Whilst we sit in our air-conditioned living rooms and agonise about what to do about climate change, the phenomenon is already wrecking the lives and livelihoods of millions of people. Arunima Kar’s story is a glimpse of how climate change is ripping through India. Ms Kar writes with intensity, with detail and her writing packs a punch:
“The Bay of Bengal is among the most cyclone-prone regions on earth. Jeff Masters, a hurricane scientist and meteorologist, notes that 26 of the 35 deadliest tropical cyclones in world history have occurred in the Bay of Bengal in the past two centuries.
This region experiences about five times as many tropical cyclones as the Arabian Sea, with a higher frequency of storm surges. The combination of high mountain ranges and low-lying coastal plains and river deltas makes the Bay of Bengal extremely susceptible to tropical cyclones.
The frequency of cyclones over the Bay of Bengal has increased, with notable cyclones such as Aila in 2009, Fani and Bulbul in 2019, Amphan in 2020, Yaas in 2021, Sitrang in 2022, Hamoon in 2023 and Remal in 2024. This marks the fifth consecutive year that cyclones have formed in the Bay of Bengal during the pre-monsoon phase in May, which can be linked to global warming and rising ocean temperatures. Cyclones bring strong wind, heavy rainfall, and flooding, resulting in severe beach erosion.
It is not merely the frequency but also the intensity of the cyclones that is intensifying year by year. The maximum wind speed increased from 25.2 kmph in 2009 to 41.6 kmph in 2024. The higher the wind speed, the higher and more destructive the waves it causes. The increasing maximum wind speed of tropical cyclones poses a greater threat to the local communities and ecosystems.
Further, rainfall during the peak rain months of July to September fluctuated, ranging from 242.65 mm in 2010 to double that amount (504.24 mm) in 2016 in the Namkhana-Bakkhali-Frasergunj Island of the Sundarban region….
According to a 2023 report from the World Meteorological Organization, the sea-level rise in the Bay of Bengal over the past three decades has been 4.44 mm per year. This rate is nearly 30% higher than the global average of 3.4 mm per year.
The report also says that the temperature increase in West Bengal and the adjoining Bihar-Jharkhand region is among the highest in the country, comparable to the rises seen in some northern states.”
The cyclones are combining with other changes inflicted by man on the Ganga-Brahmaputra delta to create rapid land erosion. Ms Kar writes: “West Bengal’s coastal stretch, situated at the eastern end of the Indian Peninsula and adjacent to Bangladesh, is in the largest deltaic area in the world. The Ganga-Hoogly, Saptamukhi, and Thakuran rivers in the state drain into the Bay of Bengal in the Sundarbans delta complex, spread across the North and South 24 Parganas districts.
“This Ganga-Brahmaputra delta was created with river sediments flowing from the mountains in the north,” said Tuhin Ghosh, director of the Department of Oceanography at Jadavpur University. “But the sediment supply is diminishing due to rivers drying up and being dammed. The Ganga, the major river, has hundreds of interventions that have slowed down its flow, the last being the Farakka Barrage.”
Previously, this excess of sediment influx counteracted and minimised the sea level rise, but with reduced sediment flow, the impact of sea level rise has increased, contributing to coastal erosion. Anthropogenic activities exacerbate the situation. For example, in places like Sagar Island, the coastal dunes were flattened for construction, removing natural barriers that used to obstruct big waves, allowing them to reach inland, explained Ghosh….
According to the National Centre for Coastal Research, an office of the Ministry of Earth Sciences, the east coast of India is a high erosion hotspot compared to the west coast. Their latest report on shoreline change analysis shows that 60.5% of West Bengal’s coast is eroding, 14% is stable, and 25% is accreting. Coastal districts like East Midnapore, South 24 Parganas, and North 24 Parganas exhibit significant erosion, with only a few pockets of accretion and stable conditions.”
In case you missed that, Ms Kar’s article says that the majority of Bengal’s coastline is eroding. No prizes for guessing which communities are the most impacted by this degree of climate change and soil degradation: “Fishing communities are the major stakeholders on the coast and also the ones who face the brunt of erosion which threatens their homes and livelihoods. They also lose their communal spaces for activities like drying nets, washing and drying fish, and parking boats, points out Nirmalya Choudhury, a professor at the Centre for Disaster Management, Tata Institute of Social Sciences.
Sriram Gayen, 55, earns his livelihood by fishing on others’ trawlers. He told IndiaSpend that increasing extreme weather events have reduced fishing days, affecting their earnings, exacerbating the effects of inflation and rising fuel prices.
Gayen had to move to the rehabilitation colony with his elder brother and sister-in-law after losing their home in front of Lakshmipur beach during Cyclone Yaas in 2021. Most people from his neighbourhood had to move to the rehabilitation colony…
Gayen’s sister-in-law Kalpana Rani, 62, told IndiaSpend, “We have lost three houses to cyclones and storms. We keep building them back, but they never stay.”
Housing construction costs are high, and keeping homes liveable in this disaster-prone coastal zone requires constant investment…
For displaced communities, abandoning homes built at substantial cost is difficult due to concerns about location and livelihood. “We want to come back to our own home if our electricity line is restored and when they finish building the embankment,” said Gayen….
Arati Bhuiya, 60, who lives near Kalisthan Sea Beach in Bijaybati, shares similar concerns. Her tea shop was destroyed during Cyclone Yaas three years ago. “I had to rebuild it on the other side of the road. If it gets destroyed again, I won’t be able to reconstruct it.”
“The ocean was very far away; there were huge sand dunes. Now it keeps breaking and moving forward. How much land can we keep giving to the ocean?” she added.”
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