CHAPTER 2

2.0.0 CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK

2.1.0. CONCEPTUAL ISSUES

The theoretical considerations which appear as relevant to the objectives of the

present work include the very broad concepts of land as an amalgam of resources and as

an ecosystem as well as the concept of environmental balance in general and also the

relatively fragmented but locally very important question of agriculture and water bodies

including rivers and paleo-channels as resource processes, as natural and cultural

ecosystems and bases of human ecosystem.

2.1.1. SPACESHIP EARTH

The broadest concept which engulfs the relatively minor question of agricultural

land, land and water-based commodities, flood and riverbank erosion etc. is that

concerning the stability of the world civilization and that ultimate survival of mankind on

this planet. Scientists and social thinkers of the present time almost equivocally claimed

that only a stationary state economy can ensure permanent tenure of man on this planet

(Daly, 1971: 71-76), a view which had been advocated long back in 1857 by John Stuart

Mill, the great synthesizer of classical economics, in his Principles of Political Economy.

The principles on which the ‘spaceship earth’(Simmons, 1974:163-172) should continue

to revolve round the sun forever are based on the assumption of an equilibrium between

33

an ever renewable supply of resources, principally energy, on one side of the scale and a

stationary population feeding on the renewed energy on the other side. Ecologists have

very successfully demonstrated that such stability in nature is guaranteed only by

biodiversity and certainly not by selective extermination of species which do not come to

the immediate benefit of man. One of the chief responsibilities of the scientific

community of the world today, therefore is to find out a mechanism to control the

population growth to a limit which is sustainable by essentially the biological process of

conversion of solar energy into food and other materials supported by the use of other

forms of flow energy like wind, ocean current, solar power etc. The other responsibility is

to curb the rate of consumption through such measures as standardization and

miniaturization of products, energy saving techniques, waste- recycling and finally to

device a zero-waste technology.

It has been said that the initial success of man in creating a surplus from land

through sedentary agriculture depended heavily upon his choice of immature ecosystem

with a surplus energy stock or on retarding the process of maturity by selective de-

speciation (Bourne,1976: 43-48), at the same time it has been rightly claimed that the

present crisis also follows from the same logic of depending upon an additional source of

energy from outside the ecosystem boundary over the amount which can be fixed by the

local ecosystem. On the other hand, the communities which chose to live in mature

ecosystem along with their full range of specietal diversity achieved a lesser degree of

success but have survived better against internal stress by a spontaneous mechanism of

population control. That they have not been able to survive successfully against external

threats on their habitat and culture is a different question which should not undermine the

validity of their world view. To understand the rationality behind this kind of world view

34

and its relevance to the contemporary global ecological crisis, it is necessary to review the

concepts of land as a resource process, as natural ecosystem and as human ecosystems.

2.1.2. CONCEPT OF LAND

A land can be regarded as an object of trade or exchange or even as a

responsibility which has been given to the holder of the land by his forefathers. In the first

case, land is perceived as a private property and its possessor has got every right to retain

it or sell it out in exchange of money. Here the holder is interested in his own economic

benefits. But in the second case, the property holder has to retain the property, maintain it

and improve its productivity with care not for his benefit alone but also for the benefits of

his family, his friends and all those who belong to his community. When land is taken as

a private exchangeable economic resource then its possessors may not be interested in the

alternative environmental possibilities associated with the land. But when land is

perceived as resource for the community then only its proper qualities are judged by the

community and it is given to a particular mode of use of different alternatives (Bhar,

1989: 7-10).

Land is not necessarily a resource by itself. The usefulness of land depends on the

methods and techniques of land utilization. To avail the long run potential of a land, it is

required to utilize the land with a clear perception and with the proper selection of the

mode of use. So, a land is rarely a resource by itself from the wider communal view

point; but it is a container of different resources which are used by proper management

(Biswas, 1989:11-12).

35

2.1.3. CONCEPT OF ECOSYSTEM

It is generally thought that the concept of ecosystem is monistic and thus it brings

together man, plant and animal worlds within a single framework within which their

mutual interactions can be understood and analyzed. The concept of ecosystem is also

functional in its design, which offers a sound working principle for geographical analysis

of man- environment interaction of any specific area or region. Therefore in its real sense

ecosystem is a kind of general-system or open-system tending towards a steady state

under the laws of thermodynamics (Odum, 1959: 5-28).

Ecosystems are structured in an orderly, rational and comprehensible way, so that

once the framework of any spatial system is clearly defined, then it becomes possible to

analyze the same systematically. Moreover, ecosystems are functioning systems,

involving continuous throughput of matter and energy. Therefore, ecosystems are

conceptualized at different levels of complexity from a single farm unit to the extensive

system of agriculture in any region or country. Similarly, an ecosystem possesses

structural properties of theoretical models. With the adoption of the concept of ecosystem,

geographical systems may also be examined at a series of levels. As stated by Odum

(1959:7-32): “an ecosystem is a functioning introductory system composed of one or

more living organism and their effective environment- both physical and biological”.

Thus description of an ecosystem may include spatial relations, inventories of its physical

feature, its abilities and ecological niches, its organisms and its basic reserve of matter

and energy, the nature of its income or input of matter and energy and behavior or trend

of entropy level (Odum, 1959: 6-28).

Within any areal frame work, the concept of ecosystem ensures us points to

enquire and thus highlights both form and function within a spatial setting wherein

36

simplistic ideas of causations and development of geographic dualism are then irrelevant.

Ecosystem analysis gives geographer a tool with which he or she works (Stoddart,

1965:95-102).

The present work of analysis of the hazards and its impact, as it already has been

stated, is a conviction to the ecological studies and the space frame of the study include

two types of principal ecosystems, of which the dominant one is the land ecosystem the

most part of which is occupied by cultural ecosystem that is agriculture and the second

important ecosystem is the aquatic or more likely the wetland ecosystem with its several

units scattered throughout the area under study. Thus the concepts of both the ecosystems

may briefly be stated under the heads of land as ecosystem and wetland ecosystems.

2.1.4. LAND AS ECOSYSTEM

From inherent implications of the wider communal viewpoint of land we

understand that land is a natural resource system or “natural ecosystem linked either way

hierarchically and taxonomically with super-systems and sub-systems” (Biswas, 1989;

15). All these systems have throughput of energy which is converted successively by the

food chain and this converted energy is ultimately received by man, the topmost class of a

trophic pyramid. So, man is responsible for the use of land ecosystem skillfully for long

term survival of humanity.

With the domestication of the plant kingdom, man turns the natural ecosystems

into agricultural ecosystems in various ways such as by choosing the suitable species,

through removal of unwanted life forms, by providing external energy supply, by making

37

open the closed bio-geochemical cycles of natural system and thereby reducing the net

primary production of plant material over time.

In biomass production, human technology can’t effectively replace the natural

system. The Alpine and Tundra vegetation regions are exception. The natural systems of

most regions are capable of producing larger quantities of dry matter per unit area than

are produced by the crops of human choice.

Human intervention in natural ecosystem by agricultural ecosystem produces a

number of variations in productivity of energy and biomass. A lot of example may be

cited in this context – in Britain, the cereal systems produce 2000 million calories from a

hector of land, while the sereal fed livestock systems produce only 180-340 million

calories annually. The energy content of lamb meat is only about one percent of the total

input of solar energy required to produce it while that of serials is about 16 percent

(Duckham and Masefield, 1970:133-138).

In the farming systems of the Western countries, there is a great inefficiency,

when measured by the ecological yardstick, due to enormous expenditure of energy and

wastage involved. In our country, through a research work on the cropping systems of the

seven districts of West Bengal, it “is observed that these districts are capable of

capitalizing on not more than 52-66 per cent of the temperature resources, 63-71 percent

of the rainfall resources, 43-59 per cent of the total hours of bright sunshine and 54-69 per

cent of the cropping-time available. More interestingly, much of the well-known

prosperity of the district of Bardhaman appears to be ‘bought’ or ‘subsidized’ from

external sources as the efficiency of its cropping system in utilizing the free atmospheric

resources of temperature , rainfall and sunshine is not above mediocrity compared to

other districts” (Biswas,1989: 17).

38

2.1.5. WETLAND AS ECOSYSTEM

The flat riverine plain areas or deltaic plain lands generally possess a mosaic of

land ecosystems and wetland ecosystems; the coexistence of these two systems is unique

in character. Both of them are open-systems in function, receive matter and energy from

one another, change the form of energy, distribute the energy to their consumers existing

in different trophic levels and there is a regular exchange of energy and matter between

these two ecosystems. For example, the nutrients and sediments released from the domain

of land or agricultural ecosystem are first deposited into the wetlands and the consumers

both within and outside the boundary of the wetland ecosystem are shared by the

vegetation, the microbes, the hydrophytes, the swimming animals and all the life forms

existing within the boundary. The hydrophytes and the shallow water grasses are able to

convert solar energy as they are directly open to the solar radiation. It should be noted

down that most of this wetlands continue their function for a substantial part of the year.

The nutrients from the lands located around its boundary are deposited into the beds of

the wetlands and help to sustain both shrubs, hydrophytes, small and big fishes even the

water birds and the flying birds also. At a certain period, particularly in the dry summer,

the layer of humus deposited in the beds are collected and distributed to the agricultural

fields as a very nonpolluting replenishment of fertility as a natural fertilizer. There are

more than 20 large and more than 30 medium sized natural wetlands which impart

profound effect upon the ecology and economy of a different group of communities

inhabiting in the area. The following definition may do justice to the types, characters and

functions of the wetlands located in the study area.

a) In a simple sense, here we use the term ‘wetlands’ to mean the areas of land

that remained water logged for a substantial period of the year. In general, the

wetlands are those areas inundated or saturated by surface water, in this case

39

freshwater, at a frequency and duration sufficient to support a prevalence of

vegetation and different species of swimming and benthic animals,

particularly large verities of fishes and cat fishes, typically adopted for life in

saturated soil condition. In the concerned area these wetlands are known as

‘bils’, many of which are the abandoned courses of rivers, or stagnation of

spilled-over water in a shallow saucer-shaped basin area having a natural

capacity to accommodate and store floodwater. These are mainly the riverine

perennial fresh water wetlands including permanent rivers and streams and

inland deltas, temporary wetlands like seasonal and irregular rivers and

streams, riverine flood plain including river floods, flooded river basin, and

seasonally flooded grass land. These also includes some man-made wetlands

like aquaculture ponds including fish ponds, agriculture ponds including farm

pond, stock ponds, small tanks, irrigated lands and irrigation channels

including rice fields, canals and ditches and seasonally flooded arable lands.

But this conceptual part is principally concern with the large fresh water

permanent wetlands. Like land as an ecosystem, wetland also displays its

functional characters may be stated in brief. Flood control is considered as

most important among the vital function of wetlands. They function like

sponge, storing, and gradually releasing the rainfall and runoff-water that

reduces the severity of flood. With the proper management, wetland can

reduce the need for expensive dams and other engineering structures

generally prescribed for flood control.

b) Another important aspect of wetland is the binding effect of their vegetation

which helps in the stabilization of banks and shores. Thus it functions as a

control of erosion.

40

c) Recharge of ground water and its discharge is one of the important roles

played by the wetlands.

d) Regular deposition of nutrient-rich silt and sediment has a great contribution

to the success of agriculture of a large tract around the boundary of the

wetland.

e) Biological, chemical and physical process in wetland is often able to

immobilize and transform a wide range of environmental contaminants and

nutrients, the excess deposition of which could cause severe eutrophication

and pollution.

f) Wetlands can act as a sink, preventing nitrate build up. Nitrate runoff from

fertilized agricultural areas can be recycled to harmless nitrogen gas by this

mechanism.

g) Wetland flora in particular is able to sink nutrient and contaminant.

2.2.0. ECOSYSTEMS AS RESOURCE PROCESS

Resources used by the human community can be logically subdivided into three

categories:

a) Resources used in the human metabolic process and alter after use;

b) Resources used outside the body ; these resources may be taken in their raw form

or biologically or chemically processed from both renewable and non renewable

resource and are altered after use;

c) Resources used outside the body and their appropriation leaves them unaltered;

(Simmons, 1974:165-167).

41

Simmons defines resources process after Firey (1960:85-87) as “the total flow of

material from its state in nature through its period of contact with man to its disposal”. He

specifically identified several resource processes like unused land of the world, specially

protected landscape and ecosystems, forestry, food and agriculture, recreation and

tourism, water, sea, mineral energy, wastes, and pollution.

Interrelations between resource process and ecosystem are definite. Odum (1959:45-

52) defines ecosystems as “that part of nature where living organisms and non-living

substances exist and interact to produce an exchange of materials between living and non-

living parts”. Therefore agricultural fields and wetlands should be considered as

ecosystems dominated by autotrops or producers. In both of these ecosystems the green

vegetation are the fundamental elements in the systems, because they are the principal

organs of photosynthesis which produces energy and constitute the productivity of

ecosystem. Since the biological productivity of these ecosystems has been manipulated by

man for various purposes, they can also be conceived as resource processes.

The energy and nutrient flow of these two ecosystems are cyclic and there is a

balance between loss and gain. These features ensure these ecosystems as long term

stability. An ecologically sound resource process is, therefore, to be ensured in order to

perpetuate the cyclic energy and nutrient flow, if their products are to be used as yields.

2.3.0 LAND AND WATER AS RESOURCE BASES

In ecological perspective, the physical elements like land, water, soil, climate etc.

are considered as the ‘ecological infrastructure’ (Guha, 1994:5) of human society.

Humans are unique amongst the earth’s creatures in their elaborately developed cultures;

they do not stand above or apart from nature. These ecological infrastructure are

42

understood with the reference to the natural environment and are the basic resources

within which humans, like any other species live, survive and reproduce. The ecological

infrastructure powerfully conditions the evolution and direction of human economic life,

political relations, social structure and ideology. On contrary, human intervention

reshapes the natural environment in its own image (Guha, 2004:6). In the present context

the land and water bodies are not mare the natural systems , but to the people of the area,

these are the resource containers from which they not only receive the energy for their

metabolic needs but also the materials needed for the survival and development of their

economy and culture. The land shaped into different plots of agricultural fields ,

establishing a subsidized ecosystem with renewal of nutrients through addition of

natural and chemical fertilizers for growing crops which are periodically managed in

which water supply and management have intricate role behind the continuation of the

ecosystem as well as harvest different crops. The residues of crop plants are used as

fodder for the herbivores which has a definite role both in the economy and food system

of the local people. Thus land and soil in combination with the supply of water are

important resource bases. Simultaneously, the water bodies including the rivers, paleo-

channels or the bils, tanks and ponds are also used as resource containers for fishing,

duckery, collection of the hydrophytes and grasses growing in stagnant water bodies as

fodder. In addition, these water bodies play most important role as sources of irrigation

and hence, considered as resource base. Considerable depth of water is necessary for

processing of jutes which is valuable economic crop of the study area. Therefore, lands

and water have integrated values as resource bases.

43

2.4.0 THE HYDRAULIC SOCIETY

The concept of ‘hydraulic society’ has best been illustrated by Wittfogel

(1957:33-38) drawing upon the ideas of ‘Asiatic mode of production’ of Karl Marx.

Wittfogel emphasised upon the control over water by certain elite class exercising the

state power and made artificial irrigation by canals and water-works, the very basis of

Oriental agriculture. The most important necessity of an economical and common use of

water drove private enterprises to voluntary association necessitated in the Orient in the

interference of the centralizing power of Government.

Wittfogel substituted "hydraulic civilization” for “Oriental society” and believed that the

new nomenclature that emphasised institutions rather than geography, facilitated

comparison with ‘industrial society’ and ‘feudal society’ and the term ‘hydraulic’ draws

attention to the agro-managerial and agro-bureaucratic character of these civilizations.

Accepting this sense, the society depending on water for its survival, subsistence and

development following “specific hydraulic order of life” (Wittfogel, 1957:49-52) is

termed as ‘hydraulic society’. In such society, the hydraulic order of life has its own type

of division of labour and necessitates cooperation on a large scale to carry on the

activities like irrigation, flood control, fishing, agro-based industries, trade and commerce

etc.

According to Wittfogel, hydraulic societies are those societies where the ever-increasing

drive to control water through the development of knowledge and technology lead to an

ever-increasing concentration of power to control water. The group of people who hold

such power are tasked with the providing of the expert knowledge on hydrological

conditions and devising the organizational procedures required to mobilize the labour

necessary to build irrigation channels, locks and weirs even dams for the control of water.

44

Wittfogel clearly states that the ruling class of hydraulic societies is those who control the

‘hydraulic means of production’ and the driving force for change in increasing

technological control of power (Wittfogel, 1957:53).

Kirstain Henderson (2010: 1), pointed out that, in the activities of a hydraulic

society, there must be three requirements: a) the development and building of water

controlling technology, b) the social organization of labour to carry out the water works,

and c) the development of what Wittfogel caused the time keeping ability or the

development of a calendar to became able to predict the availability of water. According

to Henderson, these are Wittfogel’s principal points to understand hydraulic societies.

Henderson farther stated that Wittfogel’s analysis on hydraulic society is a starting point

for a way to think about nature and society together. His question on the role of water in

the process of the development of a society based on utilization and management of water

is very important concept. Wittfogel included the examples of hydraulic society from

ancient China, Egypt, Asia etc. Even the modern hydraulic engineers in China has

incorporated the knowledge of hydraulic society and in their modern plants they also

given importance to the managerial part of water for agriculture and water-based

production systems with the challenge in their mind : a number of regions are extremely

short of water resources, the water pollution still serious, the ground water is overly

exploited , most of the rivers on riverine plains are gradually going dry, rainfall and water

resources are unevenly distributed in space and time and, the social and economic

development and the improvement of people’s life bringing forth higher demand for

water resources (Hebei Provincial Hydraulic Engineering Society).

Henderson viewed and explained the hydraulic society and also stated that in the

processing or harnessing nature in the form of water, to raise cities and farm land where

45

local condition would not allow them to be, there are some type of alienations from the

rules of hydrological cycles where the societies may face scarcity of water.

The area selected for present study is an ideal example of hydraulic society being

a part of the flat riverine plain of Bengal, having maximum dependence upon the

management and utilization of water resources. Agriculture had been the principal

occupation of the people from ancient times and the people developed the knowledge of

growing different crops in different situation of water availability. The area, being a small

part of Oriental or Asiatic mode of production has passed from the feudal to the present

government system including a considerable time under the foreign (British) rulers. In the

feudal period, the local ‘elites’ being directed by the feudal lords ruled the area, formed

the system of protecting the agricultural economy from flood hazards with construction of

embankments through a number of flood prone rivers . On contrary, during the period of

rainfall shortage the same ruler constructed a number of irrigation channels and excavated

larger tank to save the crops in the types of needs. Excluding the farmers and agricultural

labourers, a number of labours were employed to manage and maintain the irrigation

network. On the other hand a number of tax collectors were engaged by the rulers to

collect rents for irrigation and a share of their crops for royal tax. This system was

continued and developed by the British rulers from 1857 to 1947, up to the time of

Independence and tax for irrigation and embankment protection for flood control was

marked higher than that of the feudal period. The system came into the hand of the

government of India, some new irrigation cannels and weirs were built and for which the

people still have to pay tax to the local government system. Therefore the political and

economic power to control water resources remained in the hands of the rulers and the

group of communities, following different occupation like farming, agricultural labourers,

46

fisher man, agro-based trades etc consciously followed the character of a hydraulic

society.

2.4.1. LAND-WATER-PEOPLE ASSOCIATION

It has already been mentioned that the area under review bears a unique

characteristic resembling the mosaic of land, water bodies and settlements except some

old urban and semi-urban centers. While the area is interspersed with rural settlements,

the duelling places of the people who followed the occupations directly or indirectly

linked with the production from land – agriculture, agriculture labourer, fishing and allied

occupations. As an ideal tropical area, it has a seasonal rhythm of alternative humid and

dry period which is instrumental to store, supply, manage and utilize water in different

time for different crops which demand variable amount of water for their growth.

Therefore, it may be considered as a precondition to be settled in the area where there is

source of water for irrigation and domestic utilisation. The cropping fields are also

needed to be located near the habitation for taking care of the crops which are mainly

related with labour intensive agricultural system to reach the field in a shortest time for

transplantation, weeding, nurturing, watering, harvesting and bring to the home steps for

threshing which need a minimum distance from the farmers and labourers. During the

crucial time of growing of plants, irrigated water needs to reach quickly with minimum

seepage to the crop filed, thus it is necessary to locate the irrigation sources near the

agricultural fields which are mainly the larger tanks and ponds, but in other cases a larger

canals and sub-canals operated far from the area, sometimes extraction of ground water

for the crops demanding large amount of water , and in some cases lifting pumps installed

on the banks of rivers and paleo- channels are not also far from the agricultural fields.

47

Therefore, it has given a unique characteristic that there is a close proximity of the

agricultural fields, the sources of water and the settlement of the communities linked to

agriculture and water works. Fishing from rivers and paleo-channels is one of the most

important sources of employment for the fishing community and beyond. Slow flowing

water is vital in the life and economy of the fishing community; similarly the bils or the

paleo channels which are annually renewed with water and nutrition are the sources of a

verity of small fishes, precious cat fishes, and a number of other life forms like snails,

crabs, etc. Therefore the whole area disposes the unique association of land, water and

people association.

2.5.0. CONCEPT OF HAZARD

The term hazard is best viewed as a naturally occurring or human induced process,

or event, with the potential to create loss which is a general source of future danger

(Smith, 2001:11-27) and thus in real sense, hazard is an inescapable part of life. Every

one perceives hazards in different ways, and views generally vary from place to place and

over time. As stated by Whittow (2002: 620-646), so long water is under control in a

reservoir, it will be seen as an important resource, but once its volume deviates beyond

the band of tolerance, it will be surely recognized as a flood hazard. Due to these

fluctuating degrees of human perception, there have been difficulties in arriving at a

precise definition of environmental hazard, but the most explicit states that they are

‘extreme geo-physical events and major technological accidents, characterized by

concentrated release of energy or material, which pose an unexpected threat to human life

and can cause significant damage to goods and the environment’ (Smith, 2001:259-288).

The term ‘risk’ is sometimes taken as synonymous with ‘hazard’, but risk has the

48

additional implication of the chance of a particular hazard actually occurring. Thus risk is

the actual exposure of something of human value to a hazard and is often regarded as the

product of probability and loss. As stated by Smith, one can define hazard (or cause) as ‘a

potential threat to humans and their welfare’ and risk (or consequence) as ‘the probability

of a hazard occurring and creating loss’. This distinction was illustrated by Okrent

(1980:372-75) who explained two people crossing an ocean, one in a liner and the other

in a rowing boat. The main hazard (deep water and large waves) is the same in both cases

but the risk (probability of capsizing and drowning) is very much greater for the person in

the rowing boat. Therefore, as in our case, flood hazard can occur in an uninhabited

region but a flood risk can occur only in an area where people and their position exist.

Linked with this concepts is that, both hazards and risk can be increased and reduced by

human actions, but when large number of people are killed, injured or affected in some

way, the event is termed as ‘disaster’. Unlike hazards and risk, a disaster is an actual

happening, rather than a potential threat. Therefore disaster is simply defined as ‘the

realization of hazard’. But disaster is essentially social phenomenon that occurs when a

community suffers an exceptional, non- routine level of stress and disruption. The term

disaster is defined as an event, concentrated on time and space, in which a community

experiences severe danger and disruption of its essential functions, accompanied by wide

spread human, material or environmental losses, which often exceed the ability of the

community to cope without external assistance. In our case, particularly flood hazard, for

a number of times it was proved disastrous causing a huge loss of life and property.

Natural hazards are sometimes known as ‘environmental hazards’ and the term generally

refers to ‘geo-physical events such as earthquakes, volcanoes, drought, flooding,

lightening, bush- fire, and high winds that can potentially cause large scale economic

damage and physical injury or death.’ (Johnstone et. al, 2001: 216-17). Such events have

49

different impacts depending upon both in their magnitude and the character of the

receiving environment. Sometimes, the effects may be beneficial, as with the renewal of

mineral nutrients to soil of a flood plain during flooding. But it is agreed that a precise

definition of environmental hazard is still difficult. Burton and Kates (1964: 412-41)

defined natural hazards as ‘those elements of the physical environment harmful to man

and caused by forces extraneous to him’. Sometimes, natural hazards have also been seen

as ‘Acts of God’. These perspectives, in most cases, have not been helpful. They actually

over- emphasize the ‘surprise’ factors in disaster when, in reality, it is now possible to

delineate an hazard -prone areas and to recognize that common disasters, such as floods,

are recurrent events at certain locations, of which the present study area is an ideal

example. In addition, because the ‘Act of God’ approaches suggest quite strongly that

human have no part to play on creating disasters, it also implies that they have little hope

to mitigate them (Smith, 2001: 259-288).

But in reality, most environmental hazards have both natural and human

component. For example, flood problems may be exacerbated by fluctuation in climate,

such as increased storm frequency and abnormally heavy rainfall, and also by human

activities, such as land drainage and unwise and frequent diversion of stream channels or

deforestation in the catchment basin. The loss of life caused by tropical cyclone depends

on storm severity but it can be greatly reduced by means of a warning massage. Another

example, the effects of a man made nuclear accident may be influenced by the prevailing

weather condition. These interactions have lead to the increasing recognition of hazards

as hybrid events resulting from an overlap of environmental, technological and social

processes (Jones, 1993: 121-40). Other compound term includes ‘Quasi natural’ and ‘Na-

tech’ hazards, and despite the convenience the term ‘truly natural hazards do not exist’

(Smith, 2001: 259-288).

50

The human ecological perspective on natural hazard distinguishes between natural

events and their interpretation as natural hazards (or resource), can be illustrated in the

following figure (Fig.-1). The concepts implicit behind this is that most natural events

show a wide range of variation through time in the use of energy and material for

environmental processes because the Earth is a highly dynamic planet. The conflict of

geophysical process with people gives human a central role in hazards and it is only by

retaining a balance between resources and hazards that sustainable economic

development may be made (Smith, 2001: 11-288).

Human sensitivity to environmental hazards represents a combination of physical

exposures reflecting the range of potentially damaging events and their statistical

variability at a particular location and human vulnerability reflects the breadth of social

and economic tolerance to such hazard events at the same site. As explained by Smith (in

the figure) the shaded zone represents an acceptable range of variation for the magnitude

51

Fig.-1

of physical variable, which can be any environmental element relevant to human survival,

such as rainfall. When the variability exceeds some threshold beyond the normal band of

tolerance, the same variable starts to impose damage and becomes a hazard. Thus, very

high or very low rainfall will be deemed to create a flood or a drought respectively. The

accidence of damage threshold involves two basic dimensions of hazards to be identified:

the hazards magnitude is determined by the peak deviation beyond the threshold on the

vertical scale and the hazards duration is determined by the length of time the threshold is

exceeded on the horizontal scale.

The hazards are classified in several ways. These can take the form of a basic

division between natural hazards and human induced hazards or other hazards or a

tripartite subdivision of hazards, for example, in to those of endogenous origin

(earthquake, volcanoes); exogenous origin (severe weather, floods and drought) and

anthropogenous origin (technological accidents). Whittow (2002: 620-646) has made a

comprehensive classification of hazards in which geophysical, biological, and

technological and lifestyle hazards are categorized, may be presented as bellow. (Table-1)

According to the scheme of the classification presented above we are concerned

with the climatic hazards as flood, the geological hazards as riverbank erosion and the

technological hazard that is arsenic contamination but it is also true, these hazards in our

study area, at least the flood hazards and riverbank erosion has some direct relationship

with that of the exogenous origin and also anthropogenic intervention, they have quasi

natural flavor also.

52

Table-1

CLASSIFICATION OF HAZARDSGeophysical Biological Technological Lifestyle

Climatic and

meteorologic

al

Geological and

geomorphic

Floral Faunal Transport Industrial Domestic

Blizzards

and snow

Droughts

Flood

Fog

Frost

Hail Storms

Heat waves

Hurricanes

Lightning

strikes and

fires

Tornadoes

Avalanches

Earthquakes

Erosion

Landslides

Shifting sands

Tsunamis

Volcanic

eruptions

Ground

surface

collapse

Fungal

Diseases

(athlete’s

foot,

Dutch elm,

Wheat

stem rust,

Blister

rust,

potato

blight)

Infestation

s

(weeds,

phreatoph

ytes,

Water

hyacinth)

Hay fever

Poison ivy

Cancer

Bacterial and

viral

diseases(influe

nza malaria,

typhus,

Bubonic

plague,

venereal

disease,

Rabies, foot

and mouth,

AIDS)

Infestations

(Rabbits,

termites,

locusts,

grasshoppers,

)

Venomous

animal bite

malnutrition

Air

Marine

Rail

Road(auto

mobile,

motorcycl

e, bicycle,

pedestrian

)

Nuclear

radiation

Fossil fuel

CFC

Mining

Surface

extraction

Entire

construction

Plant

explosion

Structural

failure(bridge,

builsing ,

dam, tunnel)

Fire

Toxic

emission,

Pesticides,

herbicides

ground water

pollution(nitra

tes, silages,

slurry)

Fire

Smoking

Appliances(gas,

electrical,

mechanical)

Poisonous

substances

Skiing

Mountaineering

Water sport

Motor sports

Aerial sports

Contract sports

Source: J. Whittow, 2002

2.6.0 CONCEPT OF QUASI-NATURAL HAZARD

The compound term quasi-natural hazard signifies as hybrid events resulting from

an overlap of environmental, technological and social processes (Jones, 1993: 161-65).

53

For example, flood is sometimes a natural hazard but in most cases, where technology

and social processes intervene into the natural flow of water in the channels, it turns into a

quasi-natural hazard. Intensive agriculture and de-vegetation make the top soil more

susceptible to erosion and the sediment loads deposited within the channels decrease the

channel depth and thereby decreasing the capacity of carrying water with retarding the

velocity. The amount of water flowing down from the upper catchment does not find way

for quick release; it spills over the bank and inundates a larger area causing flood. At the

same time due to the erection of cross dams and weirs and unscientific diversion of

channels and ducts, the flood water remains stagnant for long time, making the flood a

quasi-natural one. Similarly, riverbank erosion is purely a natural process, where large

masses of soil are suddenly slid down in to the river bed due to extensive under-cutting by

river water. This process is also enhanced by anthropogenic intervention such as de-

vegetation of the bank and agricultural activities which help increase the weight of the

soil with additional water gradually leaching down to the soil layer and thereby loosening

a considerable length of the bank. Arsenic contamination is a technological hazard related

to the extraction of sub-surface water from a greater depth where the bore- holes for

setting deep tube wells dissolve the arsenic elements in to water which is pumped out to

the surface for agricultural and domestic purposes.

References

1. Bhar, S. (1989), The Ecological Management of Wastelands: A Proposed Plan for

an Area in Fulberia Mouza, Jhargram, West Bengal, Dissertation Paper

(Unpublished) Department of Geography, University of Burdwan, burdwan.

54

2. Biswas, A. (1981), The Concept of Ecosystem and the Position of Geographers,

Transactions, Institute of Indian Geographers, Vol.3, No.1, January 1981.

3. Biswas, A. (1984), History of Northern Rarh- A Geographical View, ed.S.C.

Mukherjee, Geographical Mosaic, Calcutta

4. Biswas, A. (1987), Laterites and Lateritoids of Rarh Bengal, ed.

V.S. Datye, et. al., Explorations in the Tropics, Prof. K.R. Dikshit

Felicitation Vol., Pune.

5. Biswas, A. (1989), “Keynote Address”, Workshop on Land Ecosystem and

Wastelands, Birla Industrial and Technological Musuaeum, June 4, Value

Orientation, Vivekananda Nidhi, Calcutta.

6. Biswas, A. and S. Bardhan (1975), Agrarian Crisis in Damodar-Bhagirathi

Region 1850-1925, Geographical Review of India, vol.37, No.2, Calcutta.

7. Bourne, A.G. (1976), Ecological Basis of Human Settlement, The Environment of

Human Settlement – Human Well-being in Cities, Proc. Conf. Brussels, April

1976, Commissioned by the Belgian Ministry of public Health and Family, Vol.2

ed., Pierre Lanconte, Brussels.

8. Brookfield, H.C. (1969), “On the Environment as Perceived”, ed. Board, C. et. al.,

Progress in Geography, Vol.1, Arnold.

9. Burton, I. and Kates, R.W. (1964), The Perception of Natural Hazards in

Resource Management, Natural Resource Journal, vol.-3.

10. Daly, H.E. (1971), A Marxian – Malthusian view of Poverty and Development,

Population Studies.

11. Duckham, A.N. and G.B. Masefield, (1970), Farming System of the World,

Chatto and Windus, London.

55

12. Firey, W.J. (1960), Man, Mind and Land: Theory of Resource Use, Glencoe,

Illinois: Free Press.

13. Hebei Provincial Hydraulic Engineering Society, Hebei.

14. Henderson, K. (2010), Review Essay: Water and Culture in Australia: Some

Alternative Perspectives in Thesis Eleven, August 2010, Google Books.

15. Johnston, R.J. et. al, (2001), The Dictionaty of Human Geography, (4th ed.),

Blackwell Publishers Ltd., Massachusetts, USA.

16. Jones, D.K.C. (1993), Environmental Hazards in the 1990s: Problems, Paradigms

and Prospects, Geography.

17. Odum, E.P. (1959), Fundamentals of Ecology, W.B. Sunders Company, London.

18. Okrent, D. (1980), Comment on Social Risk, Science.

19. Simmons, I,G. (1974), Ecology of Natural Resources, ELBS and Edward Arnold,

London.

20. Smith, K. (2001), Environmental Hazards: Assessing Risk and Reducing Disaster,

Routledge, London.

21. Whittow, J. (2002), “Environmental Hazards”, in Companion Encyclopedia of

Geography: The Environment and Humankind, (Ed. Douglas, I.), Routledge,

London.

22. Wittfogel, K.A. (1957), Oriental Despotism: a Comparative study of Total Power,

Yale University Press, New Haven.

56