The Silent Struggle: Climate-Induced Migration in the Sundarbans

The Sundarbans. Not a region of the world that too many of the unitiated are familiar with. And yet, this UNESCO World Heritage site is the largest mangrove forest in the world. It sits in the Ganges Delta between India and Bangladesh, covers around 10,000 square kilometres, and is home to some exquisite and endangered wildlife, such as the Bengal Tiger and the Gangetic Dolphin.

There is too, a robust human population in the area whose harmonious relationship with the natural habitat can be measured in centuries. The Sundarbans now face, like so many other regions of the world, a threat from manmade climate change: the Bay of Bengal is encroaching as sea levels rise and weather systems are destabilising. For the residents, to stay is to try to adapt to an environment that grows more hostile with each passing year and to go is to leave the only home they’ve ever known. Sadly, predictably, theirs is not a unique story, but it doesn’t make it any less dramatic, and it is a harbinger of wider events awaiting just over the horizon.

An Environmental Exodus

Recently, the Sundarbans have seen a marked increase in what is becoming referred to as climate-induced migration and climate refugees. Several islands have already been lost to the march of the Bay and, as it rises, marine water is pushed into the water table. Irresistibly, the land’s habitability is diminishing with the fullness of time. As pointed out by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (the IUCN), a million people plus are subject to being displaced.

Manifestly, the tide damages and destroys homes and infrastructure as it encroaches, but when it imposes on the water table it corrupts the very foundations for survival by rendering agricultural cultivation impossible. With the sea comes the salt. The increasingly fickle weather systems have also impacted a staple of the community - fishing. A more mercurial climate has made the endeavour more perilous and hit stocks of fish. For some, the answer is simple but at the same time unthinkable. Leave. 

The Mental and the Physical

The people of the Sundarbans, in being forced to migrate, suffer further adversity and indignity. Most often, they find themselves in makeshift slum settlements (such as Kolkata), and are located on the fringes of urban centres. Somewhat typical conditions result: limited access to clean water and sanitation and inevitably, waterborne diseases entrench themselves, with diarrhoea and cholera - amongst other illnesses - prevailing.

Perhaps more than this though, is trauma. Loss of ancestral lands (and previous connectivity to forebears) not to mention the disenfranchisement from the home of their spiritual roots and livelihoods - the natural environment itself - gives rise to understandable psychological stresses. This has been seen particularly in women and the elderly, who seem especially susceptible the loss of their generational history. Some organisations strive to provide counselling services but the need far outstrips the availability.

The Economics of Adaption

Economic consequences of the upheaval are stark. New locations present unique problems and can require specialist skills and knowledge which migrants - farmers, fishermen, and the like - do not have. Adapting is very difficult. Cheap labor in towns and cities goes from being a possibility to a necessity, where earnings are meagre and living becomes surviving. Rebuilding lives is no longer an option. The local infrastructure and services too, in those areas in receipt of the migrants, creak under the added pressure: they become saturated. A resident vs newcomers relationship of animosity can prevail complicating matters further still.

In 2018, a report from the World Bank highlighted the anticipated long-term financial implications of climate change-induced migration. Broadly, South Asia could be looking to lose $520 billion annually if preventative measures are not sought. For ‘Sundarbanites’, erosion of traditional and historic livelihoods, along with the destruction of natural habitats, are trapping whole communities in poverty.

People and Place Entwined

The Sundarbans and the people have grown together, their wellbeing and their destinies interlaced. Removing or influencing one has an impact on the other. Migration of the indigenous people causes the ecology left behind to change in unexpected ways. Where people recede say, from copiously farming an area, it can then begin to recover. But, by the same token, new species - opportunistic and invasive - move in and begin the process of augmenting the ecology of the region, steering it in the short-term and prepping it for wholesale longer-term changes. This would not be otherwise possible under the stewardship of the locals that were once there, an intrinsic part of the Sundarban story.

The biodiversity status quo is ultimately disrupted. But, more than this, new regions to which migrants locate come under novel pressures. The new residents bring their industry with them - their farming and their fishing - to places less well equipped to endure it. Destruction of forests and depletion of fishing stocks are old stories but continually important ones. The effect is a butterfly one: while the old regions are hit directly by climate change the new ones come to suffer indirectly.

Policies and Solutions

Local government and international organisations have tried to make in-roads to address the unfolding crisis. However, noble intentions have amounted to little. These have been to build embankments, introduce saline-tolerant crop species, and promote sustainable aquaculture. Admittedly, this has provided some relief albeit short-term. The solutions though are not hard baked and comprehensive. Policymakers need plans for secure housing, sources of diversified income, and upgraded healthcare and education for displaced groups.

An intriguing and perhaps controversial idea is the development of potential relocation programmes. Rather than leaving families to their fate, layered relocation projects would be able to introduce migrants into areas where infrastructure and services were more effective and less stretched, and sustainable employment was possible. This can be made possible by international donors and NGOs - in supporting roles - not only to fund such initiatives, but share expertise and best practices too, from regions further afield facing similar challenges.

Calling Global Action

The tale of the Sundarbans and its people is a cautionary one in the light of the growing threat of the climate crisis. The people of the region are some of the first to feel the heavy hand of climate change’s rising seas and volatile weather patterns, but they won’t be the last. Theirs, is just the beginning. The advent of climate refugees is one that will spread as other regions fall under the influence of an angrier climate. Indeed, lessons learned from the Sundarbans may well prove invaluable in the impending broader environmental difficulties just over the horizon.

The shared existential threat that looms might be offset by early interventions, the creation of robust social safety nets, and the need for an international community all singing from the same hymn sheet, measures that must be taken for the Sundarbanites. In fact, the plight of the Sundarbans is not simply an environmental imperative. It is also a moral one. Addressing the issue of climate-induced migration decisively will honour the resilience of the Sundarban’s people and help to move the needle toward a more sustainable future.