In the Sundarbans, this involves building embankments.The embankments of the Sundarbans protect the islands where people live and are vital to their safety and livelihoods. 3 … After Cyclone Aila in 2009, the World Bank had allocated a colossal Rs 5,032 crore to the Sundarbans Embankment Reconstruction Project to build ‘modern’ cement and block embankments. This is a really relevant question for how the Sundarban reconstruction work will go along and I think government and non-government policy makers really need to rethink how designs are implemented in the Sundarban. Danda recalls that he has twice seen such structures getting washed away at Moushuni island.Sugata Hazra, Director of the School of Oceanographic Studies at Jadavpur University, estimates in his research report that in the last 30 years approximately 7,000 people have been displaced as an average of 5.5 sq km of land has been eroding away each year in the delta due to climate change and other factors. But by fortifying protective structures with modern engineering, the Sundarbans will be better suited for whatever challenges tomorrow brings.This content was written by and is brought to you by our sponsor. An investigation found that the reforms There is also widespread flouting of environmental rules to create ‘eco-tourism’ in the region. It is such a diverse and harmonious ecosystem that it has been proclaimed a UNESCO World Heritage Site. September 2015 ... (SDBC-Sundarbans) Project implemented by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für . Spread over an area of 9,630 sq km in India, Sundarbans has the world's largest mangrove forest and also hosts a Tiger Reserve and three wildlife sanctuaries. That is the background to why the Sundarbans Embankment Reconstruction Project is bringing machinery and new technique to the area.Santa Cruz has developed into a Latin American boom town. Even birds occupy those portions of the banks which don`t get inundated," said Danda, Head of Sundarbans and Climate Adaptation programme of WWF India. © 1996-2015 National Geographic Society, © 2015- Concrete embankments assume a clear demarcation, but this is not possible in the region.Embankments (left) can displace people, who become more vulnerable as they are forced to rebuild their huts (right) outside the area the embankment protects [image by: Megnaa Mehtta]The state government has consistently failed to prioritise coastal planning. Untold numbers of human, animal and marine life all draw life from these fertile lands, including the Bengal Tiger. The nearest city, Kolkata, is 100 kilometers away, and the only way to travel to the delta area of the Sundarbans is by boat, meaning both humans and machines must be transported via the water ways to islands in the delta.Luckily, with the use of heavy construction equipment, the embankments are now fortified with broad concrete blocks to create a more resistant protection of the islands and their inhabitants. Google Scholar 2020 National Geographic Partners, LLC. Unfortunately, the heavy rains and 140km/h winds Aila brought finally proved too much, tearing down the embankments and destroying hundreds of thousands of homes. The embankments of the Sundarbans protect the islands where people live and are vital to their safety and livelihoods.

So far, 5,000 meters of new embankments have been constructed. 2000.Draft final report on improved project planning and implementation methods, Vol 1: Main report. 20 Volvo excavators are involved in the embankment construction. Locals in the Sundarbans have started a project to rebuild these walls by hand, but what unfolded was an extremely labour and time-intensive operation. A Danda, Nilanjan Ghosh, Jayanta Bandyopadhyay, and Sugata Hazra, “ Managed retreat: adaptation to climate change in the Sundarbans ecoregion in the Bengal Delta ”, Journal of the Indian Ocean Region 15 no. Reportshave suggested that for every kilometre of an embankment built in the Sundarbans, the contractor receives ₹5-18 crores, massive amounts of which are shared with local village officials too. © 1998-2020 Zee Media Corporation Ltd (An Essel Group Company), All rights reserved. Embankment Tenders from India. In the Sundarbans, this involves building embankments. In 2009, cyclone Aila hit the Sundarbans so badly that a majority of the old embankments that used to protect the villagers were washed away.The people living in Sundarbans have tried to rebuild some of the walls by hand, an extremely heavy and time-consuming operation. So, these embankments only seem to be a part of a large viciously expensive cycle of construction, destruction by cyclones, and reconstruction. 5.4.1 Embankments. With a driving vision of building tomorrow, a collection of excavators are helping to protect the Sundarbans, a historic region between India and Bangladesh, from the threat of flooding. Some islands have been losing 200 meters of their coastline a year, killing off 90 kilometers of mangrove forest from land erosion within the last few years. Stating that little crabs are more crucial to the ecology of the Sundarbans than even tigers, Danda said in a mangrove ecosystem, crabs are the tillers of the land, but their habitat too will get lost with concrete embankments. By continuing to use the site, you agree to the use of cookies. "The ecology of the Sundarbans will get affected as the engineering interventions are not done keeping in mind the ecological realities of the area," Professor Jayanta Bandyopadhyay, head of the Centre for Development and Environment Policy at IIM Kolkata, told.Sundarbans expert Tushar Kanjilal, who was honoured with Padma Shri for his work in the region, complained that an Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) report was not prepared before implementing the project.Besides being a habitat for a number of species of kingfishers, a whole variety of flora and fauna survives on the banks of the group of islands, half of which have human habitations. Sundarbans in India is a beautiful yet dangerous patchwork of mangrove islands. The Bengal Embankment Act assumes a fixed distinction between land and water, as the British based the law on the geography of their own rivers.But in the delta which makes up large parts of eastern India, the border between land and water is constantly changing.