Abstract

  The remote geographical location of the Sundarbans with its proximity to the sea, complex river system - crisscrossing of tidal streams, channels and creeks, renders it extremely vulnerable to natural calamities like sporadic floods and cyclonic storms. This results in intrusion of saline water causing frequent damage to crops; insufficient sweet water resources necessary for drinking purpose, pisciculture, fisheries; occasional floods and cyclonic hazards causing loss of life and property – habitats of people are washed away by floods every year. Added to this is the highly onerous task of monitoring the huge length of embankments, lack of proper drainage facilities, inadequate electricity supply and lack of adequate communication facilities.
The problems enumerated above need to be addressed on an urgent basis for greater resilience, ecological viability and sustainability in the Sunderbans, overcoming the obstacles faced due to the changing climatic scenario. Radical solutions to these problems may be achieved by taking the following measures: Construction of closure dams across the main estuaries and interconnecting them by strong dykes encircling the entire western Sundarbans; the electricity problem may be solved by generating electricity by utilisation of unconventional energy (renewable energy) sources like wind, tides, solar energy etc. Eco tourism to be encouraged and developed, as this would ultimately benefit the local people economically. The adherence to precepts necessary for maintaining ecological balance will obviously engender environmental equilibrium. A deep water international port may be constructed in the vicinity of the Sundarbans, considering the fact that the Kolkata Port and Haldia Port are facing huge siltation problem. This will automatically foster the growth of allied industries centring around these ports and give a boost to the economy.
Detailed discussion regarding an overall development of The Sunderbans is given below.

Keywords: Sundarbans; Embankments; Tides; Agriculture; Fisheries; Eco-tourism; Renewable Energy

References

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Citation

Citation: Gargi De. “Towards Greater Sustainability in The Sundarbans".Acta Scientific Agriculture 5.2 (2021): 39-44.

Copyright

Copyright: © 2021 Gargi De. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.