Navigating waters: building resilience in the Sundarbans

Abstract

There is a saying in Bengali - “Bon dake”; meaning the Sundarbans (forest) call out to you. This project proposal is the answer to the same call. Climate Central's 2019 report projects the complete flooding of Sundarbans by the year 2050, displacing millions. Rising sea levels, frequent storms, and flooding are posing growing problems for the Sundarbans. A UNESCO World Heritage site, the river Sela area is part of the Sundarbans, the world's biggest intact stand of mangrove trees. A fragile ecosystem that has adapted itself to live on the brink of brine which has lost 110 square kilometres of mangroves in the past two decades. In 2021 after Cyclone Yaas, 3,000 families were relocated to other locations from Ghoramara island due to the submerging of the island. The “Bonbibi” (Goddess of the forest) protects those who respectfully set foot in her Sundarban, but who protects the delta and its people from the annual floods? This project idea will explore a holistic approach to flood resilience in the Sundarbans, emphasising community engagement, innovative architectural solutions, material matrices, site planning interventions and designing prototypes/modules. The people of Sundarbans make a living as one of the three: forest workers, prawn seed collectors and landowners. The geographical location of their practised professions directly correlates to the hierarchy of their social standing. A community is defined by what it cares for. Sometimes it takes a natural disaster to reveal a social disaster. This project strives towards establishing a more community-driven approach towards flood-resilient architecture. Can this adverse tragedy be turned into an opportunity?