Concept note
Tidal dominated lower
Ganges delta in India and Bangladesh: assessing natural resources for
sustainable management and improved livelihood security by augmenting
productivity of agriculture and aquaculture under changing global environment
Preamble
The Ganges delta is one of the largest deltas in the world. The rivers
Ganges and Brahmaputra flow into the delta from the northwest and the north.
The landforms of the Bengal lowland, including the Ganges or Bengal delta and
its surrounding region, consist of Pleistocene uplands and alluvial lowlands.
The Ganges delta is distributed over Bangladesh and a major part of West
Bengal (India). At the extreme south, the delta is about 360 km wide
along the Bay of Bengal, and in terms of area about 80,000 km2
distributed over the two countries.
The tidal dominated Ganges delta (TDGD) including the Sundarbans are
distributed over Bangladesh and India, area under the former being higher. With
increasing population pressure and other anthropological factors along with
trend of seawater rise vis-à-vis global warming and various other factors
majority of the areas remain highly fragile and vulnerable and ecologically
unsustainable. Cropping intensity is poor with low yielding rice (potentiality ranges
from 0.8 to 1.5 t ha-1), yet highly susceptible to tidal inundation
to various extent and duration. Aquaculture, principally fresh & brackish
water fisheries, remains a major occupation though uncertain due to
unpredictable nature of tide and flood. This, along with ecological
vulnerability, are thus responsible for
abject poverty and uncertain livelihood of the local inhabitants in this
ecosystem. There is need for a holistic and focused attention to the entire problem
for this highly constrained area, not attended so far in-depth, in order to
seek for developing future road map for higher and sustainable productivity in
agriculture and aquaculture and improved livelihood status of this contiguous
area stretching over two countries with almost similar problems.
In-depth analyses are required on future trend in sea water rise and
consequent change in river water hydrology and drainage congestion as well as
rise in tidal/ flood water in view of global climate change, in order to
develop sustainable management strategies for different tidal/ flood
vulnerability classes to be worked out and areas delineated. It is necessary to
also work out value chain and socio-economic impact of the suggested practices
including plans for retreat into shelter belts and subsequent rehabilitation
and reclamation of the land within a time frame in the event of unprecedented
climatic disasters.
Objectives
1.
Delineating
tidal dominated Ganges delta (TDGD) in India and Bangladesh and predicting
temporal changes of the nature and extent of tidal and flood water inundation in
view of future climate change pattern
2.
Resource
inventorization and monitoring of geo-physical, hydrological and socio-economic
parameters in tidal dominated Ganges delta
3.
Assessing
climatic vulnerability of the region and defining tidal and flood prone
vulnerability classes (TFVC)
4.
Evolving
strategies for eco-friendly and sustainable management for climate resilient
agriculture and aquaculture practices towards improved livelihood security of
TFVC
Project location
Tidal
dominated Ganges delta in India and Bangladesh (in the lower Gangetic alluvium)
Outline of the programmes
1.
Delineation of TDGD areas
i)
Mapping
of the tidal dominated areas based on available records and verifying the same
by traversing physically
ii)
Use
of weather forecast and hydrological data in predicting tidal dominated areas ─ nature and frequency of land
inundation ─
in time scale
2.
Resource inventorization and
monitoring
i)
Generating
soil hydro-physical & fertility and surface water resource maps, along with
irrigation & drainage infrastructure and future scope for improvement
ii)
Collating
data from different sources on time scale changes of hydrology of rivers and
aquifer characteristics, and future prediction of changes
iii)
Categorization
of land areas into different tidal and flood prone areas, based on data
collected, along with their characteristics
iv)
Monitoring
spatial and temporal variability of land use and land cover changes using
remote sensing as well as GIS
v)
Monitoring
net C and green house gas balance under different land use and land cover
systems
vi)
Digitalization
of crop genetic resources, yield potentialities, and other characteristics with
respect to tidal and flood water qualities (including quality)
vii)
Digitalization
of data on aquaculture species and their diversities with respect to tidal and
flood water qualities
viii)
Survey
and collating data on the present practice of agriculture-cum-fisheries, and
future scope for improvement, in different water bodies
ix)
Socio-economic
survey of the farmers related to different tidal and flood water classes
3.
Climatic variability and classifying
areas into vulnerable classes
i)
Observing
diurnal and annual cycles of river/
sea tides and sea surface temperature ranges
ii)
Modeling
on assessing sea level rise using relevant data on sea and climate, and
validating them against real-time scenario of the region vis-à-vis global
climatic change
iii)
Generating
vulnerability indices of the region after super-imposing the available data on
vulnerability classes, based mainly on climatic data, with tidal and flood
prone classes developed, to be termed as tidal/flood vulnerability classes
(TFVC) and preparation of maps thereon
4.
Management strategies on agriculture
and aquaculture and livelihood security
i)
Developing
package of short-term contingency, medium & long-term practices for
improving productivity of agriculture and aquaculture with focus on increasing
cropping intensity for different TFVCs, and evaluating their impacts on
socio-economy of the farmers
ii)
Developing
value-chain of other commercial practices viz., ornamental fish culture,
suitable particularly for areas under highly stressed TFVC classes not
conducive to remunerative field practices, and their impact on socio-economy of
the community
iii)
Recommendation
from GIS-based study on improvement of hydrology and drainage constraints of
different TFVCs
iv)
Suggesting
contingency plans on privisio for retreat to model shelter belts at selected
locations for use during unprecedented climatic disasters which may lead to
sudden rise of tidal water or occurrence of flash floods, and plans for
rehabilitation of the people and reclamation of the soils on a time frame, to
be specifically designed for highly stressed TFVCs
v)
Evaluating
impact of the above suggested practices on livelihood security for different
TFVCs
Investigators
Principal Investigator from India & Bangladesh yet to be identified:
Coordinator:
Dr. H.S. Sen, Former Director, Central Research Institute for Jute & Allied
Fibres (ICAR), Barrackpore, West Bengal, India (hssen.india@gmail.com, hssen2000@hotmail.com)
Executing authority: Yet to be identified, preferably from ICAR, India
Mode of operation
The project will be functioning in consortium
mode with a number of institutes (both government & non-government) and
scientists/ volunteers to be identified from both India and Bangladesh.
Headquarters will be located preferably at ICAR, India. The project being
international in nature will require the necessary approval and no-objection certificate
from both India and Bangladesh, and necessary protocols will be fully observed.
Duration of the project
Four years (July, 2013 to June,
2017).
Workshop, Reports & Monitoring
There will be one as a pre-project, preferably a field workshop
(following approval of the project), to finalize minor details of the programme,
one to mark the launching of the project, one at the end of each year for a
threadbare discussion on the results obtained, besides the final workshop in
2017. In addition, there will be regular exchange of visits as and when
required and monitoring of the progress.
Interim annual reports will be
prepared at the end of each year ending June of the respective year, and annual
workshop will be held alternately between the two countries with participation
of all workers from both. Final report will be prepared in May, 2017 following
which the final workshop will be held in June, 2017 in Bangladesh with
participation of all workers from both countries. Each workshop will be held in
presence of the sponsoring agency as well as relevant government and
non-government departments belonging to both countries.
Activity milestone
|
Activity (programme)
|
Ist year
|
2nd year
|
3rd year
|
4th year
|
|
1(i)
|
ü
|
|
|
|
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1(ii)
|
ü
|
ü
|
|
|
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2 (i)
|
ü
|
ü
|
|
|
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2(ii)
|
ü
|
ü
|
|
|
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2(iii)
|
ü
|
ü
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|
|
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2(iv)
|
ü
|
ü
|
ü
|
|
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2(v)
|
ü
|
ü
|
ü
|
|
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2(vi)
|
ü
|
ü
|
ü
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|
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2(vii)
|
ü
|
ü
|
ü
|
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2(viii)
|
ü
|
ü
|
ü
|
|
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2(ix)
|
ü
|
ü
|
ü
|
|
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3(i)
|
|
ü
|
ü
|
|
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3(ii)
|
|
ü
|
ü
|
|
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3(iii)
|
|
ü
|
ü
|
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4(i)
|
|
ü
|
ü
|
ü
|
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4(ii)
|
|
ü
|
ü `
|
ü `
|
|
4(iii)
|
|
ü
|
ü `
|
ü `
|
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4(iv)
|
|
ü
|
ü
|
ü
|
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4(v)
|
|
|
ü
|
ü
|
Budget proposed (combined for both
countries for 4 years)
|
Item
|
Amount proposed in US $
|
|
A. Non-recurring
|
|
|
(i)
Equipments
(ii)
Drainage &
irrigation structures
(iii)
Shelter belts
& rehabilitation measures
|
$ 90000.00 (~INR
50,00,000)
$ 900000.00 (~INR 500,00,000)
$ 900000.00 (~INR 500,00,000)
|
|
B. Recurring –
contingencies
|
|
|
(i)
Chemicals &
glasswares
|
$ 73000.00 (~INR
40,00,000)
|
|
(iv)
Computers,
peripherals & Softwares
|
$ 900000.00 (~INR
500,00,000)
|
|
(v)
Stationeries,
printing & binding, workshop & other miscellaneous items
|
$ 180000.00 (~INR
100,00,000)
|
|
C. Recurring- travel
|
$ 540000.00 (~INR
300,00,000)
|
|
D. Contractual hiring (Research
Scholars,
field labours and other
contractual
jobs/personnel)
|
$ 360000.00 (~INR 200,00,000)
|
|
E.
Institutes’
overhead expenditures
|
$ 21000.00 (~INR 1,15,0000)
|
|
F.
Honoraria
to Scientists
|
$ 180000.00 (~INR
100,00,000)
|
|
G.
Total (A+B+C+D+E+F)
|
$ 4144000.00 (~INR 23,01,50000)
|
Note: Mode of expenditures, as prescribed by each country or as required
by the sponsoring agency will be followed. Expenditures will undergo audit as
prescribed for each year
Project outcome
·
The
project aims at categorizing the tidal dominated lands in the lower Ganges
delta in Bangladesh and India into different ‘Tidal and flood vulnerability
classes’ (TFVC) based on composite indices to be worked out from climatic data-based
vulnerability groups and tidal and flood prone characteristics of the areas.
·
Modeling
of global climate change data will help in predicting sea level rise and
associated change of nature & frequency of sweet/ brackish water tides and
floods, change in aquifer characteristics, hydrology and sedimentation of
rivers, and their effects on soil and water properties.
·
The
resultant package of practices to be developed in the fields of agriculture and
aquaculture should be sustainable in nature since these will be prepared based
on the projected future trends mentioned above.
·
The
project will also generate recommendations on developing value chain for the
entire area particularly for the most difficult stressed classes where in-field
cultivation is difficult.
·
The
impacts of these practices, short, medium and long term in nature, on the
socio-economy of the community will be worked out and necessary
recommendations will be made to ensure livelihood security.
·
In the event of unprecedented disasters
alternate methods of retreats to shelter belts followed by rehabilitations and
land reclamation on time scale will also be made and their impacts on
socio-economic benefits will be suggested for selected locations.
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