South 24 Parganas District

Collaborative management for sustainable livelihoods in the Sundarbans
The impacts as perceived by the community Posted on 15 Aug, 2022 07:42 PM

Sundarbans delta is the largest mangrove forest reserve in the world with distinct species of wild flora and fauna. It is a source of livelihood for several communities residing in the vicinity. The indigenous plants, extraction of honey and catching fish from rivers, lakes and rivulets have good economic value in surroundings markets.

Catching fish from rivers, lakes and rivulets have good economic value in surroundings markets (Image: Wikimedia Commons)
Willingness to pay for arsenic-safe drinking water
A case study to understand societal embedding of electrochemical arsenic remediation technology in rural West Bengal Posted on 22 Jul, 2022 09:35 PM

Lack of access to safe drinking water is a daunting development challenge and a quarter of individuals globally do not have access to safe drinking water in their homes.

Tubewell reported to have arsenic contamination (Image: India Water Portal Flickr)
Jalabandhus for sustainable service delivery
Water For People develops a cadre of entrepreneurs delivering critical services for water security. Posted on 09 Feb, 2021 10:31 PM

As a major source of potable water, hand pumps are ubiquitous in rural India.

Livestock rearers and fishers bear the brunt of cyclone Amphan
Ravaged by the severe tropical cyclone that struck the region this summer, the livestock and fishes have taken a hit, impacting people's livelihoods. Posted on 18 Aug, 2020 10:14 AM

The Amphan cyclone that struck the Sundarbans in the month of May this year has wreaked havoc in the area destroying lives and livelihood. A lot of the locals living in the Sundarbans depend on animal husbandry and fishing to earn a living. The cyclone destroyed animal rearing shelters and swept away most of the cattle and domestic animals.

The Amphan swept away the chicken coops and other domestic animals. This is Anup Bhakta standing with one of the few goats left after the storm. (Image: WaterAid, Subhrajit Sen)
Locals struggle with WASH issues post-Amphan
Cyclone Amphan wreaks havoc in the Sunderbans at a time when the country was already battling a large spread of Covid-19. Posted on 17 Aug, 2020 12:17 PM

UN’s recognition of safe and clean drinking water and sanitation as a human right recently hit a decade and this makes us ponder even more about the situation in the Sundarbans after the Amphan cyclone. The destruction caused by Amphan in the Sundarbans poses a massive threat to the very right to safe and clean drinking water and sanitation of the people living there.

Having no source of water is proving to be extremely difficult for the people living in the Sundarbans. (Image: WaterAid, Subhrajit Sen)
Gender-sensitive response to the climate crisis
Gender-transformative approaches are needed for climate adaptation, to lessen the stresses that force people to migrate. Posted on 14 Aug, 2020 11:19 AM

A crowd of people jostling by the ticket counter at Jhansi railway station in Uttar Pradesh; men and women, some with families in tow, boarding trains to Delhi, Lucknow, Mumbai and other big cities. These are common sights during the summer months at Jhansi, a major town and railway junction.

Women and girls spend a considerable amount of their time in fetching water. (Image: Romit Sen)
Amphan’s impact on farming and livelihood in Sunderbans
Millions of people's homes were swept away and farmlands destroyed during cyclone Amphan in Sunderbans. Posted on 11 Aug, 2020 05:46 PM

The Amphan cyclone has disfigured the lives of people living in the Sundarbans. Houses have been torn apart, farms have been filled with brackish water making the land unsuitable for farming and betel leaves have been destroyed. People in the Sundarbans are in a life-threatening situation with makeshift shacks to live in and no means to earn a living.

Betel (popularly used in paan) plantation is a major occupation in the Sundarbans. Pulak Bhakta is assessing the damage done to his plantation right after Amphan. The plantation is spread over two and a half bigha of land. According to Pulak, the total loss he has suffered is around INR 3 lakhs. Pulak already bears the burden of a loan which he had taken to set up his plantation. His future seems uncertain and bleak now. (Image: WaterAid/ Subhrajit Sen)
Living through Cyclone Amphan and Covid-19: Climate change and water security
In the face of frequent cyclones and floods in the region, investment and long term planning is needed on making basic services of drinking water resilient. Posted on 07 Jun, 2020 11:33 AM

The nomenclature of cyclones and hurricanes is developed much in advance through multilateral processes in the region. The name Amphan (Sky in Thai and Akash in Bangla) was chosen from a long list of potential disasters long back.

Millions of people in India and Bangladesh lost their means of employment, food, water and homes in one go during the cyclone (Image: Srikanth Kolari/ActionAid India)
How bio-restoration is helping revive degraded mangroves in Sunderbans
A new technology developed by Indian scientists is helping in revival of mangroves degraded due to rising sea levels, climate change and human intrusion in the Sunderbans in West Bengal. Posted on 17 Sep, 2019 06:06 PM

New Delhi, September 17 (India Science Wire): A new technology developed by Indian scientists for ecological restoration is helping in revival of mangroves degraded due to rising sea levels, climate change and human intrusion in the Sunderbans in West Bengal. 

A restored site of degraded mangroves. Image credit: India Science Wire
Community effort saves mangroves
When climate change threatens the existence of Sundarbans’ mangroves, villagers get together to plant millions of them to protect the fragile ecosystem. Posted on 04 Aug, 2016 09:52 AM

Come monsoon, the villages in the Sundarbans islands witness nature’s fury with floodwaters overriding all boundaries and inundating huge tracts of land. As such, the earthen embankments, stretching to 3600 kms on the 54 inhabited islands out of a total of 102 in the Sundarbans, protect scores of people from floods and tidal waves.

Mangroves of Sundarbans. (Source: Nature Environment & Wildlife Society - NEWS)
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