Priyanka Ghosh | Vellore Institute of Technology (original) (raw)
Papers by Priyanka Ghosh
Geographical Review of India (UGC-CARE Listed). ISSN: 0375-6386. , 2023
Geography of time, place, movement and networks, Volume 3, Ed. Stanley D. Brunn. Springer, Cham., 2024
Environmental Management, 2021
Biodiversity conservation is facing unprecedented challenges at the intersection of rapidly chang... more Biodiversity conservation is facing unprecedented challenges at the intersection of rapidly changing climates, widespread ecosystem degradation under the influence of global warming and resultant human tragedies over livelihood, habitation, adaptation and coping needs. These challenges are more acute across biodiversity hotspots in the Global South. This study disentangles the complex interplay to propose alternative paradigms of governance and policy thinking necessary for sustainable biodiversity conservation. Climate change impacts are exposing critical deficiencies of ‘scientific forest management’ pursued for over a century. For example, recurrent disasters and ecological shifts are increasingly obfuscating cognitive and physical boundaries between the reserve forest and human habitations; putting additional stress on livelihoods which in turn escalate pressures on the forest commons and fuel further conflicts between conservation governance and local communities. Instead of assisting in adaptation, the existing conservation governance mechanisms are producing further conflicts between humans and non-humans; livelihoods and conservation; disaster management and development. Conducted in the Sundarbans Biosphere Reserve –world’s largest mangrove forest ecosystem and a climate change hotspot located along the Bay of Bengal across India and Bangladesh –the study finds an urgent need of rethinking and recalibrating biodiversity conservation in the times of climate change. However, institutional and market-based approaches such as promoting ecotourism or mangrove plantations may have little impact in this regard, the study finds. Instead, integrating cultural ecosystem services and co-producing knowledge will be critical to tackle the entanglements of climate change and its impacts on local lives, livelihoods and biodiversity conservation.
Water Stress and Water Crisis in Large Cities of India, 2021
Large cities of India are facing water shortages, and many cities such as Mumbai, Jaipur, Bhatind... more Large cities of India are facing water shortages, and many cities such as Mumbai, Jaipur, Bhatinda, Lucknow, Nagpur, and Chennai are facing acute water shortages. According to a report of Niti Aayog, Government of India, published in 2018, 21 major cities, including Delhi, Bengaluru, Chennai, and Hyderabad, are expected to deplete their groundwater by 2020, which would directly affect 100 million people. The Composite Water Index Scores published by the Niti Ayog show that only Gujrat, Madhya Pradesh, and Andhra Pradesh have efficient water resource management. A report published by the WaterAid in 2018 also stated that in near future the demand for water will be on the rise due to rapid growth of Indian cities. As the number of people living in urban areas has increased since 2001, many Indian cities will face a water crisis. Cities like Mumbai, Jaipur, Nagpur, Bhatinda, and Lucknow have already started water rationing during the summer months. In November 2018, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) declared 10% water supply cut for Mumbai residents. Furthermore, there was a 15% cut in supply time. Similarly, Jaipur also imposed a cut on the daily water supply of the city prior to the onset of monsoon in 2018. Instead of daily cut in water supply, Chennai provides water to its residents every other alternative day. Bhatinda and Lucknow lack any sustainable plan of water conservation and unable to find alternative sources of water. Based on the available literature, this paper examines the problem of water crisis in Indian cities and identifies the key drivers of water shortages. Additionally, the paper aims to provide a comprehensive overview of urban water crisis in India as well as highlights possible solutions.
Tourism Governance A Critical Discourse on a Global Industry, 2022
Tourism is one of the fastest growing economy in the world and it is also one of the growing indu... more Tourism is one of the fastest growing economy in the world and it is also one of the growing industries in India capable of creating diverse employment opportunities. In India, tourism governance is a contested space between the central and state government as well as between different departments of state governments. Against this backdrop, this chapter analyses India’s tourism development through several tourism policies and the nature of tourism governance. The chapter deals with the balance of administration in the tourism sector between the central and state government. As each state of India can formulate its tourism policy, state governments can bypass any legislation of central government in terms of tourism development. This has been clearly visible in terms of violating CRZ notification in coastal areas of Kerala and West Bengal, especially in the coastal areas in the Sundarbans. The chapter also examines how in certain types of tourism such as ecotourism, wildlife tourism, and nature-based tourism, the Forest Department overpowers the Tourism Department in terms of decision making. In order to overcome the discords between different state apparatus, tourism management in India needs better exchange of dialogs and cooperation among various departments.
Environmental Management, 2021
Biodiversity conservation is facing unprecedented challenges at the intersection of rapidly chang... more Biodiversity conservation is facing unprecedented challenges at the intersection of rapidly changing climates, widespread ecosystem degradation under the influence of global warming and resultant human tragedies over livelihood, habitation, adaptation and coping needs. These challenges are more acute across biodiversity hotspots in the Global South. This study disentangles the complex interplay to propose alternative paradigms of governance and policy thinking necessary for sustainable biodiversity conservation. Climate change impacts are exposing critical deficiencies of ‘scientific forest management’ pursued for over a century. For example, recurrent disasters and ecological shifts are increasingly obfuscating cognitive and physical boundaries between the reserve forest and human habitations; putting additional stress on livelihoods which in turn escalate pressures on the forest commons and fuel further conflicts between conservation governance and local communities. Instead of assisting in adaptation, the existing conservation governance mechanisms are producing further conflicts between humans and non-humans; livelihoods and conservation; disaster management and development. Conducted in the Sundarbans Biosphere Reserve –world’s largest mangrove forest ecosystem and a climate change hotspot located along the Bay of Bengal across India and Bangladesh –the study finds an urgent need of rethinking and recalibrating biodiversity conservation in the times of climate change. However, institutional and market-based approaches such as promoting ecotourism or mangrove plantations may have little impact in this regard, the study finds. Instead, integrating cultural ecosystem services and co-producing knowledge will be critical to tackle the entanglements of climate change and its impacts on local lives, livelihoods and biodiversity conservation.
The Tides of Life: An Anthology on the Sundarbans, 2020
Handbook of the Changing World Language Map, 2019
Calcutta, India’s first modern city, was developed along the west bank of Hugli River – a tributa... more Calcutta, India’s first modern city, was developed along the west bank of Hugli River – a tributary of the Ganges. The city was renamed “Kolkata” in 2001, which generated a great deal of debate among the city’s literary communities and notables. The practice of naming and renaming of streets, parks, and other important places is not new in Kolkata. Not only did the independent government of West Bengal show a passion for renaming the streets and roads of Kolkata, but the colonial government was also not far behind in the naming and renaming spree. Until the first half of the nineteenth century, the street and place naming in Kolkata were based on the city’s geology, flora, and fauna. In the later part of the colonial period, the British government commemorated governors-general and viceroys in street naming. Since independence in 1947, the city’s major thoroughfares, streets, alleys, and parks have been renamed after national and regional leaders as well as social reformers involved in India’s freedom movement and socio-cultural transformation. More recently, renaming of the urban landscape in Kolkata commemorated legendary icons of Bengali film industry such as Satyajit Ray, Pramathesh Barua, and Suchitra Sen. Within a framework of the critical toponymic study, this chapter examines the street and place-name changes in the city of Kolkata along with its historical background. It demonstrates that while the renaming of streets and places after independence could be explained by the process of decolonization, a strong sense of nationalism, symbolic capital, and the restitution of justice, the recent toponymic inscription on the city landscape is more chaotic and cannot be explained by a single approach. Although the citizens can request street-name changes to the Road Renaming Advisory Committee of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation, the current street renaming is more of an administrative function largely determined by the whim of West Bengal’s ruling party.
GeoJournal, 2018
Ecotourism is increasingly being promoted as an instrument that helps local socio-economic develo... more Ecotourism is increasingly being promoted as an instrument that helps local socio-economic development and generate revenues to strengthen conservation of critically endangered biodiversity. It is often posited as the magic bullet particularly across protected areas in the Global South. In theory, ecotourism can provide economic benefits to economically weaker communities living around protected areas and inspire them to protect the biodiversity in their own interest. This paper, however, provides empirical evidence that the so-called win–win is not an unqualified truism. With a case study on Sundarban Biosphere Reserve, world’s largest mangrove biodiversity and home of highly endangered Royal Bengal Tiger, this article examines complexities involved in ecotourism and urges the need to make it context-specific. It assesses ecotourism’s ability to provide livelihood alternatives to local communities and how can it help in conservation. The findings demonstrate an unequal, uneven, and skewed accumulation of benefits of ecotourism, often associated with market mechanisms of global environmental protection. As little as 36% of the interviewees claimed receiving direct or indirect benefits from ecotourism, the study finds. It failed to offer any benefits at all to the poorest and most marginal communities. On the contrary, it offered disproportionately larger returns to the remotely located capital invested in the local ecotourism facilities in the Sundarbans, thus defeating the principle behind the mechanism. In the area of conservation, tourism was blamed for increasing pollution and harming the health of the ecosystem by tourists who were considered ‘outsiders’ and insensitive to the ecology by the locals and conservation agencies alike.
Geographical Review 105(4): 429-440, 2015
The Sundarban Biosphere Reserve in West Bengal, India, is part of the largest mangrove forest eco... more The Sundarban Biosphere Reserve in West Bengal, India, is part of the largest mangrove forest ecosystem in the world. The reserve is a world heritage site and the last refuge for the endangered Bengal tiger at a crucial time when global climate change threatens their existence. The mangrove ecosystem and wildlife conservation have become the priority for the state government of West Bengal. However, in becoming so, the state government imposes restrictions on catching fish in the core and buffer areas of the biosphere reserve, which intensify fishermen's everyday resource-access struggles in the mangrove forest. This paper examines the conflict between local fishermen and conservation needs, broadening the understanding of human-environment relationships in the Sundarbans region of India.
This paper examines the impact of biodiversity conservation on rural population in and around the... more This paper examines the impact of biodiversity conservation on rural population in and around the Sundarban Tiger Reserve (STR), West Bengal, India. More specifically, the paper analyses the impact of forest and wildlife conservation on the fisher folk who live on the edge of the STR and are allowed to enter STR for catching fish and crab in the numerous crisscrossed rivers and creeks. The ban on fishing in the core area of the STR and the regulation on number of fishing boats in the tiger reserve area often create tension between the foresters and fishers in the Sundarban. The paper explores this tension by looking at the everyday negotiations between the state Forest Department and Sundarban fishers. Furthermore, the paper addresses how ecotourism in the buffer region of the STR has limited capacity in improving the livelihood of local people, especially the fishers in the Sundarban.
Conference Presentations by Priyanka Ghosh
Dissertation by Priyanka Ghosh
Books by Priyanka Ghosh
This book is an interdisciplinary work that reveals the contemporary sustainability narratives in... more This book is an interdisciplinary work that reveals the contemporary sustainability narratives in India within the context of various SDGs. Several case studies are presented, each of which sheds light on the challenges and constraints that are impeding the process of achieving SDGs and investigates potential long-term answers to socio-economic and environmental issues. Through empirical case studies from different parts of India, the book explores the current status of achieving sustainable development goals in India. The volume immensely benefits scientists, researchers, policymakers and practitioners as it offers a thematic and comprehensive understanding of challenges associated with mainstreaming SDGs at national, sub-national, and micro scales in India.
Geographical Review of India (UGC-CARE Listed). ISSN: 0375-6386. , 2023
Geography of time, place, movement and networks, Volume 3, Ed. Stanley D. Brunn. Springer, Cham., 2024
Environmental Management, 2021
Biodiversity conservation is facing unprecedented challenges at the intersection of rapidly chang... more Biodiversity conservation is facing unprecedented challenges at the intersection of rapidly changing climates, widespread ecosystem degradation under the influence of global warming and resultant human tragedies over livelihood, habitation, adaptation and coping needs. These challenges are more acute across biodiversity hotspots in the Global South. This study disentangles the complex interplay to propose alternative paradigms of governance and policy thinking necessary for sustainable biodiversity conservation. Climate change impacts are exposing critical deficiencies of ‘scientific forest management’ pursued for over a century. For example, recurrent disasters and ecological shifts are increasingly obfuscating cognitive and physical boundaries between the reserve forest and human habitations; putting additional stress on livelihoods which in turn escalate pressures on the forest commons and fuel further conflicts between conservation governance and local communities. Instead of assisting in adaptation, the existing conservation governance mechanisms are producing further conflicts between humans and non-humans; livelihoods and conservation; disaster management and development. Conducted in the Sundarbans Biosphere Reserve –world’s largest mangrove forest ecosystem and a climate change hotspot located along the Bay of Bengal across India and Bangladesh –the study finds an urgent need of rethinking and recalibrating biodiversity conservation in the times of climate change. However, institutional and market-based approaches such as promoting ecotourism or mangrove plantations may have little impact in this regard, the study finds. Instead, integrating cultural ecosystem services and co-producing knowledge will be critical to tackle the entanglements of climate change and its impacts on local lives, livelihoods and biodiversity conservation.
Water Stress and Water Crisis in Large Cities of India, 2021
Large cities of India are facing water shortages, and many cities such as Mumbai, Jaipur, Bhatind... more Large cities of India are facing water shortages, and many cities such as Mumbai, Jaipur, Bhatinda, Lucknow, Nagpur, and Chennai are facing acute water shortages. According to a report of Niti Aayog, Government of India, published in 2018, 21 major cities, including Delhi, Bengaluru, Chennai, and Hyderabad, are expected to deplete their groundwater by 2020, which would directly affect 100 million people. The Composite Water Index Scores published by the Niti Ayog show that only Gujrat, Madhya Pradesh, and Andhra Pradesh have efficient water resource management. A report published by the WaterAid in 2018 also stated that in near future the demand for water will be on the rise due to rapid growth of Indian cities. As the number of people living in urban areas has increased since 2001, many Indian cities will face a water crisis. Cities like Mumbai, Jaipur, Nagpur, Bhatinda, and Lucknow have already started water rationing during the summer months. In November 2018, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) declared 10% water supply cut for Mumbai residents. Furthermore, there was a 15% cut in supply time. Similarly, Jaipur also imposed a cut on the daily water supply of the city prior to the onset of monsoon in 2018. Instead of daily cut in water supply, Chennai provides water to its residents every other alternative day. Bhatinda and Lucknow lack any sustainable plan of water conservation and unable to find alternative sources of water. Based on the available literature, this paper examines the problem of water crisis in Indian cities and identifies the key drivers of water shortages. Additionally, the paper aims to provide a comprehensive overview of urban water crisis in India as well as highlights possible solutions.
Tourism Governance A Critical Discourse on a Global Industry, 2022
Tourism is one of the fastest growing economy in the world and it is also one of the growing indu... more Tourism is one of the fastest growing economy in the world and it is also one of the growing industries in India capable of creating diverse employment opportunities. In India, tourism governance is a contested space between the central and state government as well as between different departments of state governments. Against this backdrop, this chapter analyses India’s tourism development through several tourism policies and the nature of tourism governance. The chapter deals with the balance of administration in the tourism sector between the central and state government. As each state of India can formulate its tourism policy, state governments can bypass any legislation of central government in terms of tourism development. This has been clearly visible in terms of violating CRZ notification in coastal areas of Kerala and West Bengal, especially in the coastal areas in the Sundarbans. The chapter also examines how in certain types of tourism such as ecotourism, wildlife tourism, and nature-based tourism, the Forest Department overpowers the Tourism Department in terms of decision making. In order to overcome the discords between different state apparatus, tourism management in India needs better exchange of dialogs and cooperation among various departments.
Environmental Management, 2021
Biodiversity conservation is facing unprecedented challenges at the intersection of rapidly chang... more Biodiversity conservation is facing unprecedented challenges at the intersection of rapidly changing climates, widespread ecosystem degradation under the influence of global warming and resultant human tragedies over livelihood, habitation, adaptation and coping needs. These challenges are more acute across biodiversity hotspots in the Global South. This study disentangles the complex interplay to propose alternative paradigms of governance and policy thinking necessary for sustainable biodiversity conservation. Climate change impacts are exposing critical deficiencies of ‘scientific forest management’ pursued for over a century. For example, recurrent disasters and ecological shifts are increasingly obfuscating cognitive and physical boundaries between the reserve forest and human habitations; putting additional stress on livelihoods which in turn escalate pressures on the forest commons and fuel further conflicts between conservation governance and local communities. Instead of assisting in adaptation, the existing conservation governance mechanisms are producing further conflicts between humans and non-humans; livelihoods and conservation; disaster management and development. Conducted in the Sundarbans Biosphere Reserve –world’s largest mangrove forest ecosystem and a climate change hotspot located along the Bay of Bengal across India and Bangladesh –the study finds an urgent need of rethinking and recalibrating biodiversity conservation in the times of climate change. However, institutional and market-based approaches such as promoting ecotourism or mangrove plantations may have little impact in this regard, the study finds. Instead, integrating cultural ecosystem services and co-producing knowledge will be critical to tackle the entanglements of climate change and its impacts on local lives, livelihoods and biodiversity conservation.
The Tides of Life: An Anthology on the Sundarbans, 2020
Handbook of the Changing World Language Map, 2019
Calcutta, India’s first modern city, was developed along the west bank of Hugli River – a tributa... more Calcutta, India’s first modern city, was developed along the west bank of Hugli River – a tributary of the Ganges. The city was renamed “Kolkata” in 2001, which generated a great deal of debate among the city’s literary communities and notables. The practice of naming and renaming of streets, parks, and other important places is not new in Kolkata. Not only did the independent government of West Bengal show a passion for renaming the streets and roads of Kolkata, but the colonial government was also not far behind in the naming and renaming spree. Until the first half of the nineteenth century, the street and place naming in Kolkata were based on the city’s geology, flora, and fauna. In the later part of the colonial period, the British government commemorated governors-general and viceroys in street naming. Since independence in 1947, the city’s major thoroughfares, streets, alleys, and parks have been renamed after national and regional leaders as well as social reformers involved in India’s freedom movement and socio-cultural transformation. More recently, renaming of the urban landscape in Kolkata commemorated legendary icons of Bengali film industry such as Satyajit Ray, Pramathesh Barua, and Suchitra Sen. Within a framework of the critical toponymic study, this chapter examines the street and place-name changes in the city of Kolkata along with its historical background. It demonstrates that while the renaming of streets and places after independence could be explained by the process of decolonization, a strong sense of nationalism, symbolic capital, and the restitution of justice, the recent toponymic inscription on the city landscape is more chaotic and cannot be explained by a single approach. Although the citizens can request street-name changes to the Road Renaming Advisory Committee of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation, the current street renaming is more of an administrative function largely determined by the whim of West Bengal’s ruling party.
GeoJournal, 2018
Ecotourism is increasingly being promoted as an instrument that helps local socio-economic develo... more Ecotourism is increasingly being promoted as an instrument that helps local socio-economic development and generate revenues to strengthen conservation of critically endangered biodiversity. It is often posited as the magic bullet particularly across protected areas in the Global South. In theory, ecotourism can provide economic benefits to economically weaker communities living around protected areas and inspire them to protect the biodiversity in their own interest. This paper, however, provides empirical evidence that the so-called win–win is not an unqualified truism. With a case study on Sundarban Biosphere Reserve, world’s largest mangrove biodiversity and home of highly endangered Royal Bengal Tiger, this article examines complexities involved in ecotourism and urges the need to make it context-specific. It assesses ecotourism’s ability to provide livelihood alternatives to local communities and how can it help in conservation. The findings demonstrate an unequal, uneven, and skewed accumulation of benefits of ecotourism, often associated with market mechanisms of global environmental protection. As little as 36% of the interviewees claimed receiving direct or indirect benefits from ecotourism, the study finds. It failed to offer any benefits at all to the poorest and most marginal communities. On the contrary, it offered disproportionately larger returns to the remotely located capital invested in the local ecotourism facilities in the Sundarbans, thus defeating the principle behind the mechanism. In the area of conservation, tourism was blamed for increasing pollution and harming the health of the ecosystem by tourists who were considered ‘outsiders’ and insensitive to the ecology by the locals and conservation agencies alike.
Geographical Review 105(4): 429-440, 2015
The Sundarban Biosphere Reserve in West Bengal, India, is part of the largest mangrove forest eco... more The Sundarban Biosphere Reserve in West Bengal, India, is part of the largest mangrove forest ecosystem in the world. The reserve is a world heritage site and the last refuge for the endangered Bengal tiger at a crucial time when global climate change threatens their existence. The mangrove ecosystem and wildlife conservation have become the priority for the state government of West Bengal. However, in becoming so, the state government imposes restrictions on catching fish in the core and buffer areas of the biosphere reserve, which intensify fishermen's everyday resource-access struggles in the mangrove forest. This paper examines the conflict between local fishermen and conservation needs, broadening the understanding of human-environment relationships in the Sundarbans region of India.
This paper examines the impact of biodiversity conservation on rural population in and around the... more This paper examines the impact of biodiversity conservation on rural population in and around the Sundarban Tiger Reserve (STR), West Bengal, India. More specifically, the paper analyses the impact of forest and wildlife conservation on the fisher folk who live on the edge of the STR and are allowed to enter STR for catching fish and crab in the numerous crisscrossed rivers and creeks. The ban on fishing in the core area of the STR and the regulation on number of fishing boats in the tiger reserve area often create tension between the foresters and fishers in the Sundarban. The paper explores this tension by looking at the everyday negotiations between the state Forest Department and Sundarban fishers. Furthermore, the paper addresses how ecotourism in the buffer region of the STR has limited capacity in improving the livelihood of local people, especially the fishers in the Sundarban.
This book is an interdisciplinary work that reveals the contemporary sustainability narratives in... more This book is an interdisciplinary work that reveals the contemporary sustainability narratives in India within the context of various SDGs. Several case studies are presented, each of which sheds light on the challenges and constraints that are impeding the process of achieving SDGs and investigates potential long-term answers to socio-economic and environmental issues. Through empirical case studies from different parts of India, the book explores the current status of achieving sustainable development goals in India. The volume immensely benefits scientists, researchers, policymakers and practitioners as it offers a thematic and comprehensive understanding of challenges associated with mainstreaming SDGs at national, sub-national, and micro scales in India.