diversifying into different weather resistant crops. Construction and renovation of
ponds and canals for rain water harvesting and use in winter cultivation is being
carried out. Construction of mud barrages around the island to protect it from
incursion of saline water has also been taken up. However, lack of finance and
absence of a proper institutional mechanism also act as major deterrents to its
continuation. Reforestation of mangroves on the mud barrages is also being carried
out to make it durable. Search is on for alternative livelihood options especially by
those who are involved in baby prawn/shrimp fishing, timber smuggling, etc.
Effective capacity building efforts through scientific and organizational intervention
are also being taken up to support the indigenous adaptation activities (Sengupta
and Rao 2003, pp. 10–11).
Again to meet the changing climatic conditions Nandy (2010) feels that some
specific measures should be taken. Some of them are: use of salt tolerant paddy,
introduction of salinity shock resistant fishes in the ponds and construction of
disaster risk reduction shelters. In addition, a proper Climate Change plan and
policies need to be worked out (Nandy 2010). In a nut shell, a lot of thinking and
research is required to come up with adaptation strategies for these people.
1.5.1 Construction and Maintenance of Sustainable Embankments
In the nineteenth century, land was reclaimed at the limit of the low water level in
Sunderbans by building embankments (Danda 2007). The islands were encroached
upon, before the natural delta process had been completed. Nature builds new
islands by silting up interlocking creeks. Gradually, the islands were interconnected
by filling up the intervening channels and the land getting raised permanently above
the high water level. But because of the embankment, the silt that would have been
otherwise deposited on the islands got deposited in the creeks, raising their levels
instead. Over the time the creek beds rose higher than the low lying reclaimed areas,
turning those into vast stretches of permanent marshes (Mukherjee 1969, cited in
Danda 2007). The embankment was supposed to act as natural barriers against the
ingress of sea water. Unfortunately the embankments also extinguished any possibility of these tracts ever maturing naturally into lands habitable by humans,
(Bhattacharya 1998) and this makes the situation worse. It needs to be mentioned
that the heights of these islands are not more than 10–12 ft. from the sea level, yet
during high tide, the water level goes up by 17–18 ft. The total length of the
embankment in the Sunderbans is 3500 km. The entire stretch is made with mud
and thus it is very weak. The soil was not suitable for sustaining the structures,
maintenance was inadequate on a regular basis, (Danda 2007 and at that time the
alignments of the embankments were also defective (Kanjilal 2000). Since the
abolition of the Zamindari system in 1951 the embankments became the responsibility of the Drainage wing of the Irrigation Department, Government of West
Bengal (Chakraborty 2005, cited in Danda 2007). The embankment not only acts as
370
H. Pakrashi
ponds and canals for rain water harvesting and use in winter cultivation is being
carried out. Construction of mud barrages around the island to protect it from
incursion of saline water has also been taken up. However, lack of finance and
absence of a proper institutional mechanism also act as major deterrents to its
continuation. Reforestation of mangroves on the mud barrages is also being carried
out to make it durable. Search is on for alternative livelihood options especially by
those who are involved in baby prawn/shrimp fishing, timber smuggling, etc.
Effective capacity building efforts through scientific and organizational intervention
are also being taken up to support the indigenous adaptation activities (Sengupta
and Rao 2003, pp. 10–11).
Again to meet the changing climatic conditions Nandy (2010) feels that some
specific measures should be taken. Some of them are: use of salt tolerant paddy,
introduction of salinity shock resistant fishes in the ponds and construction of
disaster risk reduction shelters. In addition, a proper Climate Change plan and
policies need to be worked out (Nandy 2010). In a nut shell, a lot of thinking and
research is required to come up with adaptation strategies for these people.
1.5.1 Construction and Maintenance of Sustainable Embankments
In the nineteenth century, land was reclaimed at the limit of the low water level in
Sunderbans by building embankments (Danda 2007). The islands were encroached
upon, before the natural delta process had been completed. Nature builds new
islands by silting up interlocking creeks. Gradually, the islands were interconnected
by filling up the intervening channels and the land getting raised permanently above
the high water level. But because of the embankment, the silt that would have been
otherwise deposited on the islands got deposited in the creeks, raising their levels
instead. Over the time the creek beds rose higher than the low lying reclaimed areas,
turning those into vast stretches of permanent marshes (Mukherjee 1969, cited in
Danda 2007). The embankment was supposed to act as natural barriers against the
ingress of sea water. Unfortunately the embankments also extinguished any possibility of these tracts ever maturing naturally into lands habitable by humans,
(Bhattacharya 1998) and this makes the situation worse. It needs to be mentioned
that the heights of these islands are not more than 10–12 ft. from the sea level, yet
during high tide, the water level goes up by 17–18 ft. The total length of the
embankment in the Sunderbans is 3500 km. The entire stretch is made with mud
and thus it is very weak. The soil was not suitable for sustaining the structures,
maintenance was inadequate on a regular basis, (Danda 2007 and at that time the
alignments of the embankments were also defective (Kanjilal 2000). Since the
abolition of the Zamindari system in 1951 the embankments became the responsibility of the Drainage wing of the Irrigation Department, Government of West
Bengal (Chakraborty 2005, cited in Danda 2007). The embankment not only acts as
370
H. Pakrashi