10
Aug 2008 - I am 42 years old and have been
living on Mousini Island in the Sundarbans
Delta since birth. I completed my studies
from high school and my major subject was
science.
Mousuni Island is almost
12 kilometers long and 5 kilometers wide
and it is situated at the confluence of
Chenai and Bottola rivers at the Bay of
Bengal.
Island already under
pressure
My father used to tell
me that the island was a dense jungle almost
70 years back. People started migrating
to this island since the 1935. Most of them
migrated from Midnapore district in search
of better opportunities. They started clearing
forests to prepare agricultural land and
also to build dwellings.
During our childhood,
we use to play near the embankments at a
place commonly known as “400 foot”. My father
told me that this place was once rich in
biodiversity. It had dense mangrove forests
along with many species of wildlife such
as like crocodiles, leopards, snakes, and
wild boar.
Slowly the forest cover
has been destroyed as people have exploited
the local forest for much needed fuel wood
and some of the forest was washed away by
tides. As the embankment was devoid of any
vegetative cover it was then affected by
strong tidal surges hitting it directly.
The sandy shoreline has also disappeared.
Homes are washed away
again, and again
One night the embankment
was breached. We woke up and found brackish
water gushing onto our island. It destroyed
our homes, agricultural lands, fisheries
ponds and other property. A new embankment
was again constructed but got flattened
within two years.
Frequent embankment
breaches and the construction of new embankments
has led to the loss of several hundred hectares
of land and hundreds of homes. We can’t
do anything about this and feel helpless.
I have also lost my house as well as 2 hectares
of agricultural land due to this. You can
still see the remains of the old embankment
during low tides.
I feel that the river
depth has decreased due to heavy sedimentation
and water flow in the river has increased
significantly. Tidal surges are very powerful
these days and they hit the embankment very
hard. This knocks down embankments and floods
our island. People’s lives as well as livelihoods
are under threat.
I believe that following
measures are needed to reduce people’s vulnerability
on our island:
1. Government projects should be implemented
timely and the investment should be managed
properly.
2. Mangrove plantations along the vulnerable
coastal stretch should be carried out.
3. Bolder and wooden fences may be laid
along the coast which may help deposition
of sand on the coast.
4. A flood relief shelter is much needed.
5. Local youth should be trained and equipped
to take necessary action in case of natural
disasters like flooding.
6. Brackish water resistant crop may be
provided.
+ More
WWF-DCP turns 10
09 Aug 2008 - The WWF
Danube-Carpathian Programme was established
in 1998 to lead WWF’s conservation efforts
in the twin Global 200 ecoregions, building
on previous WWF activities in the region
stretching back to the late 1980s. WWF’s
work in the region has reflected the changes,
opportunities and challenges of this quickly
changing region.
Big visions
WWF-DCP’s early efforts
focused on working with governments and
international partners to create big visions
for nature conservation in the region. In
2000, WWF facilitated an agreement by the
governments of Romania, Bulgaria, Moldova
and Ukraine to establish the Lower Danube
Green Corridor – the most ambitious wetland
conservation and restoration project in
Europe, with nearly 1 million ha protected
and 224,000 ha slated for restoration along
the last 1,000 km of the Danube.
The Danube-Carpathian
Summit, which was organized by WWF and the
Romanian Government in 2001, brought together
18 heads of state from across the region
to discuss nature conservation and sustainable
development in the region, and eventually
led to the establishment of the Convention
for the Protection and Sustainable Development
of the Carpathians Mountains.
Much of WWF-DCP’s work
since the turn of the millennium has focused
on pulling through on these visions. The
organisation has been instrumental in introducing
sustainable forest management practices
to the region as well as the benefits of
floodplain and wetland restoration.
20% protected
In the run-up to the
accession of many of the countries in the
region to the European Union, WWF has also
played a significant role in preparing the
countries to introduce key pieces of EU
legislation and funding programmes.
One result is that today
the EU’s Natura 2000 network of specially
protected sites covers some 20% of the territory
of the EU’s new member states. Some 3.1
billion Euro from EU funding programmes
have been earmarked for uses related to
the environment and nature conservation
in Romania and Bulgaria in the period 2007-13.
“A key challenge now
is to ensure that what is on paper is in
fact put into practice,” says WWF-DCP’s
director Michael Baltzer. Many existing
protected areas are threatened by often
illegal construction and logging, and management
of areas is weak. EU funds need to be used
effectively – something much easier said
than done in countries that are still setting
up institutional arrangements and with poor
systems of administration and governance.
Ongoing climate change
is accentuating other challenges, with for
example increasingly frequent and severe
droughts and flooding.
As economies in the
region develop rapidly, the ecological footprint
of the 83 million people living in the Danube-Carpathians
is growing, impacting natural resources
within the region and increasingly further
afield.
Europe’s natural capital
WWF-DCP’s organizational
development has reflected the great changes
that have swept the region. The initial
small team based in Vienna has grown to
several dozen specialists working from Slovakia
to Ukraine, and with registered organizations
in Romania and Bulgaria.
While the organization
initially focused largely on working with
governments as well as international organizations
and NGOs, a concerted effort is now being
made to engage with the private sector and
broader public.
“The next ten years
or so will in large part determine to what
extent the natural treasures in the Danube-Carpathians
survive and continue to generate essential
benefits and services for us all,” says
Michael Baltzer, and adds: “We at WWF will
do our best to ensure that this region remains
and retains Europe’s natural capital.”
Download at right: 10/20
– 20 years of change in the Danube-Carpathian
region, with a retrospective of WWF’s work
in the Danube-Carpathian ecoregions over
the past two, tumultuous decades. The online
publication includes hyperlinks to further
information and materials.
