Sustainable Energy Development and Participatory Management Scenario in the Sundarban: A Case Study in the Sagar Island, West Bengal, India

Abstract

The Sundarban is an ecologically sensitive region with the inhabitants lacking in proper basic amenities, purchasing power, technological awareness and capacity generation for sustainable development of the community. The Sagar Island has been facing the constant wrath of environmental disasters and damage due to their poor adaptive technologies offered by the planners and policy makers. Even though, the introduction of renewable technologies as an alternative source of power has not been equally welcomed everywhere nevertheless the dependence on forest wood as the prime fuel is no longer prevalent and people have voluntarily involved themselves in forest conservation. This paper tries to make a contribution by upholding the dualism in the society between direct gains and selfless sustainability; whereby an integrated framework can be formulated for a comprehensive developmental goal. To understand the scenario, the awareness and perception study of the inhabitants towards social forestry and renewable energy sources have been carried out. From the results, it is found that even though Indian energy policy encourages renewable energy but it is mostly controlled by the supply channel and public demand leading to more reliance on conventional thermal gridded electricity. Thus, public awareness and participatory management of locals can ultimately provide a sustainable way to in situ resource management in the Sagar Island.