Living with Disasters: Communities and Development in the Indian Sundarbans - Hardcover

This book is a critical account of the disconnected nature of governance, conservation and livelihood initiatives in the Indian Sundarbans, an active delta that spreads over 25,500 sq. km across India and Bangladesh and lies in the Bay of Bengal. It draws a holistic picture of the disaster-prone delta in eastern India, which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and also one of the largest tracts of mangrove forests in the world. The author juxtaposes the vulnerable lives and frequently displaced existence of the islanders against the dominant strategies of conservation and development followed by the state.

Amites Mukhopadhyay teaches at the Department of Sociology, Jadavpur University, Kolkata. He specializes in environment, development and livelihood issues in India, and coastal wetlands in particular, and has published in various academic journals and edited volumes. His research interests include landscape, ecology and governance, identity politics and institutional histories of science and knowledge making in South Asia.