Climate Crisis affecting the Sundarbans
On 31st July 2021, we visited the Sundarbans to help show our members how their donations have been used for the provision of relief support to the residents on the Gosaba island affected by the cyclone. We were accompanied by two on-ground volunteers – Rajkumar and Karthik from KSCH.
In this blog post, we will share why we visited the Sundarbans, our plans to safeguard the community of Sundarbans, and how we all can come together to help regenerate the livelihood on this small mangrove island.
The visit help our teammates learn more about the natural calamity and how we as a team can help the community of Sundarbans
When did we visit?
We visited the island from 31st Jul to 04 Aug 2021.
Why did we visit?
We have been supporting the people of Sundarbans for two months, prior to this blogpost, with ration and tarpaulins. Going forward; we aim to create a significant impact here, that will help sustain the island and livelihood of the community.
We asked the local residents about the issues they were facing. We learnt that most people depend on paddy production and fish farming. However, the salty sea water brought in by the cyclonic events destroys these income sources for many villagers, leaving them stranded without a shelter and income source.
To know more we met the Forest Department, who stated that due to the sudden change in the global calamity, there is an increase of water level every year which has resulted in houses being submerged into water. Thus to save the lands of Sundarbans from drowning, Mangrove Planting is currently the most viable option. Watch this video to see a science experiment demonstrating how mangroves protect the coastline: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoMrLYJOdA4&feature=emb_title
As you can see in the video, mangroves help to hold the soil and in turn to help in stabilising the coastline. It will also help the villagers who depend on fish farming to meet their daily needs. Thus Mangroves can save the villagers and the Tiger Reserve.
To support us to plant mangrove saplings around the coastline, please donate here. This will help us to help contribute to the lives of the villagers of Sundarbans and Mangrove Island of India.