By Manipadma Jena
BHUBANESWAR, India (AlertNet) - India's mineral-rich Orissa State is fast becoming a hub for investment. But experts warn poorly-planned development projects are threatening its mangrove forests, which offer vital protection against the cyclones that regularly batter India's east coast.
"In the climate-constrained world of today, 'development' itself can turn into a threat to life, livelihood and the environment," said Biswajit Mohanty, Orissa's best-known environmentalist and secretary of the Wildlife Society of Orissa.
Orissa is one of the poorest states in India. Recent investment plans, such as a proposal by South Korea's Posco to build a $12 billion steel plant, and the construction of a new international port at Dhamara, have raised hopes of jobs and development for the 43 percent of the rural population who live in poverty.
"In a state where large numbers go to bed hungry and when poverty leads to Maoist rebel activities, development in agriculture and infrastructure is a priority," said Tarun Kanti Mishra, chief secretary of the Orissa state government.
But these development choices must be made carefully, warns the United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Risk Reduction, as they profoundly influence the impact of disasters in countries facing natural hazards.
With climate change, extreme weather events are becoming increasingly common and this makes the need for climate-sensitive development all the more acute.
CLIMATE CHANGE THREATENS ADVANCES
"Climate change can undo decades of development and poverty-reduction effort, locking up substantial future development expenditure into disaster recovery instead," warned Ambika Nanda of the U.N. Development Programme.
In 1999, a powerful 'super cyclone' struck the coast of Orissa, killing 10,000 people and affecting 15 million others. The majority of deaths were caused by drowning, as tidal surges 7 metres high swept 15 kilometres inland.
The cyclone caused an estimated $861 million of damage and destroyed thousands of homes.
Mangrove forests are key to the protection of Orissa's 480-kilometre coastline, which is home to one-third of its 37 million people, scientists say.
The trees, which grow along the shoreline, act as a natural barrier against deadly tidal surges caused by cyclones. The forests also slow soil erosion and stabilise tidal banks against rising sea level, another climate change hazard.
When the 1999 cyclone struck, Orissa's Kendrapada District had a 1.2 kilometre-wide band of mangrove forest protecting it, which averted an estimated $14 million worth of damage, according to a joint study by India's Delhi University and Duke University in the United States.
However, there would have been no damage at all to homes if the 5 kilometre-wide strip of mangrove forest that existed in the 1950s had still been there in 1999, the experts said.
The mangrove forests of Kendrapada District, which is the most cyclone-prone area in the Indian peninsula, are under threat from several development and infrastructure projects.
IRRIGATION A THREAT TO MANGROVES
The Rengali multi-purpose irrigation project aims to reduce poverty by increasing the number of farmers able to water their fields. But it is also reducing the flow of water to the Bhitarkanika Conservation Area, a Kendrapada District preserve that is home to one of India's largest mangrove forests.
As part of the government project, a dam has been built across the Brahmani River, reducing the water flow at the delta head by 10 percent, according to a study by the Institute of Minerals and Materials Technology and Spatial Planning and Analysis Research Centre.
The river is a major feeder for the mangroves, providing essential freshwater which ensures the right level of salinity for the mangroves to grow, particularly during drought seasons.
The scientists estimate that water flow will fall by 25 percent, from 19,514 to 14,000 cubic metres, when full irrigation eventually commences.
In addition, the government recently approved the construction of four private thermal power plants alongside the irrigation project.
The power plants, which would draw some of their water from the irrigation scheme, would increase access to electricity, currently enjoyed by only 22 percent of rural households in the state.
A few kilometres from the mangroves of Bhitarkanika Conservation Area, Tata Steel and L&T are building a port at Dhamra to export millions of tons of iron ore from the nearby mineral belt. Several other port projects are under consideration, aimed at reducing pressure on Orissa's existing single large port at Paradip.
Environmentalists fear these projects will have a devastating impact on the mangroves.
"Neither our political planners nor Indian industry heads are thinking long-term. One needs to respect natural buffers such as mangroves; projects like Dhamra port have no place in a low-carbon sustainable future," said Ashish Fernandes of Greenpeace India.
For the government, reconciling the longer-term threats of climate change with people's immediate development needs is not so easy.
"I cannot be oblivious to the larger development agenda of the government," said Jairam Ramesh, federal Minister of State for Environment and Forests.
Last week, the World Bank approved a $222 million credit for India's Integrated Coastal Zone Management Project, which includes mangrove regeneration as an important component.
Manipadma Jena is a development journalist based in Bhubaneswar, India.