India
Climate change is as real as it gets on the Ghoramara Island which is slowly eroding into the depths of the Bay of Bengal, reports Deepa Philip
On
his part, Tripathi has been an active campaigner for the island. He has been
speaking on various occasions, asking islanders to plant more trees and thereby
prevent Ghoramara from sinking. He believes in, and promotes a methodology
called 'bio-engineering' by scientists for sowing of plant species that will
rapidly develop into dense populations, in order to check the flow of erosion.
“Bio-engineering is a traditional, low-cost
method of trapping soil and thereby protecting it from erosion,” explains
Ghosh.
But
he wages the battle alone. “Mostly my pleas fall on deaf ears, they [islanders]
ask me to stop lecturing them,” Tripathi tells TEHELKA. So is his fight to save
the island pointless? “I would not say my efforts are in vain, there are a few
who pay heed and join me in planting trees,” he says.
However,
individual efforts need to be backed by mega efforts both at national and
international levels. In the talks leading up to the UN Framework for Climate
Change Conference in December 2015, highlighting the plight of islands like
Ghoramara is crucial.
“The
issue of migrant population displaced from coastal areas due to climate change
and sea level rise is global,” says Sugata Hazra, director, School of
Oceanographic Studies, Jadavpur University. “The world needs a clear policy on
how they should adapt to such situation, will they be provided with
compensation, what would be the policies for migration, how India and other
countries can take care of these global refugees.”
With
its pragmatic Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs), India may
have taken a right step towards addressing climate change concerns but has
failed to recognize islands like Ghoramara in its own backyard, as victims of
the global phenomenon.
“It is imperative that the government declare
the situation as a disaster,” Saha tells TEHELKA. “Just because Ghoramara
generates little or no revenue, one can't overlook the disaster that it is
facing or more importantly, ignore the ecological value of the Sundarbans
themselves.”
India's
call for 'climate justice' in the INDCs is apt in the context of Ghoramara and
surrounding islands. “When we speak of climate justice, we demonstrate our
sensitivity and resolve to secure the future of the poor from the perils of
natural disaster,” Prime Minister Narendra Modi had recently said in his
address to the UN General Assembly. But how the country goes about recognizing
and then securing justice for its environmental refugees remains to be seen.
... final part continues with the next post
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