Towards a Green Deal for Coastal Ecosystem with Special Reference to Sundarbans under Changing Climate

Abstract

The fact that the Sundarbans, a typical representation of the coastal ecosystem, and a treasure trove of natural resources, is degrading fast under the combined assault of man, nature and climate change, is no longer confined to scientific discussions, but has become a concern in public discourses. The issue at stake being the well being (habitat, health, livelihood and income)

of the people, urgent remedial measures is warranted. Amongst the numerous issues seeking solutions, this paper addresses three concerns: i) increasing freshwater scarcity, which is limiting agricultural growth; ii) drainage congestion, causing flooding of farms and farmsteads; iii) and overexploitation coupled with pollution of resources in the coastal waters due to crowding of ventures, leading to fall in provisioning and other ecosystem services. Three innovative approaches are advanced to resolve these critical issues. The first suggestion speaks of closing few identified estuaries by suitable engineering structures, to create fresh water reservoir, and to do away with the need of protection bunds along the closed length on either side of the estuary. The second intervention advocates tidal river management (TRM) to enlarge the estuary sections along the estuary, where beels (large and deep-water bodies) are available. The third intervention is about extending farming in off-coast sea. Unlike land, sea offers the opportunity of practicing three dimensional (3-D) farming in the water column. Several technology models, which enable growing various useful seaweeds, corals, fishes at varying depths, not only offer new areas for farming, but also sequester more carbon, absorbs phosphorous and nitrogen, which are the major pollutants of coastal waters. The planning, design and operationalization of estuary management practices are based on complex hydraulic phenomena. In addition, the built environments always carry the burden of trade-off, and the suggested interventions are no exception to this rule. Further research is necessary to arrive at balanced decisions as per TEEB AgriFood Framework, for internalization of externalities embedded in the value loss of natural capital. Some of the identified research and data gaps include: estuary regime modelling for design of protection structures, hydro-salinity modelling to settle the competing issues crop vs brackish water aquaculture, mapping of coastal ecosystem resources for natural capital accounting (NAC). The suggested interventions, if properly implemented, will turn out to be a green deal – ‘minimizing trade-offs and increasing synergies between enhanced human outcomes (crops, fish, water supply, etc.) and the health of the natural environment’.