Extreme weather events such as heat waves, floods and rising sea levels are leading to an increase in migration in India. The problem is likely to get worse. From New Delhi: Murali Krishnan.
Protima Rai still remembers the aftermath of the tropical cyclone Bulbul, which in 2019 cut a path of devastation in the Sundarbans, the mangrove forests in the state of West Bengal. Many people lost their lives.
The cyclone forced 27-year-old Rai and hundreds of other families to leave their village and move to safer areas.
“After that, the fields were no longer suitable for cultivation. Rising sea levels and increasing salinity have deprived people in the core areas of the Sundarbans of their most important livelihoods – agriculture and fishing,” Rai recalled in an interview with DW.
Migration from the Sundarbans remains significant. According to official statistics, around a quarter of the main earners of individual families left the region, at least temporarily, in search of work.
Stretching across India and Bangladesh, the Sundarbans comprise a mosaic of low-lying islands in the Bay of Bengal. The Indian Sundarbans include a total of 104 islands. 54 of them are inhabited.
Coastal erosion and rising sea levels are beginning to eat away at the land in the Sundarbans, environmentalists say. Due to salinity caused by storms and floods, many people in the region are forced to migrate to cities like Kolkata.
No political plan to help
The authorities are only just beginning to put measures against the upheaval into practice. But: “There is no structured policy or action plan by the administration to offer social protection in combating climate change and the associated migration,” said Kalkota-based environmental and climate expert Jayanta Basu in a DW interview.
The eastern state of Odisha is also home to many migrant workers. They, too, see themselves forced to leave their homes, primarily due to climate change.
Some of these people hail from the shores of Lake Chilika, the state’s largest brackish lagoon and an important reserve for many bird species. But this area is also exposed to changing environmental conditions. The consequences of this are now affecting the livelihoods of local people.
“After the extreme weather events hit the city of Mangalajodi on the north shore of the lake, a good part of the previous job opportunities there disappeared. Many people have decided to leave their homes permanently,” says Sugyan Behera, who works in the local tourism industry. 10,000 people live in the city. Most work in the wetlands surrounding the site.
It is unlikely that the situation will change. A report released in December 2020 by the NGO ActionAid and the Climate Action Network South Asia paints a bleak scenario: Even if the global community delivers on its commitments and targets to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, five countries in the region – Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka – around 37.5 million people are expected to leave their homes by 2030 and as many as 62.9 million by 2050.
Escape from climate impacts at record levels
In India alone, around 45 million people will be forced to live somewhere else by 2050 due to climate catastrophes – three times as many as at present.
According to the State of India’s Environment – 2022 report, India is the fourth hardest-hit country in the world in terms of climate change-related migration. Accordingly, at the beginning of the 2020s, around three million people will be forced to leave their homes.
Given the effects of the climate crisis, investments in building local climate resilience and protecting the economy are essential, says Sunita Narain, director of the Center for Science and Environment (CSE). A study by the CSE based on data from 15 Indian states says that emigration has been contained wherever such investments have been made. And not only that: In villages where water use was better organized and ecological resources better used for the benefit of the local people, reverse migration even began – people returned to their homeland.
“Climate catastrophe does not necessarily lead to migration”
According to Narain, programs such as the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), a social security measure intended to secure the right to work for the rural population, ensure such successes. “The climate catastrophe does not necessarily lead to migration,” Narain told DW.
MGNREGA and similar initiatives have done a great job in the task of investing in ecological infrastructure, says Narain. “This strengthens local livelihoods and community resilience. This is crucial in times of climate change.”
“Limiting migration requires enabling policies and action plans, particularly those that can make climate-sensitive sectors such as agriculture and tourism climate-resilient,” said Abinash Mohanty, head of climate change and sustainability at IPE Global, an international development organization. India does have a solid climate action plan at national and state level. But climate-related migration is hardly taken into account,” Mohanty told DW.
Author: Murali Krishnan
