A group of young people in Sagar Island in the Sundarbans have developed the mission to protect the biodiversity of their island, these youth are members of local eco clubs of Sagar Island and living in one of the most remote and ecologically vulnerable parts of the Sundarbans where they struggle to lead regular lives navigating challenges such as frequent cyclones leading to floods and the prospect of losing their island to sea-level rise. The eco club members, like other members of the Sundarbans communities treasure the abundant forms of flora and wildlife that their islands are replete with. However, as some of them share during youth network meetings, they are currently witness to the depletion of the once-impressive biodiversity in their local surroundings. One of the most threatened species of the Sundarbans is the fishing cat which also happens to be the state animal of West Bengal. 25 girls & 34 boys from the eco club members of Sagar Island have taken up the campaign to save the fishing cat, whose existence is threatened mainly by habitat loss due to deforestation of the Sundarbans, and also by persecution of local communities driven by ignorance and fear. While the youths have carried out regular sensitization sessions with the local communities to dispel existing myths about the species which often gets mistaken for other wilder animals, in 1 incident which happened in August ’24, the eco-club members took the courageous step to report an incident of heinous killing of a fishing cat to the Forest Department, the complaint was made at a personal risk as the offenders were well-known criminals. However, the girls & boys of the eco-clubs not only filed the complaint but they regularly followed up with the Forest Department on the actions; the matter while being taken up by the FD, was even escalated to the local people’s representative; however the youths had on multiple earlier occasions advocated with the leader about their concerns related to protecting the vulnerable species including the fishing cat and their continuous efforts bore results as the leader (an influential politician in the Sundarbans) lent his support to their campaign and ensured that the justice process for the killing of the fishing cat was not hindered by political compromises. The youth managed to ensure that the criminals were arrested and remained in jail. The youth from Sagar along with their peers from 2 other islands of the Sundarbans (Kumirmari & Hingalganj) are part of the youth network nurtured by the organization NEWS with support of TDH, they have continuously participated in climate literacy sessions organized through the project and while pursuing their personal goals within their challenging situation, they continue to campaign to protect the wildlife and natural abundance of the Sundarbans.
From Project: IKU-Empowered-IND-BMZ-21 written by Koel Chowdhury