Raising Awareness, Protecting Rivers

A Climate Walk passes through Bongaon, West Bengal, to raise awareness about the importance of protecting vital waterways. (Photograph courtesy Water Chronicles)

Scientists around the world agree: plastic pollution is becoming a huge problem for humans, wildlife and the planet as a whole.

Plastic pollution has caused great pain for people who live near the Ichhamati River on India’s border with Bangladesh, and for those who depend on the waterway for their lives and livelihoods. In a 2023 article, The Telegraph reported that the Ichhamati was shrinking due to massive pollution from plastic and other materials, and that fish were becoming less common. Fishermen are unable to make a living, the article continues, and the lack of economic opportunity is leading to greater levels of poverty, human trafficking and other troubling problems.

To provide assistance, the U.S. Consulate General Kolkata gathered a team of experts to develop a project called, “Tackling Plastic Pollution in Transboundary Rivers.” The group worked together to spread awareness about the dangers of plastic pollution in the Ichhamati and to empower local communities to make a difference.

River research initiatives

Prithviraj Nath is the founder and director of BRIDGE, a nonprofit organization that works at the intersections of gender, climate and economics. He is an alumnus of the U.S. State Department’s International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP) and in 2023, he joined the Ichhamati River project.

“The project aimed to strengthen existing evidence, dialogues, partnerships and action on the menace of plastic and other forms of pollution in the transboundary river Ichhamati and its linked water systems, enabling climate action,” says Nath.

He and his teammates began gathering information by talking with hundreds of local residents—farmers, fishermen, business owners, women’s groups, teachers and many more—to help understand the challenges facing the communities along the river.

The team organized Climate Walks at five locations near the river to gather information and raise awareness about the importance of protecting vital waterways. Almost 700 people participated in the walks, and “highlighted the key messages, findings and recommendations that emerged from the primary research,” Nath says. The walks further helped “facilitate discussions, debates and local-level action maps.”

Nath and his colleagues also organized a series of Public Advocacy Dialogues, community meetings that included “people’s representatives, local government officials, citizens, river researchers, activists, youth groups, civil society and mediapersons,” he says. The project concluded with a final conclave in Kolkata.

“The culminating event brought together all the evidence, recommendations, output, outcomes, ideas and networks to advocate for action and also to chart out a future agenda to take the initiative forward,” Nath describes.

Taking action

By educating people and spreading the word about the problems of plastic pollution, the Ichhamati River project supported important steps to help the river and its communities stay healthy. One local panchayat built a facility to prevent waste from being dumped into the Ichhamati. Nath says the construction was “small and at the local level, but a critical win for the work that this project was also contributing to.”

He adds that the Ichhamati River project’s grassroots partner organization, Sreema Mahila Samity, worked hard to prevent a large pond near the river from being destroyed.

“All of these are indications that collective work and support to the right partner are yielding incremental and valuable impacts on the ground,” Nath says.

The progress doesn’t stop there. When local governments collaborated to organize Climate Walks and Public Advocacy Dialogues, says Nath, they gained ownership over issues and solutions alike, and laid the groundwork for future action. The project reached tens of thousands of people via social media. And the final conclave helped experts and activists connect on vital issues as well.

Stopping plastic pollution

Sahana Ghosh is a Kolkata-based science and environmental journalist, and the associate editor at Nature India (Springer Nature). In 2019, she was selected for the IVLP to study the role of the media in dealing with air pollution. As a graduate of that program, she also helped with the early stages of the Ichhamati River initiative.

While the problems of plastic pollution can seem overwhelming, Ghosh affirms that everyone can make a difference. Young Indians can “keep a lookout on social media,” she recommends. “Many international organizations advertise for positions related to campaigns or projects to tackle plastic pollution. You could become a social media volunteer with them—even that adds to the fight against plastic pollution. But make sure you don’t advocate for solutions that may lead to new challenges.”

Ghosh also says that people around the world should do what they can to reduce their personal use of plastic. “Could we avoid asking the local vendor for plastic carry bags and instead, make it a habit to bring bags with us? If you travel a lot, you could reuse and refill bottles to carry your toiletries instead of purchasing travel-sized packs every time.”

Ghosh emphasizes that nobody can simply wish away plastic pollution due to its widespread use in industries around the world, but adds, “we can do our bit to mitigate plastic pollution.”

Michael Gallant is a New York City-based writer, musician and entrepreneur.

Click here to sign up for the free SPAN newsletter: https://bit.ly/SubscribeSPAN