contain them. So, the organisation started constructing a bigger school building in Radhakrishnapur village of Rudranagar GP area with financial support from TSA Solution, a Singapore based organisation.

On 5^th June, 2014, on the occasion of World Environment Day, the local MLA Sri Bankim Chandra Hazra, who is also the Chairman of Sundarban Development Board, formally inaugurated the first ever school building for the socially excluded Lodha tribe in Sundarban’s Sagar Island.

On this auspicious day, the poor children of Lodha tribe and other economically backward class children were distributed new bags and pencil boxes with the support from Dollar Industries Ltd. Director of SEED, Mr. Bhabananda Chatterjee addressed the school children on this occasion and explained them the importance of keeping our surrounding environment clean and safe. He taught them how they can contribute in their way in keeping the environment safe. He also enlightened the kids and their parents about the necessity of biodiversity conservation in Sundarban islands.

The school children listening to our Director speaking on Environment 

To make the event more interesting for the kids, they were asked to showcase their talent in dancing, singing, reciting and storytelling as the kids are also taught singing, dancing, drawing and other extracurricular activities in the school apart from regular lessons. Mr. Hazra was quite impressed with the performance of these children and promised to extend his support to them in future.

To involve the kids in environment related issues, a plantation programme was also organised. Mr. Hazra started the plantation programme which was followed by other special guests and the students of the school. To raise awareness among the children, a ‘Sit & Draw’ session was organised on the theme of climate change adaptation and biodiversity conservation. 

Plantation by Mr. Bankim Chandra Hazra & Kids showing creativity through drawing

The parents of these kids cannot afford nutritious meal for them regularly so they are also offered healthy snacks during breakfast time.  The kids enjoy their time in school with joyful learning and interesting physical exercises taught to them. SEED puts effort to promote these children to the formal government schools once they get basic education from here.

Apart from the Lodha kids, the school has become able to attract the children of other economically backward communities. They feel their children will have a stronger education base if they start their schooling from here.

Can a weed create livelihood for Coastal Community? - A small effort by SEED

In the age of modernisation and globalisation, the priceless natural resources offered by Mother Earth have been mostly neglected. While struggling to get proper livelihood, we often neglect the Natural resources surrounding us like water, forests, biomass resources, livestock, fisheries, vegetation etc. These are the basic foundation of human survival, prosperity and progress. These are getting degraded fast for reasons mostly caused by human beings either knowingly or unknowingly. If the Natural resources are used properly then it can offer various sustainable livelihood options. Sustainable use of natural resources can provide nutritional food, environmental and livelihood security in the country. Apart from the economic benefits, the sustainable use of natural resources also assures persistent application of environmentally friendly techniques in various income generating sectors.

The islands of Indian Sundarban are surrounded by Bay of Bengal and river Ganges and other rivers like Ichamati, Matla, Raimangal River etc. The rivers carry the silts, water hyacinths, land wastage and other organic garbage from across the country. Lots of water hyacinth can be noticed floating in the rivers and canals across the islands. Water hyacinth, which is considered as one of worst aquatic weeds in the world, is a free floating perennial plant. It grows abundantly in ponds, lakes, rivers and in any kind of natural water bodies. It can form a huge blanket above the water bodies if the growth is not controlled. Usually, people throw it away when grows in their ponds. It stops the flow of water through the canals so usually these are thrown away to keep the water bodies clean and free flowing. But, no one thought that this mere weed can become a major source of income for a community.

Women collecting water hyacinth 

SEED (Society for Socio Economic and Ecological Development) is a non-government organisation, which is working for the development of coastal communities of Sundarban and its biodiversity conservation since a decade, has initiated a new alternate livelihood option in Sundarban. Mr. Prashanta Chowdhury, an eminent nature craft designer by profession, has been associated with SEED for a long time. He suggested this unique idea of alternate livelihood for the coastal communities of Sundarban. He has been offering training support to many poor women to prepare various decorative materials using this weed water hyacinth since last few years. He is a true believer of nature craft so all the items prepared under his supervision uses only natural resources which requires very low investment. He has successfully implemented this livelihood option in Kamdevkathi village of North 24 Parganas in West Bengal. In 2007, he started this work with only 12 women in his team. Now, many families are surviving by preparing these nature craft items using natural resources like water hyacinth and other easily available flowers like roses, marigold and bamboos. So, SEED decided to implement this nature craft items as source of income for a small group of coastal community initially.

Processing of Water Hyacinth after drying

The coastal communities in Sundarban have limited livelihood options like fishing, prawn seed and crab collecting or agriculture. But, climate change has hindered their earning from agriculture too. The delay in rainy season, increasing salinity of agricultural land due to cyclone and sea level rise, has hampered their regular earning sources. Moreover, the coastal communities of Sundarban have negligible literacy so they cannot opt for other profession. They also cannot afford initial capital investment to start any micro entrepreneurship. So, here, the organisation has planned to train them in a skill which does not require enough education and initial investment. Moreover, as the crafts use only natural items, the biodiversity of the islands will also not be disturbed.

Women working on Photo frames

To start with, few women SHGs in Sagar Island will be trained by Mr. Chowdhury and his team in the art of nature craft. Initially, this alternate livelihood process will be applied to only few families, who will be interested in this craft.  The items prepared using water hyacinth includes Lamp sheds, Photo frame, coaster set, pully pad, shopping bags, jewellery box, painting frame, notepad, diary cover etc. as well as various other household and office decorative items with floral design. All the items are made of recyclable materials and are given beautiful and ethnic exclusive design. 

According to Mr. Chowdhury, if a person is given proper training of six months, he or she will be skilled in this profession and can earn sufficient money to meet the basic requirements of the family. The nature crafts items prepared by Mr. Choudhury and his team, have already reached international market like USA. These items have also received applauds at different trade fairs at national level. With the support and training from him, SEED plans to extend it to interior decoration, false ceiling, partition wall, panelling etc.

Products prepared by water hyacinth

Water hyacinth is easily available in Sundarban’s water bodies so it will not be tough for the artisans to get raw materials. Apart from this, the craft items also use other easily available flower petals like roses and marigold. So, the poor people can use this livelihood option for the upliftment of their economic condition. Intially, the learner women group will be involved in basic works like framing and pasting of flower petals and in decorating them. When they become expert in this skill, the communities will be handling the total work on their own. Later, the items will be presented in various exhibitions so that they get recognition and a position in the market. It is not a quick earning option initially but once their products get positioned in the market, a good demand can be expected as everyone prefers natural and recyclable products now-a-days.  

The youths, who are busy in their day time, can also contribute in this work when they are free at night. Those who have passion for art and painting can go for drawing and this can be utilised in the craft materials. This will definitely open up a new avenue for the poor coastal people who have the zeal to work but do not have any special skill for that. The water hyacinth which they ignored and threw away from their ponds will offer them a bright livelihood option in the near future.

Apart from this, the water hyacinth can also be also used as environment-friendly source of fuel since it’s an excellent source of biogas. It contains high amount of hydrocarbons. With minimum pollution, water hyacinth can also be used to produce biogas.

We hope to offer a good alternate livelihood option and also used it as environment friendly fuel for the coastal people of Sundarban. This project aims to empower local coastal communities to manage the coastal ecosystem and resources through these sustainable livelihood techniques. It will also help in reducing the pressure on coastal and marine ecosystems.

We will keep updating on this as we progress with our intervention.

East Kolkata Wetlands: A small initiative to strengthen the livelihood of this Ramsar site

A unique and friendly water regime surrounds the city of joy Kolkata. Located on the bank of river Hooghly, the city boasts of an intricate combination of several natural and man-made wetlands. The Eastern range of the city, which is known as the East Kolkata Wetlands, contains a large variety of flora and fauna along with the vast water bodies. Covering around 125 square kilometres, the wetlands are being utilised to treat the whole Kolkata’s sewage.

The East Kolkata wetlands are home to around 3,000 tribal families of Munda and Santhal community. It is a peri-urban facility and most of the tribal families are either landless labourer or run their families through aquaculture. The huge wastewater of the city is treated here and the nutrients are used efficiently for agriculture or pisciculture. It is the largest waste recycling region based on sewage fed aquaculture and garbage farming zone in the world. On August 19, 2002, the East Kolkata wetlands were recognised as a “Wetland of International importance’ under Ramsar Convention. The area can be divided into three categories depending on three major economic activities- fisheries or bheris, Paddy lands and garbage farms.

Apart from the richness of water bodies and its fishes, the East Kolkata Wetland is also renowned for its rich biodiversity. It has been a peaceful abode to variety of birds and small animals. However, the ecological changes and the global climate change have also affected East Kolkata wetlands. Besides this, industrial interference resulted into environmental and water pollution causing disappearance of several species of birds and fishes. Most of the tribal community in the area are dependent on nature based activities. So, the climate change affects their livelihood either directly or indirectly. Over the years, the increased level of industrial affluent, excessive use of pesticides, land use-land cover and other developmental activities have caused damage to the livelihood of these vulnerable tribal communities of East Kolkata Wetlands. It has been essential for all to know the role of wetlands on the lives of the local residents and also how to maintain a healthy environment. The changing environmental scenario has resulted into the extinction of various indigenous fishes from these wetlands. One of such commercially important species is Clarias batrachus, which is locally known as ‘Magur’ fish. We are talking about desi magur, whose demand is very high in the Bengal market. However, the quality seeds of the fish were not available from the natural resources because of environmental degradation and reduction of natural breeding ground.

SEED (Society for Socio Economic and Ecological Development) has been working in East Kolkata wetlands since last two decades. So, the organisation planned to offer a solution to this problem of extinction of biodiversity and indigenous fishes. To start with, it chose the ‘Desi Magur’ fish due to its unique characteristic of the capability of living in a very little amount of water where other fishes cannot survive. It can survive even in small muddy water bodies, where amount of oxygen is very low and carbon di-oxide is high. In wetlands of East Kolkata, the bio-gases like Ammonia, methane etc. also remain dissolved in high amount. Even in such adverse condition, the magur fishes can survive by inhaling oxygen from air through their extra respiratory organ. They can easily live in the paddy fields also.

Since, the natural availability of Magur seeds was very low, SEED introduced the process of induced breeding of the fishes. It involved breeding of magur fishes through artificial low cost technology. Lack of knowledge about scientific ways of cultivating this fish has been the main reason behind the negligence of magur fish cultivation. The market price of this fish is also very high so this fish was first targeted by SEED. The cultivation of this fish through induced breeding can earn them much higher amount of money than what they were getting by cultivating traditionally.

Usually, magur is cultivated for six months. During this time period, the fish weighs around 80-100gm, whose demand is quite good in the market and the fish farmers can earn a decent amount from selling them. In this process of induced breeding, mature male and female fishes are injected with respectively 2- 2.5 ml of ovaprim injection. Both of them are then kept separately for 15 to 16 hours. Then, the testis of the male fish is cut out and put on the piece of nylon net. Now, the sperms are wringed out in a plastic tray filled with rain water. The female fish has to be stripped now and the eggs are mixed with the sperms with the help of a feather. After sometime, when the eggs are fully fertilised, the eggs are taken out and cleaned to remove the sliminess. Following this, the eggs have to be kept in a glass jar hatchery or plastic tab hatchery.

After 16 to 18 hours, the seedlings will come out of the eggs. The seedlings will have to be shifted to a reservoir made of cement or clay. It has to be made sure that continuous water flow remains here. It has to be covered by hay roof. It has to be noticed that the water level should not be more than 6 inches. These seedlings do not require any outside food for next three days. After 3 days, the seedlings can be fed with small planktons like brachionus, Keratella etc. When they become 30-45 days old, the fish seedlings can be shifted to the pond for their natural growth thereon. In a few months, they will be ready to be sold in the market.

The main objective of this intervention was the enhancement of tribal livelihood by utilising the unutilised natural resources of East Kolkata Wetland area with support from NABARD (National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development). The nutrients of the sewage canals were used as the food for the fish culture. The unutilised canal nutrients were used for ‘desi magur’ culture through bamboo PEN culture technique. The low cost technique involved only naturally available bamboos and coir ropes.

The tribal communities of East Kolkata have enthusiastically learned the technique of induced breeding from fishery specialist of SEED, Mr. Bhabananda Chatterjee, who stayed there and offered them practical training for many days. He has been able to mix with them like their own relative so they could easily accept the interference of a new technology in their traditional aquaculture method. The organisation formed various JLG (Joint Liability Groups) for this purpose, who actively participated in the initial preparation of PEN.

Now, around 100 families of Kumarpukuria village of Sonarpur Block have taken up this technique of ‘Desi Magur’ commercial cultivation through bamboo PEN culture in sewage fed canals of East Kolkata Wetlands and earning a fair amount of money throughout the year. Kumarpukuria is one of the most backward class villages of South 24 Parganas district. Since the fish is in high demand in the Bengal market, the tribal communities have converted it to a regular livelihood option. Among the total cultivation, 20% of the fingerlings grown through induced breeding are released to the natural habitat so that the number of these increases in natural water bodies of East Kolkata Wetland.

The economic condition of these poor tribal people has bettered after adopting this technique. The villagers are very happy for being associated with this type of project. There is a great change in their behaviour and conversation. Their children are also going to school. Female members are coming forward and approaching SEED for some other economic activities for them as the water resources are limited in the village and fed only few families. This has proved to be profitable within a short period and technically acceptable to the community members where they can utilize their traditional skill and wisdom though many of them are illiterate.