Locals in Sunderbans turn climate refugees

CLIMATE CONCERNS: As sea levels rise as many as 6000 people have been relocated.

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Sunderbans (West Bengal): Is global warming for real? As the world debates climate change and global warming join us on a special journey as we transverse through the Sunderbans Delta and find out how wildlife and people are coping with quite literally living on the edge.

Hard to access and a difficult terrain to live in, Sunderbans is home to over 54 species of mangroves - the only flora that can survive in these saline waters.

This is a world heritage site and now it's a climate change hotspot. There's a crisis brewing here which may seem local but its causes are global.

As sea levels rise as many as 6000 people have been relocated and two islands in the Sunderbans already submerged due to climate change.

“I lost everything. That part is the tiger reserve. But the river comes in- it destroyed my house it also destroyed our crops as the water is so saline. Earlier it did not flood so often but now it seems it is flooding ever so often,” says a resident of the area, Suryakant Moundal.

Moundal is a distressed man. He does not know about climate change. What he does know is that the frequency with which he has to move has gone up and that the river now destroys his home with greater frequency.

“We are from santhal tribe. We have lost everything. Where do we go? There is no land on the island it is already taken,” says another local.

Any island you visit on the Sunderbans tells the same story. People have their own coping strategies. Some have put these bamboo structures to prevent the mud from falling, others have just got used to moving home more often. So what has made this world heritage site more vulnerable to climate change?

“Sunderbans is a delta, the river always used to flood but now if you look many islands are disappearing fast, in fact two of the islands are already submerged. If you look at these satellite images you will see the difference,” WWF Senior Coordinator Dr Prakash Rao.

The waters that bring life are also the waters that take it away. Scientists estimate with rising sea levels there will be cascading effects.

While 60 per cent of Mangrove species will be destroyed, the habitat of the endangered species like the Royal Bengal tiger will be wiped out.

Once saline water moves in to the islands, crops will be destroyed.