09
Apr 2009 - Mousuni, India: The 20,000 residents
of tiny, vulnerable Mousuni Island in the
Indian Sundarbans are using technology to
protect themselves from climate change-related
threats – including deadly cyclones and
rising sea levels – now impacting more and
more severely upon them.
WWF recently inaugurated
a Climate Adaptation Centre on the island,
which aims to help Mousuni villagers better
handle climate change by providing integral
services such as an electronic early warning
system, disaster preparedness kits, knowledge,
resources and skills for adapting to climate
impacts and educational materials for students.
Low lying Mousuni Island,
at 24 sq km, is the second most vulnerable
of the islands, but the information gathered
by the new station will assist Mousuni and
neighbouring sea-facing islands in the Sundarbans.
Additional climate change
threats to Mousuni include tidal surges,
increased soil and water salinity and sea-level
rise. The southern part of the island is
expected to lose more than 15 percent of
its landmass by 2020 because of rising sea
levels, according to WWF-India
While the population
on the island has been on the increase,
the size of the island has diminished because
of sea-level rise. The cyclones and tidal
surges have destroyed the communities by
breaching embankments, wrecking homes and
destroying harvests because of salt-water
incursion from the sea.
“Mousuni island is in
peril,” said Anurag Danda, Head of WWF India’s
Sundarbans Programme. “Its neighbouring
island, Sagar, is recording a relative sea
level rise of 3.14 mm which is alarming.
We have to work towards increasing the adaptive
capacities of the communities before it
is too late.”
Other adaptation strategies
introduced by WWF have included the re-introduction
of indigenous salt-tolerant rice plants
to farmers on the island. As the market
value of this variety (tal mugur) is not
far behind other high-yielding varieties,
farmers on the island have been successful
in maintaining their livelihoods without
having to worry about losing crops to salt
water incursion.
The Climate Adaptation
Centre provides rice seeds to the farmers
and also holds information about the various
varieties of rice, their market values and
benefits of government schemes and programmes.
“These problems are
similar in deltas all over the world,” said
Arjan Berkhuysen, Delta Expert with WWF-Netherlands.
“WWF is looking for natural solutions that
respect the dynamics of the system while
helping people towards sustainable development
in the face of climate change.”
WWF-India, in partnership
with WWF-Netherlands, Hewlett Packard and
GTZ inaugurated the center on March 29.
It houses an electronic early warning system
– to warn villagers of impending environmental
disasters – information on livelihood diversification
through salt tolerant rice and inland fisheries
and a book bank to loan students on the
island material to help further their education.
The early warning system
has been linked to Jadavpur University in
Kolkata and will receive messages whenever
there is an oncoming disaster. The Centre
also houses relief material such as stretchers,
torches and medical aid.
An organized Disaster
Management Team, comprising village youths,
also has been put together to physically
mobilize the community towards safety in
the event of a disaster.
These efforts have been
made possible by organizations and corporations
that have partnered with WWF.
“Climate change is probably
one of the most significant environmental
challenges that the world faces today,”
said Bina Raj-Debur, Director, Corporate
Marketing, HP India. “Hewlett Packard’s
collaboration with WWF and investments in
their projects are part of our comprehensive
social investments and environmental strategies
that makes use of HP technology to help
reduce our own environmental impact, as
well as that of our partners, suppliers
and customers.”
Climber takes climate
change message to the top of the world
06 Apr 2009 - KATHMANDU,
Nepal – A sherpa set off to climb Mount
Everest for a record 19th time to take an
anti-climate change message to the world’s
highest peak.
Apa Sherpa will carry
a WWF banner with the inscription “Stop
Climate Change - Let the Himalayas Live!”
and a metal vase containing 400 Buddhist
offerings up to the 8,848 metres high summit.
Nepal is on the front
line of climate change and its effects are
visible from the tops of the freezing Himalayas
in the north, to the hot lowland plains
of the south.
Its glaciers, from where
many rivers originate, are shrinking due
to rising temperatures threatening the lives
of millions of people who depend on them
for water.
“This is my 19th climb
to the top of the world. During the last
18 ascents, I have seen a measurable difference
in the climatic conditions there,"
Apa Sherpa, who hopes to reach the top in
mid-May said.
"The disastrous
impacts of climate change are visible in
the Everest region. It is a warning to the
mankind before it reaches a tipping point."
Observations backed
by scientific research in Nepal are recording
some of the fastest long-term increases
in temperatures and rainfall anywhere in
the world.
Many of Himalayan lakes,
which collect glacier meltwater, are said
by the United Nations to be growing so rapidly
they could burst their banks within a decade.
The expedition also
marks the start of WWF’s Global Awareness
Campaign on Climate Change in the Himalayas,
which aims to highlight climate change in
the Himalayas through a series of events
throughout the year.
"The Himalayas
are the youngest and most vulnerable mountains
to climate change," Mr. Anil Manandhar,
Country Representative, WWF Nepal said
"However, the world
has not paid attention to the plight of
the Himalayas and we want the whole of humanity
to know that the Himalayas are bearing the
brunt of our wrongdoings."
