Climate change and its impact on the economy of Sundarban

Climate change and its impact on the economy of Sundarban

Debesh Bhowmik

(INTERNATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR DEVELOPMENT STUDIES,KOLKATA)

 Key words- Climate change , Sundarban , plan of action

JEL- O13,O21, Q54, Q58

Abstract

This paper draws attention to the brief account of the economy of Sundarban on which the effects of climate change due to global warming have been studied through the rise of sea level, sea surface temperature variation, variability of rainfall, behavior of cyclonic storms, destruction of mangrove, net decrease of area of land including forest area, increased in salinity, bulk of erosion, all of which induced to fall down the yields of agriculture and allied products including NTFP. All these impacts of climate change in Sundarban have negative influences on the access of food and livelihood.

The Government of India and Government of West Bengal with the help of the World Bank and India Canada Environment facility have undertaken several projects to revitalize environment and sustainable development of Sundarban with a great emphasis on objectives of 12^th Five Year Plan amending the 1991 Coastal Regulation Zone. Some experts’ recommendations like Coastal forestation, marine management, remote sensing and GIS technology and to construct a barriage across the downstream of Ganges-Gorai junction to store water for feeding into the Gorai river etc have been emphasized by the Government of India. 

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ARTHA BEEKSHAN - VOL-23, NO-2,SEPTEMBER,2014, PAGE-75-92