Another island lost to global warming

The world has apparently lost its first habituated island ? Lohachara Island in Sunderbans ? thanks to global warming plus human intrusion, reports Chetan Chauhan.

Published on: Jan 7, 2007, 19:26:00 IST

None | By Chetan Chauhan, New Delhi

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The world has apparently lost its first habituated island — Lohachara Island in Sunderbans — thanks to global warming plus human intrusion. Another island, Ghoramora, in the Sunderbans National Park is on the verge of being lost to the Bay of Bengal and 12 more may end similarly by 2020, a report prepared by Jadavpur University has warned.

The alarming aspect of the six-year long study is that the rising sea levels may push about 400 tigers in Sunderbans, a world heritage site, towards Bangladesh and may result in extinction of Sundari, a mangrove species unique to the national park. Experts say the sea there is rising at an annual rate of 3.14 mm as compared to the global rate of 2.2 mm.

According to Dr Sugata Hazra, Director of School of Oceanographic Studies at Jadhavpur University, the rising sea level caused massive soil erosion and finally, the Lohachara submerged into the sea. "The trend first recorded in 2001 but was confirmed in 2006 through satellite imaginary," he told HT. Sunderbans by its physical nature of being low lying is more prone to devastation caused by rising sea levels.

Hazra also blamed human interference for excessive soil erosion. "The mangrove cultivation was extensively damaged till 1990s by humans but not much effort went into its re-plantation," he said. In addition, the upstream dams on Ganga and Bhramaputra reduced enough fresh water to the mangrove wetland and salinity increased in Sunderbans due to excessive sea flooding causing huge damage to the vegetation, said a Greenpeace campaigner.

The National Coastal Authority under the Ministry of Environment and Forests has been informed about the shocking discovery. A ministry official said that they were aware of the situation and soon the government will bring in new guidelines on Coastal Regulation Zones "Saving Sunderbans and olive ridley turtles in Orissa will be prioritised in the new regulations," he said.

The government may have to act fast as Hazra says that Sunderbans may lose 12 more islets by 2020 if corrective steps are not taken soon. Two-thirds of the nearby populated island Ghoramara is submerged. "It is just a matter of years before we lose this island too. Still, it is not too late to start as many more islands can be saved through visible interventions," he said. But, added that so far the government's response has been 'slow'. Already, 10,000 people in Sunderbans have been forced refugees with their land been eaten up by the rising sea.

Email Chetan Chauhan: chetan @hindustantimes.com

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Chetan Chauhan
Chetan Chauhan is the National Affairs Editor looking into all aspects of news and features from across India. A Chevening scholar with over three decades of experience in reporting and news management, Chetan has extensively covered all important aspects of the social sector, political economy, environment and climate change nationally and internationally. He did a journalism course at the Reuters Institute of Journalism in Oxford and Digital Media training at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. He started as a reporter with The Statesman in 1996 and joined the Hindustan Times in 2000 in the metro bureau covering environment, crime and Delhi politics. He covered hot local news, from the Jessica Lal murder case to the rebellion of Delhi Congress MLAs against then Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, to the replacement of toxic vehicle fuel with cleaner compressed natural gas (CNG) in the national capital. Some of his stories on air pollution became part of the Supreme Court’s landmark MC Mehta versus Government of India case in the National Capital Region (NCR), forcing the government to take corrective measures. As part of the national political bureau since 2004, he covered important central sectors such as environment, education, social justice, labour, rural development, water resources, renewable energy, agriculture, broadcasting and the Planning Commission for more than a decade producing several exclusive and investigative breaking stories. His specialisation is the environment, having covered at least a dozen United Nations global conferences on climate change, biodiversity and wildlife including climate summits in Paris, Copenhagen and Bali. He also covered India’s two five-year plans ---11th and 12th and reported on drafting and execution of right based laws such as Right to Education, Right to Information and rural job guarantee law, MG-NREGA, now being introduced in new format as VG-RAM-G Act. He has in-depth knowledge of social sector issues. He was one of the first to report on tigers vanishing from Sariska and Panna wildlife reserves in 2004 and 2008, respectively, leading to the setting up of the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) and the introduction of stringent penal provisions for poaching. He has written extensively on the rising human-animal conflict in India and the degradation of India’s biodiversity hotspots because of mining and other activities. Since 2004, Chetan has covered Parliament comprehensively and participated in training on the nuanced coverage of Parliament proceedings. He has travelled extensively across India to cover national and provincial elections since 1998, especially in the Hindi heartland states, considered India’s road to power. He writes a regular column for Hindustan Times, Ecostani, on important national politics, economy, Himalayan ecology and environmental issues. His other responsibilities include providing inputs for edits and edit page articles for the publication, apart from managing news flow from across India.Read More

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