ENVIRONMENTAL VULNERABILITIES INDEX FORMULATION IN FRAGILE ECOSYSTEM OF THE INDIAN SUNDARBANS
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.20319/Mijst.2017.31.3658Keywords:
Sundarban, Human Development Indicator (HDI), Environmental Vulnerability Index (EVI), House Hold SurveyAbstract
Human Development Index (HDI) defined by United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) involves health, education and life standard. HDI as a measurement of development for a community is realistic as it takes into account the condition of common people’s livelihood. Here, we study the development of Sundarbans in South and North 24 Parganas districts of West Bengal. Existing data indicates poor infrastructure as well as horrifying poverty, but livelihood, education and health indices for all 19 blocks of Sundarbans do not depict the exact developmental scenario. Climatic shocks reinforce risks and environmental vulnerabilities (EV) leading to long term setback for the human development. EV affects the developmental status and thus modifies HDI. In this work, we propose to take into account the EV. We present through review of existing data and literature related to human development, HDI, show anomalies in the available data and discuss factors of EV. Finally, we propose a model to formulate Environmental Vulnerability Index (EVI) for Sundarban using model of 4 dimensions with 24 indicators expressed in terms of 120 variables given below. We demonstrate here how to collect EVI using values of variables through house hold survey as well as available secondary data.
References
Agricultural Crop Consulting and Ideas, (2015), Water logging and salinity. Retrieved from http://www.cropideas.com/salts.html
Baland, J-M., Bardhan, P., Das, S., Mookherjee, D., & Sarkar, R. (2012). The Environmental Impact of Poverty: Evidence from Firewood Collection in Rural Nepal. Working Papers.
Census of India, (2015). Registrar General & Census Commissioner, India, New Delhi, Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India. Retrieved from at http://censusindia.gov.in/
Chattopadhyay, K., (1995). The Desperate Delta: Social Ecology of Sundarbans. Gyan Publishing House.
Chaudhuri, J., (Ed.), (2012). Living with changing climate: Impact, vulnerability and adaptation challenges in Indian Sundarbans, Centre for Science and Environment.
Chowdhury, A. N., Mondal, R., Brahma, A. & Biswas, M. K., (2008). Eco-psychiatry and Environmental Conservation: Study from Sundarban Delta, India. Environmental Health Insights, 2, 61–76.
Das, P., Das, A., & Roy, S., (2016). Shrimp Fry (meen) Farmers of Sundarban Mangrove Forest (India): A Tale of Ecological Damage and Economic Hardship. Int J Agri. & Food Res., 5(2), 29-41. https://doi.org/10.24102/ijafr.v5i2.683
DasGupta, R., & Shaw, R., (2015). An indicator based approach to assess coastal communities‟ resilience against climate related disasters in Indian Sundarbans. J. Coastal Conservation, 19(1), 85-10. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11852-014-0369-1
Datta, K. K., de Jong, C., (2002). Adverse effect of water logging and soil salinity on crop and land productivity in northwest region of Haryana, India. Agricultural Water Management, Vol. 57, Issue 3, 30 pp 223–238. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0378-3774(02)00058-6
Debnath, A., (2013). Condition of Agricultural Productivity of Gosaba C.D. Block, South24 Parganas, West Bengal, India after Severe Cyclone Aila. Int. J. Scientific & Res., Vol. 3, Issue 7.
DISE & SEMIS Reports: 2011-12, (2012). National University of Educational Planning and Administration (NUEPA), New Delhi.
District Human Development Report: South 24 Parganas, (2009). Development and Planning Department, Gov. of WB.
District Statistical Handbook, South 24Parganas, (2009). Bureau of Applied Economics & Statistics, Government of West Bengal,
Dutta, I., Foster J., & Mishra A. (2011). On Measuring Vulnerability to Poverty. Social Choice and Welfare, 37(4):743−61. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00355-011-0570-1
Hamdi, K. Al., Al-Malikey, M ., (2008). Frequency of skin diseases among sea fishermen in Basrah. Internet Journal of Dermatology, Vol. 7, No. 1.
HDR Report of 24 Parganas North, Govt. of WB, 2009.
Hunter, L. M., (2014). Population and Environment: A Complex Relationship, RAND Corporation. Retrieved from http://www.rand.org/pubs/research_briefs/RB5045.html
IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) (2012). Managing the Risks of Extreme Events and Disasters to Advance Climate Change Adaptation: Special Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
Kanjilal, B., Guha Mazumdar, P., Mukherjee, M., Mondal, S., Barman, D., Singh, S., & Mandal, A., (2010). Health care in the Sundarbans (India): Challenges and plan for a better future. Future Health Systems Research Programme, pg 41.
Kanjilal, T. (2015), 'So many people are lecturing on Sundarban', (originally in Bengali vernacular: Sundarban nie ekhon sabai gyan dichhe'). Ananda Bazar Patrika on 27/05/2015.
Mallick, B., (2011). Migration as an Adaptation Strategy and Its Consequences on Coastal Society: Experience from Bangladesh. COMCAD Arbeitspapiere - Working Papers No. 96. Retrieved from http://www.unibielefeld.de/tdrc/ag_comcad/downloads/workingpaper_96_mallick.pdf
Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, 2005. Ecosystems and Human Well-being: Synthesis. Island Press, Washington, DC. p49.
National Geographic, (1996). Deforestation and Desertification. Retrieved from http://www.nationalgeographic.com/eye/deforestation/phenomena.html
Pakrashi, H., (2014). Transformation from being peasants to Climate Refugees: A case study of Five Indian Sunderban Villages. 5th CS Conf., Mahanirban Calcutta Research Group.
Priyadarshini, S., (2015), Climate change pushing Sundarban farmers into „awkward jobs‟. online 12 February, Nature India. Retrieved from http://www.natureasia.com/en/nindia/about
Raha, A., Das, S., Banerjee, K., & Mitra, A., (2012). Climate change impacts on Indian Sunderbans: a time series analysis (1924–2008). Biodiv. and Conserv., Vol. 21, No 5, pp:1289–1307. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10531-012-0260-z
Reuters, (2015). 'Everyday disasters' driving flight from Sundarbans. Apr 7. Retrieved from http://in.reuters.com/article/india-sundarbans-migration-idINKBN0MY0B420150407
Roy, T., (2014). Traditional honey collecting: emerging livelihood Problems and socio-economic uplift of mawallis community in Sundarban. The Echo, Karimganj College, Karimganj, Assam, India,
Scientific Committee on Problems of the Environment (SCOPE), (1971) International Council of Scientific Unions (ICSU), Stockholm. Retrieved from http://dge.stanford.edu/SCOPE/SCOPE_1/SCOPE_1_5.0_Environ_Problems_21-26.pdf
SOES: School of Environmental Studies, Jadavpur University, (2006) Groundwater arsenic contamination in West Bengal - India (20 years study). Retrieved from http://www.soesju.org/arsenic/wb.htm
Stellman, J. M., (Ed.-in-Chief), (2011). Encyclopedia of Occupational Health and Safety, International Labor Organization (ILO), Geneva,
Syaifudin Y. W., Puspitasari, D., (2017). Twitter Data Mining for Sentiment Analysis on Peoples Feedback Against Government Public Policy. Matter: Int. J. Sc. and Tech., 3(1), 110 - 122.
Sustaining Human Progress: Reducing Vulnerability and Building Resilience. United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) report 2014.
Thu Hong A. N., Dung T. T, (2017). Removal of Heavy Hetal Ions in Water Using Modified Polyamide Thin Film Composite Membranes. Matter: Int. J. Sc. and Tech., 3(1), 91 – 103.
United Nation, (1983). The Report of the Brundtland Commission, Our Common Future or Report of the World Commission on Environment and Development: Our Common Future. Retrieved from http://www.un-documents.net/our-common-future.pdf
Western, D., (1998). Human-modified ecosystems and future evolution. PNAS, Vol. 98, no 10, pp: 5458–5465. Retrieved from http://www.pnas.org/content/98/10/5458.full https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.101093598
World Bank, (2014). Building Resilience for Sustainable Development of the Sundarbans through Estuary Management, Poverty Reduction, and Biodiversity Conservation.
Strategy Report No. 88061-IN, South Asia Region, Sustainable Development Department, Environment & Water Resources Management Unit.
World Health Organization, (1986). Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion. Geneva.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright of Published Articles
Author(s) retain the article copyright and publishing rights without any restrictions.
All published work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
