Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
ecological condition, several of the earlier
reported species have become extinct or are in a
very threatened or degraded state.
Large-scale clearing of the Sundarbans man-
groves in the last 200 years for settlement of
human population, aquaculture, etc., has invited
a situation of great stress to the pristine mangrove
ecosystem in this part of the Indian subcontinent.
Hence, effective conservatory measures are
essential to protect this gene pool. The integrated
management of mangrove resources depends not
only on an understanding of the ecological and
silvicultural parameters for forest management,
but also on the biological role that the primary
production from the forest plays in sustaining the
food web of the adjacent aquatic subsystem
(secondary production). An understanding of the
role of key stone species in maintaining the
equilibrium of this particular ecosystem is also
very essential.
Being a megadiversity country, India accounts
for 7
promotion of sustainable utilization of natural
resources is an optimistic step towards ensuring
the long-term sustainability of the forest eco-
system. According to several research papers and
topics published on the threats of Indian Sun-
darbans (Choudhury and Chaudhuri
1994
; Mitra
and Banerjee
2005
; Raha et al.
2013
), the blue
carbon in this region is under threat due to illegal
encroachment into the mangrove forest for col-
lecting timber, honey, wax, fuel wood, etc. Pro-
vision of alternative livelihood to the island
dwellers of the deltaic complex may reduce the
negative pressure on the blue carbon community.
These alternative livelihoods should not be mere
introduction of piggery, poultry or providing
sewing machine to the villagers, but strategies
should be formulated considering the salinity
pro
le and environment of Sundarbans. In this
context, we conducted a thorough survey after
AILA (during June 2009) in 19 islands of Indian
Sundarbans and observed intrusion of saline
water in all the freshwater ponds of the islands.
According to the local villagers, water of fresh-
water ponds (normally with 0
8 % of the recorded species of the world
though occupying only 2.4 % of the land area.
The convention on biological diversity (CBD), to
which India is a contracting party, deals with
various aspects, like conservation of biological
diversity, their sustainable use and fair and
equitable share of bene
-
2 psu salinity)
-
became almost 10
15 psu. This caused a massive
damage and mortality to freshwater
-
shes like
Labeo rohita
, etc., on which these
villagers used to depend so long for their liveli-
hood. Considering this alteration of salinity due
to AILA, we undertook a feasibility study with
three species (
,
Catla catla
ts. The convention has
also identi
ed forests, coastal and marine eco-
systems, grasslands, wetlands and deserts as
priority ecosystem for biodiversity conservation.
Based on this convention, several strategies have
been adopted to conserve the vibrating mangrove
ecosystem of Indian Sundarbans. The important
ones are listed here.
Scatophagus argus
,
Etroplus su-
ratensis
and
Macrobrachium rosenbergii
)of
commercial
cial tank at
Techno India University, Salt Lake Campus,
Kolkata, India, during 2013
importance in an arti
2014 and observed
high survival rate and growth of these species.
We therefore suggest such livelihood scheme
be
-
Encouragement towards alternative livelihood
scheme
Afforestation
tted with the environment of Sundarbans for
further replication so that the earnings of the
local villagers may increase. This would also
divert the local population from illegal intrusion
into the blue carbon belt.
Oyster culture may also be introduced in the
area as an alternative livelihood. The oysters are
rich in protein and minerals and can be cultured
with minimum investment in the creeks and
inlets of Sundarbans. However, turbidity and
drastic fall of salinity (which is a characteristic
Conservation policies.
Each of the above strategies is discussed in
detail.
Encouragement Towards Alternative
Livelihood Scheme
Among 4.2 million people in the Sundarbans
Biosphere Reserve area of Indian part, 50 %
survive below poverty level. Improving the
economic conditions of these people through
