The Sunderbans, India
Position:
22°34'N 88°21'E
Datemark:
November 2008
Mission:
Collect multimedia material on impacts of sea level rise
Under Auspices of:
Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting; Kendeda Fund, Alicia Patterson Journalism Foundation; Barbara Smith Fund; Whole Systems Foundation; Abby Rockefeller & Lee Halprin and 7th Generation Incorporated
Transport:
Commercial air to Calcutta; car with driver to Basanti; charter boat to islands
Results:
Radio features and documentary; web features
SYPNOPSIS
The coastlines of the Sunderbans Islands, home to nearly 5 million people, are threatened not only by rising sea levels, but also by more intense storms, flooding and erosion. Protected by embankments surrounding the perimeters of these islands, the people of the Sunderbans literally live and work below sea level at least part of every day. Anybody could “become a beggar in an hour,” says Tushar Kanjilal, an advocate for the people of this region. And now residents are threatened by Royal Bengal Tigers fleeing the advance of the sea.
- Listen to Heat of the Moment: Inside Out , Dan’s documentary on the human impacts of climate change, including a segment on Paris during the 2003 heat wave.
- Visit the climate-change website Dan helped to produce for the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting.
- Listen Dan’s feature on The World about efforts to slow flooding in Bangladesh...with flooding
- Read more