Voices of Change.Pdf

Ladakh in Jammu and Kashmir and the Indian Sundarbans in West Bengal are two of WWF’s priority conservation sites. The increasingly threatening environment in these regions increases the vulnerability of their fragile ecosystems and the indigenous communities that live there.

Map prepared by IGCMC, WWF-India

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS INTRODUCTION

This report has come a long way to become what you hold in your Environmental change coupled with resource degradation and poverty is hand. Tireless research, meticulous surveys and personal interviews creating situations of extreme adversity in several parts of India. As the conducted by the WWF-India team reflects in every page, as you travel impacts of climate change become unequivocal, nature and ecosystems, through to reach out to stories that would have otherwise, never natural resources and the people who depend on them will become more been heard. vulnerable during this century. This will imply less or uncertain availability of food and water, increased variability in the frequency and intensity For their support, Mr. Ravi Singh, Secretary General & CEO, of natural disasters, loss or migration of species, significant changes in Dr. Sejal Worah, Programme Director and Ms Archana Chatterjee, ecosystems and tremendous risk to human populations and their livelihoods. Head, Regional Programme for Himalayan Glaciers, Rivers and High Altitude Wetlands, WWF-India are to be thanked. Impacts of climate change are likely to be felt more in developing countries such as India, given the greater reliance of its people on natural resources We thank our scientific advisory panel – Prof. Sugata Hazra, School and ecosystems. In the fragile high altitude Himalayas, these changes of Oceanographic Studies, Jadhavpur University, Dr. Kakoli Banerjee, cannot escape the notice of the people who have lived there for decades. Department of Marine Sciences, Calcutta University, Dr. Rajesh Kumar, Warmer seasons and erratic precipitation have influenced their daily lives Sharda University and Dr. O.P. Chaurasia, Defence Institute of High in terms of agricultural patterns and produce, clothing, lifestyles, food, Altitude Research, Leh for their scientific review and inputs. livestock and livelihoods. Moreover, incidences of pest attacks and weeds have increased to a great extent. Thanks are due, to Ms. Anne-Marie Patricia Singh and Ms. Ragini Letitia Singh for their support on compilation and editing. As for the striking, In coastal ecosystems, such as the Sundarbans, direct impacts of human- tasteful design which has highlighted the ‘feel’ of the report, induced climate change can be felt with rising sea levels and increasing Ms. Copal Mathur and Ms. Mallika Das are to be thanked. salt water incursion on agricultural land and water bodies, threatening life, property, livelihoods, and leaving local communities more vulnerable than And finally, the people who welcomed us into their homes, trusting ever, as climate refugees. us enough to share their agony and tragedies, never losing hope that something good would come out of this. People over generations and even at present, continue to adapt to these environmental changes and develop their own resilience and coping Thank you for allowing us to tell your story. mechanisms. However, due to the rapid and uncertain nature of the changes, old ways of coping are often proving inadequate.

Project Team As you turn the pages, what follow are voices. Voices of individuals who have witnessed change and are living these changes, of those who are Sundarbans finding ways to survive and move on in the hope of a better future by Dr. Anurag Danda, Mr. Subhro Sen and Mr. Arjun Manna adapting to climate vulnerabilities and alternative livelihood options.

Ladakh It is to these intrepid individuals who have told their tales and the Mr. Pankaj Chandan, Ms. Nisa Khatoon and Mr. Phuntsog Tashi thousands who are still unheard, that this book is dedicated to. Also to those who are at risk, but are finding new ways and alternatives to tackle change. The capacity for resilience and undaunted hope in the face of adversity shines through all these stories, worthy of being heard and read.

Their lives remind us of how precarious our existence is. Study Area Rivers Lakes DISTRICT HEADQUARTERS Key Locations

LadakhJAMMU AND KASHMIR,INDIA

Ladakh represents the westernmost extension of the vast Tibetan Plateau, covering an altitude range of 2,700 to 7,650 m asl. The mighty Himalayas and the Karakoram demarcate its natural borders towards the south and the north respectively, while the Indus River flows through it. Located in Jammu and Kashmir, this region is also known as a high altitude cold desert and is characterised by severe, arid conditions. Temperatures may drop to –400C in the long winter months and rise to 350C in the short summer season.

In 2008-09, 85 residents of Ladakh residing in remote locations like Zanskar, Changthang, Nubra, Leh and Kargil were interviewed. They belonged to two age groups – 20-45 years and 45-90 years and were asked about their experiences of climatic changes and subsequent impacts on agriculture, livelihood, ecology and livestock. On the basis of a set questionnaire and through candid conversation, they revealed testimonies of their changing environment, which often bewilders them. These have been recorded here. 05

Tashi Rabgais LADAKH, INDIA

In his tastefully done, sunny He has observed all four seasons with the lives of the people who living room, Tashi Rabgais – spring, summer, autumn and are dependent on it. The region represents the hospitable and winter getting warmer than receives plenty of sunshine cheerful Ladakhi. He hails before, especially winter. When helping crops grow, while their from Sakti, Ladakh and is one he sits in the sun, it pinches livestock provides them with of the first scholars in that his skin. Strangely, he doesn’t milk, butter, cheese and curd. region. Being very fond of remember this ever happening Most areas higher up receive reading, he possesses a vast to him as a child. This could a steady supply of water from bank of knowledge and a sharp also be attributed to the rising glaciers while in other places, intelligence undaunted by his 82 vehicular pollution in Ladakh, where there are no glaciers, years of age. He has three sons he says. snow accumulation helps and and two daughters and lives a also the wind which distributes retired life with his family. Rabgais tells of floods that have the snow around. occurred when there has been Rabgais believes that tourism a lot of snowfall in winter and Like this, for centuries the is the primary cause of many spring comes early. Under the people of Ladakh have lived changes in Ladakhi society, continuous glare of the sun in close harmony with their culture and environment. the snow melts faster which environment which has provided Ladakh was opened to foreign then comes down in a torrent, for them. But the changes that tourists in 1974, and since then, damaging everything in its path. have developed in the last few national and foreign tourism The water cycle in Ladakh has decades seem to threaten this has flourished. Although, it is been preserved by the rainfall in harmony and delicate equilibrium helping the economy of Ladakh, summer and snowfall in winter. giving Rabgais solid reasons to yet it has brought environmental While in summer, glacial melt worry about the future of his problems in its fold. Rabgais tells water would flow down in great children and grandchildren. of a time when water everywhere volumes, in winter, the snow was drinkable. Gradually, would compensate for it. But it has become polluted, especially in towns like Leh We are in a situation of and Kargil, and the groundwater change and the speed of level has also dropped. change has become so much that it is difficult Rabgais is also worried about the for anyone to control the birds in Ladakh. As a boy, he used situation. We cannot stop to see many birds, especially change but we can surely about 100-200 crows nestled give direction to it. in trees during winter. But now he has stopped seeing crows in over the years, the melting his village. He also used to see process has quickened, not giving many species of eagles soaring the already reduced precipitation in the skies which are not there in the region a chance to any more. This absence of birds compensate for it. worries him and he feels helpless not being able to do anything In his view, the environment of about it. Ladakh is strongly interlinked 07

ABDUL REHMAN LADAKH, INDIA

Seventyyear old Abdul Rehman that they require a jacket. As quality of milk has fallen. Birds looks the picture of contentment opposed to the warm goncha like crows, partridges and the while his frisky granddaughter (traditional, long woollen coat) Golden Eagle, and mammals jumps and giggles around him. he used to wear in summer, he is like fox, ibex and wolf, which His wife, children and other now comfortable in just a pant Rehman used to sight as a boy grandchildren gather around and shirt during the day and only are also declining. him as he tells his tale. His roots one blanket at night. In fact, lie in Chemday Village, near Rehman has even bought a fan If it continues like this, Sakti. Rehman settled in Nubra to escape the heat and to chase we’ll soon need an AC or after leaving the Indian Army away the flies that have begun a cooler in Ladakh! in 1974 and getting married. to enter the house - another new He then took to farming, and phenomenon. For Rehman, the environment with his wife and mother-in- around him keeps his livelihood law, grew crops like barley, Winters are also not what they going. But now he is facing water wheat, black and green pea, used to be. They used to get problems because of no rains, mustard, turnip and radish, one foot of snow till about a receding glaciers and scarce purely for consumption. They decade ago, but now snowfall is snowfall during winter. This survived on Rehman’s pension for very light and melts away faster. has affected the agricultural expenditures, while also drawing Rehman and his family used to production of the family. Less an income from rearing cows wear coats made of goat skin rain also means less vegetation and horses, selling cow’s milk, and wool from sheep, as well as, in the mountains and forests for butter and dry cheese and even warm woolen pads for the legs livestock to feed on. Rehman lending their horse to others for and feet in the peak of winter feels that there is a difference in transport. (December-January). Now they the quality of water, especially wear only thermal pyjamas, since many hotels have come up Rehman feels that things are pants, woolen gonchas and shoes. and are polluting water sources very different now from when In autumn, the children roam with their garbage and newly he was a young man. Back then, around without socks with only a installed flush toilets. rain and snowfall would come on thin jersey on because they don’t time. Moreover, it was never as feel very cold. Rehman recalls Rehman still remembers with warm as it is now, nor were there how earlier at this time, the fear and grief the severe flood on such variations in the seasons water in the tap used to be so August 25, 2008 which destroyed because of which people have chilly, that one couldn’t touch it. their home and belongings. The started threshing their crops in But now, they can bathe in that water came from the Tingan September instead of October. same water! nullah nearby. Floods were never He has even observed tree leaves a common phenomenon, but shedding later than usual. All these changes have had an since the time he settled down in impact on various aspects of Nubra, he has experienced floods The weather, Rehman says life. For example, the number five times! He thinks that floods has become very uncertain. He and variety of pests plaguing have a mind of their own. Just is accustomed to a constant his field have multiplied. The for a fleeting second, his face temperature throughout performance of his livestock has betrays a hint of fear. the summer, but these days worsened, since the increase in sometimes it gets so hot that the number of cows has led to they have to bathe twice a day the shortage of available fodder. while other times it is so cold It is also due to this that the 09

Chewang Norphel LADAKH, INDIA

Popularly known as the ‘Ice man’ quality fleece. Moreover, warm precipitation or both. in Ladakh for inventing artificial temperatures and increased glaciers to solve the water crisis atmospheric humidity are of the local people, Chewang unfavorable for quality Whether we attribute it Norphel is a man of action. This production. Erratic and untimely to global warming or any 74-year old Civil Engineer joined snowfall causes immense other natural phenomenon, the government service in June, livestock losses as snow covers the fact remains that 1960 and was posted in Zanskar as pasture lands leaving livestock to glacial melt is dangerously the Sub-Divisional Officer. starve to death. fast, calling for some urgent and serious Just like his fellowmen, Norphel Norphel recounts that earlier, thinking. too has observed changes in the his people used flowing stream environment around him. Besides water for drinking as there was Many areas in and around Leh being able to grow new varieties no garbage problem. Nowadays, occasionally face the fury of of vegetables which belonged streams have become polluted nature attributed to climate only to the lower altitudes, because of the increase in the change. Norphel himself has Ladakhis are now being able to local population, the presence seen droughts, cloud bursts and grow exotic horticultural plants of the army and the coming flash floods taking place with like apricot, apple, mulberry, of tourists and labour in large increased frequency. The violent grape and pear. Moreover, the numbers during the summer floods of 2006 rendered many findings that he has read, lead season. In the last few years, homeless and caused irreparable him to believe that the apple Norphel himself has seen a few losses of livestock and property. belt has shifted from 2,743 m to springs totally dry up. Besides flash floods from June to 3,657 m, which only goes to show September, heavy rainfall over a how temperatures have risen at The ‘Ice Man’ perceives glacial short period of time and heavy high altitudes. melt as a massive threat to late season snowfall, have also the people of Ladakh. Even at become common. Norphel tells how crows, 5,000-6,000m, the glacier cover considered to be cold resistant is shrinking, while the average As for the changing landscape of birds used to lay eggs during the rainfall is as low as 75-100 mm. Ladakh, Norphel feels helpless peak of winter. People used to He explains that with fewer since they are changes in the say that if a crow fell off dead glaciers, the melting process will natural climate, and global from a tree, it meant that the slow down and occur in June, changes at that. He sums up winter was extremely cold that which is too late for farmers saying: year. Now one hardly gets to see who need to sow their crops in a crow in Leh as they have moved April/May. If sufficient water “It is also now an established to colder areas like Changthang. is not available, the crops get fact that the level of CO2 is at its ruined. With agriculture being highest in the last million years. This rise in temperature the mainstay of Ladakhi life, this We need to address environmental also impacts the production can have a devastating effect degradation in a holistic manner of pashmina (an important on livelihood and food supply. to ensure both economic and source of livelihood for some Norphel explains that rapid environmental sustainability.” Ladakhis), since the pashmina recession of the glacial cover goat needs drier and colder could have two causes: warmer climatic conditions for good climate or erratic/inadequate 11

Tsering Rigdol LADAKH, INDIA

The last rays of the bright into his smooth forehead? His would regularly sight birds like Ladakhi sun engulf the little shop livestock provides the family with the Black-necked Crane, Ruddy as 50-year old Tsering Rigdol sits milk and wool from which they Shelduck and Bar-headed Goose, serenely attending to customers make ropes, quilts, sweaters but he hasn’t seen much of them as and when they enter for and gonchas. Moreover, his in the last 20 years. He used to commodities or conversation. Six village gets cut off from Kargil in see good numbers of blue sheep years ago, he made his way from winter, so they have to stock up and herds of 20-30 Ibex roaming Zanskar to set up his grocery on vegetables, wheat, flour and the hill sides, but now, only a shop in Leh, which is known most rice for six months and a fall in few are seen alone or in pairs. for its golden butter made from production can hit them hard. yak and cow milk, a specialty People back then were that has existed in his family for At present, Rigdol is battling worried about the huge generations. While he runs his the widespread weeds that amount of rain and shop in Leh, his family comprising are a huge impediment to the snowfall. Now they are his wife, six children, daughter- crops in his field. He is also worried about receiving in-law and a grand child, still live troubled about the fall in the less or absolutely no rain in Zanskar. quality of milk that his livestock and snow! is producing, which directly In addition to the shop, affects the butter which is the Rigdol is anxious about the entire Rigdol owns farmland in main commodity in his shop. A situation since he and his family Zanskar which is tilled by his disturbed Rigdol tells that even are dependent on rainfall for the sons, both of whom are farmers the taste of butter is not the vegetation on the mountainsides, and shepherds. They grow same anymore. He attributes this which is food for their livestock. barley, turnip, spinach, radish to the increase in the number If their livestock doesn’t get to and peas. Rigdol begins to tell livestock in the area and the eat, their income will definitely of the tremendous change in the paucity of fodder to feed all be affected. In addition, they also agricultural pattern that he of them. need good rainfall for irrigating has observed over the years, their crops. In Zanskar, there has including the fact that they are According to Rigdol, even the never been a water scarcity so now able to grow more varieties temperatures haven’t been far because it has a good number of vegetables in their fields. spared. When he was a child, of glaciers, but there could be in there were no socks; so they the future, if temperatures keep Though Rigdol cannot help but would stuff hay into their shoes rising like this. feel glad at the increase in to keep their feet warm during temperature which has enabled winter. Soon they moved on to Rigdol feels that his life is these new crops to grow on woolen socks, but now even nylon almost over. But he fears for the Ladakhi soil, he also believes socks are enough for the season! generations that will come after that it is the worse for the future During winter, Zanskar used to he is long gone. generations, if the temperature be closed for six to seven months continues to rise. He figures due to heavy snowfall. Now it that if there are no glaciers on remains closed only for three to the mountains, there will be no four months because of the thin vegetation or crops. Then how snow cover which melts faster. would they feed their livestock he questions, a frown breaking There was a time when Rigdol 13

Urgain Chostak LADAKH, INDIA

Few can resist the warm cheer The quality of crops has visible anymore. He remembers that Urgain Chostak exudes as he deteriorated, for example, the how it used to snow during the rushes in Ladakhi tea in golden grain size of wheat was bigger in threshing season, spoiling the china cups. Having lived all his the past. It has now been mixed crop already cut and lying about. life in Diskit, Nubra, he has left with exotic varieties, which has To save it from spoiling, they home only for short intervals to lead to the disappearance of would cover it with cloth and study. For 10 years, he worked the indigenous, better variety pack it away in small spaces. in the office of the Assistant of wheat. Even the old, local In the present, since it hardly Commissioner in Diskit, after variety of onion has diminished snows, they can thresh which he was asked to run the because new varieties are coming without worrying. branch post office. In spite of in and people are compromising all the other posts he held, this on quality for quantity. As a child, Chostak recalls the 62-year old has been farming traditional way of judging the throughout since the time his Chostak has been witness to the temperature as his grandfather father (an army man) fell and changing environment of Nubra. told him. It was believed that broke his thigh bone. Chostak is Summers have gotten warmer the winter would be very cold, a father to three children – two and so the moisture content in if the magpie built its nest lower sons and one daughter. the soil has increased making it than its usual high altitude. easier for vegetables to grow. On Unfortunately, the magpie has Chostak has observed a big drop the other hand, excessive water not visited their region in 10 in his farm produce, and is sure in the soil is helping weeds to years now, spelling warmer of this because once upon a thrive as well. Usually, because winters. Moreover, they have not time, his family would run out of the cold climate, the soil received much rainfall this year of space to store the produce. stays compact, but last year he as compared to his childhood Now, they wait anxiously to see recounts, there was so much when there used to be heavy if they have managed to produce moisture in the soil that the field rainfall, at least twice a year. enough! He believes that this became slushy and the zos (cross is because of the weeds in his breed between yaks and cows) Even though Chostak is a fields, which he is unable to get ploughing the field sunk into it. smiling man, his apprehension rid of. He used to uproot them and anxiety at the changing at least twice by which time the Soon we will have to see environment around him main crop could grow easily. Now glaciers in photographs. comes through. with costly, unskilled labour, and more widespread and stubborn Even winters have changed. weeds, it has become tough to Once upon a time, in September- remove them. Moreover, three to October, during the harvest four years back, he discovered a period, the water in the stream new species of insect in his field, would freeze. Now it doesn’t which has been eating up all his happen anymore. It only freezes plants, root upwards. Because as winter draws closer. The Blue summers have become hotter Sheep and Ibex would come to than before, these insects are the lower reaches in search of now found in bigger numbers. vegetation, but now they are not Study Area Rivers National Park Reserve Forest Wildlife Sanctuary

SundarbansWEST BENGAL, INDIA

Lying off the east coast of India, the Sundarbans is a cluster of low-lying islands in the Bay of Bengal, famous for its unique mangrove forests. These islands are spread across India and Bangladesh covering an area of about 4,267 sq km. The Sundarbans delta is formed from the silt deposits of the Rivers Ganges, Brahmaputra and the Meghna. The land here is dynamic and still under formation. This is also the home of the endangered Royal Bengal Tiger.

Twenty eight residents of Sagar, Mousuni, Kakdwip and Bali islands in Sundarbans were interviewed, majority of them being above 50 years of age. They were asked about their observations and experiences of seasonal changes, deforestation and loss of biodiversity, decline in agricultural productivity, water crisis and erratic rainfall pattern, extreme weather events, change in water temperature and loss of cattle. These recorded experiences were used as a base to devise resilience building strategies in the Sundarbans. 17

Jalaluddin Saha SUNDARBANS, INDIA

Sixty-year old Jalaluddin vegetation was not allowed to kilometres of the land on the Saha was born and raised on regenerate, causing the soil to island already! Sagar Island, the largest and slip away. By 1985, the remaining westernmost island in the Indian trees were washed away and Pushed to the brink, Saha had Sundarbans. He moved to a with that the embankments also to build his third house about a smaller island, Mousuni, east gave way in 1992. About 100 kilometre and half inland from of Sagar in 1971 and has been people lost their homes and land where his first house stood. Over working there as a school teacher that year, Saha remembers sadly. the years, he bought two hectares ever since. Besides teaching, of land, which was reduced to a Saha also supports his family by After losing his home, this school little over one hectare after the farming a small plot of land. teacher built another house 2005 disaster. Loss of land also 60 m inland. The new pushed him to downsize his cattle Jalaluddin recounts the endless embankment was higher than the leaving him with only one cow ordeal of embankments being built to support his family. Jalaluddin and destroyed by the tide. Shore Dense mangrove now feels like a “victim” of the erosion is a normal phenomenon vegetation ran along the environmental changes on his in an active delta but it usually embankment on the outer island. takes place gradually. However, side, providing additional human interference has hastened security. But now it’s all Agriculture is the mainstay of the process and made necessary gone. the economy of Sundarbans but the erection of embankments on impacts of climate change are the shore in order to keep the sea previous one by four metres. It forcing people to change crops water out. was also a lot stronger. Braving or shift the harvest period. the odds, he managed to buy Watermelon, a popularly grown Four years after moving to half a hectare of agricultural fruit on the island, can no longer Mousuni, Saha built a small house land again. However, the be sowed since its harvesting in 1975 on the western fringes strength of the embankment period coincides with untimely, of the island. Back then, their was no match for the tide. Even advanced hailstorms. Saha has neighbourhood was protected though it was raised five times also noticed a shift in the paddy by a seven metre high earthen to 17 m by 2005, it collapsed planting season which he says embankment, almost 50 years again the same year, displacing has been pushed forward by two old. Dense mangrove vegetation 60 families. months over the last 30 years. provided them protection. Saha, whose house was about 10 m A perplexed Saha believes that Unsure of the future and what inland from the embankment, the frequency of tidal water it holds for him and his family owned about half a hectare of flowing over the embankments Saha wonders when history would agricultural land, two freshwater has increased as have the height repeat itself and force him to ponds and nine cows. of the waves, which has resulted abandon his home and construct in their agricultural fields his fourth. His advanced years Due to the steady increase getting flooded with sea water convince him that another move in population on the island more often. Every time salt is inevitable, even if it takes especially along the embankment water sweeps over their land, place after his lifetime. area, the mangrove vegetation it is rendered useless for a few thinned considerably. Consumed years. Shockingly, since 1969 rapidly as fuel wood, the this has affected five square 19

Jyotsna Giri SUNDARBANS, INDIA

A mother to five daughters However, Lohachara had its by the river. Gradually, the entire and three sons, 55-year old share of problems. The island island was submerged. The river Jyotsna Giri lives on Lohachara did not have a source of drinking seemed to have slowly eaten Island of the Sundarbans. Her water and the only tube well their whole island away. daughters are married and her the people had was eroded away sons live with her. Giri studied by the river. Therefore, they She trembles as the entire scene till the fifth standard and then had to cross the river and fetch flashes before her eyes again. got married to Pashupati Giri drinking water from a nearby at the age of 12. They settled island. High sand content in the Unpredictable weather on Lohachara Island, owing to soil made the island more prone and the threatening the fertility and agricultural to coastal erosion during regular environment are making productivity of the land, in spite tidal action. Gradually, Giri was our lives miserable. of her husband’s ancestral house left with her homestead and on the mainland. domestic animals - 20 cows, 150 The people living on Lohachara sheep, 35 goats and poultry. were rescued and rehabilitated to Lohachara had three adjacent a refugee colony on Gangasagar islands namely Sagar, Ghoramara Shakily, Giri recalls the fateful Island. Giri and her family stayed and Suparibhanga. While day, when she lost everything there for a few days and then Lohachara and Suparibhanga to the sea. She had gone to the shifted to the northern part of Islands don’t exist anymore, neighbouring island to fetch some the island where they constructed Ghoramara is nearly on the verge drinking water. Her husband was a new house, where they have of extinction due to accelerated not at home that day and so she been living for the last 15 coastal erosion. Suparibhanga had locked the house, taking years. They have no agricultural was densely forested and never her son along with her. On her land and have to work as daily had any human habitation. return, she found out that the labourers. Her son who is now only ferry service available was grown up works on a ship. Back in the 1960s, Lohachara cancelled for the day due to Island had a total population of some snag in the engine, because Giri complains that she is unable 5,000-6,000. For Giri’s family, as of which, she decided to stay to grow enough vegetables in for most others, agriculture and back at her parents’ house for her kitchen garden due to the fishing were the primary sources the night. When the ferry service infertile soil and the absence of of livelihood. She owned three resumed the next morning, Giri rain for many months. Fishing has hectares of agricultural land boarded and was approaching her been badly affected as well, as on the island, on which they island when she was horrified by she is unable to find a sufficient cultivated paddy and a variety the sight of her sheep drifting catch. of vegetables. Giri describes the in the river. She panicked and fertility of the soil and praises rushed to rescue them, but her A mother and a wife, Giri looks how without the application of fellow passengers stopped her more like a survivor whose boat fertilisers they were blessed from jumping into the river. is sinking fast. with bountiful harvests every season. Even the embankments Never having felt more helpless near the river were used for in her life, Giri could not keep cultivating vegetables, while the her tears back. After landing at coastal waters teemed with fish Lohachara, she found that half and crabs. her house had been washed away 21

Idris Ali Bandar SUNDARBANS, INDIA

Ever since his birth, nothing has and other moveable, as well as, bricks, sand and cement over separated Idris Ali Bandar from immoveable property. A new loose earth to construct the the only home he has ever known- embankment was constructed embankment. He firmly believes Mousuni Island. This 42-year old again, but this too was flattened that measures should be taken has studied till high school, with within a span of two years. He to ensure proper implementation science as his major subject. lost his house, as well as, two of such projects and good use of Bandar recalls how his father hectares of agricultural land. public money. used to tell him of the times when the island was covered with This frequent occurrence led It’s been said that this dense jungles 70 years back. Only to the loss of several hundred embankment will stand for when people started migrating hectares of land and about a the next 30 years, but I to Mousuni from 1935 onwards, hundred houses. Bandar says fear that it may not even they started clearing forests to that they cannot do anything to last for three years! make way for agricultural land help the situation as he raises his and houses. Ultimately, in 1942 hands helplessly in the air. Furthermore, Bandar has noticed the British Government granted that while digging out earth unhindered land rights to In an attempt to find some logic for embankment construction, these migrants. in this, Bandar figures that the most of the soil is excavated depth of the river has decreased from the outer perimeter of the In his childhood, Bandar used due to heavy sedimentation, embankment which provides to play near the embankments, significantly increasing the the river an easy access to the which had dense mangrove water flow in the river. He tells base of the embankments. forests, and was abound with that tidal surges lately have This weakens the base of the wildlife species like crocodiles, become very powerful, hitting embankment and it collapses leopards, snakes and wild boar. the embankments very hard and soon, defeating the purpose People started exploiting local knocking them down, only to forests for fuel wood, while enter their home and land to Owing to his scientific bent of some of the forest got washed flood them. He fears for the lives mind, Bandar has a few measures away by the tide. Gradually, the and livelihoods of his family and ready on his fingertips that he forest cover was destroyed and his people. advises the authorities to follow, one day, the sandy shoreline to reduce people’s vulnerability also went missing, tells Bandar Bandar seems disillusioned by the on the island. These include gravely. Hence forth, the workings of government bodies timely implementation of embankment was left devoid which promised to build a huge government projects, mangrove of any vegetative cover and concrete embankment, two plantation along the coastal became vulnerable to the strong feet thick but ended up giving stretch, and the installation of tidal surges hitting it directly. the people only four inches of boulders and wooden fences protection. Moreover, neither along the coast, to aid the Bandar remembers when his do the bodies consult the local deposition of sand on the coast. family and he were woken up people, nor do they show them in the middle of the night to documents before initiating a Though Bandar understands a find brackish water gushing project like this. While earthen little of what has been happening fast onto their island. The embankment compaction was to his island, he is as helpless as breach of the embankment had supposed to be carried out using the unenlightened. caused this, destroying houses, rollers, it was found that they agricultural lands, fishery ponds were merely using low quality 23

Hamid Bander SUNDARBANS, INDIA

Poverty and vulnerability come embankment which is 7.62 alive as one hears the story of 58- metres high. He wonders how year old Hamid Bander of Mousuni long it will be before it meets a Island located in the Indian similar fate. Sundarbans. Lack of financial resources in his early years The coast has become compelled him to quit studying symbolic of angry tides, after his secondary schooling, cyclones, storms and though he still managed to use breached embankments. that basic education to work in the metro city of Kolkata Hamid’s family is growing but for five years. However, family the land that they occupy is responsibilities dragged him back receding. His homestead now is home at the age of 22 when a measly 0.06 hectares which he Hamid had to learn to make had bought from his brother. He a living off the land. feeds his family by fishing in the deep sea for four months in a Hamid’s father had six hectares year and working as a daily wage of agricultural land to begin farmer for the remaining eight. with but over a period of time, His poverty prevents him from five hectares got washed away availing of the frugal solar power by the sea, leaving the family supplied on the island. of 11 brothers and sisters with only one hectare to till. Hamid Staring out at the sea in has spent the bulk of his life complete despair, Hamid says tilling a piece of land which that the only way he can belonged to his older brothers. survive is by fighting the natural Unable to survive off its elements everyday. produce, he turned to fishing in coastal waters.

Looking back at his childhood, Hamid Bander recalls the year 1960 when his house, two kilometres away from the coast used to be surrounded by a thick vegetative cover. Once the vegetation disappeared, his house became more vulnerable to the violent tides which finally did strike one unfortunate day.

After losing three houses to such devastation, Hamid looks helplessly at the new 25

Panchanan Gayen SUNDARBANS, INDIA

Born and brought up in Gayen has seen coastal erosion Feeling indignant at the Beguakhali Village on Sagar accelerate to alarming levels. department, he describes how Island, 60-year old Panchanan The settlements situated near they pay no heed to suggestions Gayen holds a Bachelor of Arts the point of confluence of the made by the local community degree, for which he travelled to river and the Bay of Bengal, have who is the primary stakeholder. the mainland since there were been badly affected by this. Sometimes they even bring no colleges on his island back in boulders from outside to 1973. He now supports his family He has not experienced a real strengthen these embankments of five by cultivating three bighas monsoon, winter or summer but that is also not working. (0.48 ha) of land out of the five season since he was a boy. Gayen Presently, they have advised them he owns. Apart from agriculture, has also observed that the course to put up a super boulder of about he has tried his hand at being a of the river is constantly changing 30.48 m in length and breadth fish wholesaler, a wood merchant and the water level has risen, which may help in silt deposition and a supplier of medicine. He is by almost a metre. In fact, he is and reduce coastal erosion also involved in the local political already searching for an alternate significantly. Gayen feels the system on the island. location to resettle as he is wary urgent need for a well planned that the next time it happens he mechanism for silt deposition. Beguakhali was once a big and might lose his house completely. beautiful village. Located in Gayen’s indignation doesn’t stop the south eastern parts of Sagar Furthermore, agricultural there. He is bothered by the Island, it has now fallen prey practices, as well as, cropping young people in his village who to the hungry tides. The village patterns have experienced a he thinks are irresponsible and is fast eroding, having already transition. Chemical fertilisers lost 64 acres of land in the last and pesticides are being My house shakes violently three decades! The river has also used limitlessly to increase every time the tide strikes washed away 35 houses in the agricultural production. These the coast. recent past. Gayen tells of his changes in livelihood patterns house which used to be about a and socio-economic dynamics are unconcerned about community kilometre away from the river, all connected to climate change, well being. They don’t seem to but now the river flows through Gayen firmly believes. understand that the embankment it. The families affected by this is their last line of defense disaster were relocated and He looks grave as he talks of and theirs to protect. He finds resettled on the northern part the embankments which are them stealing bricks from of Sagar. damaged and breached by embankments to construct their tidal action every year. The houses and bathrooms. Gayen tells that he has witnessed Irrigation Department of the great changes over the last state government either repairs Gayen knows that his generation three decades in his part of the embankments or re-builds will not live for long and the the island. He remembers with them afresh. The soil used for time to hand over the reins and fondness the huge stretches building them is excavated from problems to the next generation of sandy beaches and dense the vicinity, which defeats the is approaching faster than the mangrove jungles along the coast purpose since this weakens the roaring tide. abound with wildlife, and how base of the new embankment, they began to lose all of this leading to another collapse. from 1980 onwards. After this, Gayen looks a little exasperated. The Climate is Changing

The manifestations of a changing climate are clearly visible around us, in the form of increased incidences of severe droughts, hurricanes, floods and diseases all over the world.These changes are damaging critical and fragile ecosystems. It is believed that the Earth is fast approaching the tipping point, a point in the temperature graph beyond which entire ecosystems will propel into a different state from which there is no turning back.

India, in particular is vulnerable to climate change impacts because of its unique geography, high population density and acute poverty. The adverse effects of climate change, like rising sea levels, melting glaciers, erratic precipitation patterns, and increased occurrence of natural calamities are affecting the poor the most because they count on the climate for livelihoods like agriculture and fishing.

WWF-India Stepping In

In order to observe and study the impacts of climate change and to introduce adaptation strategies to combat its adverse effects, WWF-India has identified pilot sites in Ladakh and the Sundarbans. In both regions, initiatives are being undertaken to:

- Assess the vulnerability of local communities arising from variability in climate and communicating it to decision makers and civil society to influence the development of climate-aware policies. - Improve the resilience of local communities by raising awareness and engaging in advocacy. - Provide alternative sources of livelihood - In Sundarbans, a Climate Adaptation Centre has been set up, that provides Compiled and early warning systems, disaster response teams, relief equipment and seed written by banks. In addition, an indigenous salt tolerant variety of paddy for agriculture, Anne-Marie Patricia Singh and and breeding of sea bass and scat as alternative livelihood options have been Ragini Letitia Singh introduced. - In Ladakh, renewable energy technologies are being encouraged, especially Photo Credits: solar energy. Ragini Letitia Singh, WWF-India - Conserve and manage the natural ecosystems to improve the resilience of Pankaj Chandan, WWF-India local communities. Subhro Sen, WWF-India Arjun Manna, WWF-India Mahesh Nair When disaster strikes, it spares nobody Koushik Bhattacharjee Photographs of Cyclone Aila, Sundarbans, 2009 Dorjay Angdus kaya and Leh Cloudburst, Ladakh, 2010 Printed on 100% recycled Lenzing Paper