Trapped Or Resettled: Coastal Communities in the Sundarbans

Climate crisis and local communities 15 FMR 64 June 2020 www.fmreview.org/issue64 Trapped or resettled: coastal communities in the Sundarbans Delta, India Shaberi Das and Sugata Hazra When local communities face the brunt of the impacts of climate change, how able are they to make choices in their response? And whose responsibility is it to provide support? Forced migration due to environmental limited capacity to adapt to and cope with stressors must be differentiated from adverse environmental changes. Electricity on voluntary migration. Blurred and the island is powered by solar panels which contradictory definitions abound, leading the government and NGOs have installed in to inadequate or an absence of regulations almost every household, and drinking water regarding the provision of support is obtained from tubewells. Infrastructure and compensation. Culpability – and investment remains low, however, because responsibility – can be established relatively of the high rate of coastal erosion; within the easily in instances of development-induced last 40 years, the island has been reduced to displacement. In cases of forced migration less than half of its original size, displacing triggered by climatic factors, however, thousands.3 The first storm shelter is currently no single party or parties (whether the under construction, while the school displaced individual, the government building serves as a makeshift refuge. or an international agency) can be held Respondents to semi-structured unquestionably accountable and therefore interviews revealed that health care and responsible for alleviating related education remain inadequate, with children hardship. The human costs are borne by often travelling to or boarding on the local communities in locations rendered mainland in order to attend high school. inhospitable by the interplay of different Loss of livelihoods or inadequate returns forces – climate change and sea level rise from more traditional rural livelihoods being key among them. Glimpses from forces at least one male member of most communities in the islands of Ghoramara households to migrate seasonally to the and Sagar in the Indian Sundarbans far-away states of Kerala or Tamil Nadu Delta convey the stark realities of forced for construction work. Over the last two migration for these communities. decades, seasonal migration has become a coping mechanism for a large proportion Ghoramara: a highly vulnerable island of the population in the Sundarbans. With lush green fields, abundant freshwater, Recently, the households of these seasonal nutrient-rich soil and a breathtaking view migrants have been taking the decision of the river Hooghly, Ghoramara Island is to migrate permanently to safer places picturesque – but is rapidly being submerged. where wage labour is in demand, thereby Located in the south-western edge of the turning a temporary coping mechanism Hooghly estuary, Ghoramara has experienced into a means of long-term adaptation to high rates of coastal erosion since the 1970s, environmental degradation and climate and from the 1970s to the 1990s there was change. However, the absence of support sustained government action to resettle and compensation for the land that has been displaced households to nearby Sagar Island. lost to erosion (or soon will be) not only With 34% of the population in the Indian makes such adaptation measures extremely Sundarbans living below the poverty line1 challenging in terms of people’s finances and 47% unable to afford two proper meals and mental health but also raises concerns a day throughout the year,2 the population about the State’s refusal to acknowledge this in vulnerable islands like Ghoramara has migration as forced rather than voluntary. 16 Climate crisis and local communities FMR 64 www.fmreview.org/issue64 June 2020 Displaced families who have the bear disproportionate burdens. They shoulder means to purchase land further inland responsibility for heading the household, tend to choose to rebuild their houses in caring for children and the elderly, disabled comparatively safer locations rather than and sick members of the family, growing crops to migrate permanently elsewhere, either for household consumption, and tending to because they lack the means required for domestic chores and the family’s betel vine more distant, permanent migration or sheds. Their socio-economic position within because they are unable to bear the notion of a rural society also severely limits their being separated from their land. Although mobility and their access to finance, health they know that the present rate of erosion care, and participation in decision making; means that Ghoramara will be completely while awaiting the return of their husbands submerged within the next 30 to 40 years and every four or six months, they live in constant that they will inevitably be displaced again, fear of climate hazards and face intense their deep attachment to place keeps them deprivation. Women respondents empasised rooted on the island. Those who lack the the need for a gender-sensitive analysis means to move are increasingly demanding of the impacts of seasonal migration and government assistance to enable their forced displacement. As one of them noted: migration to and resettlement in a safer zone. “It gets very hard for me sometimes to manage Until the 1990s, the Government of West everything here without my husband. Extreme Bengal gave out land tenures and financial poverty forces us to take on additional work like aid to displaced households, acknowledging weaving nets.” the challenges faced by households forced to move because of environmental factors, The role of the community and local and thereby setting a precedent. This women’s informal support networks features is particularly significant in a country prominently in the narratives of all women where policy and regulations – such as respondents in Ghoramara. However, the National Policy on Resettlement and responses also reveal the reluctance of Rehabilitation – recognise development- families from other islands and the mainland induced displacement but no other type to marry their daughters into families in of displacement as a legitimate cause for Ghoramara. Even impoverished families financial aid and rehabilitation support. in Ghoramara who have sons must offer a Legislation and policies targeted at disaster high bride price for the son’s marriage. risk management overlook displacement resulting from slow-onset events and are Sagar: a ‘safe’ island? limited to immediate post-disaster relief. Although not connected to the mainland, In the 1990s, as assisted resettlement Sagar – the largest island in the Sundarbans – of people from Ghoramara continued, the has better infrastructure than all others in the Government of West Bengal began to run out region. The island has a lower rate of erosion of land to give to those seeking resettlement in than nearby Ghoramara, and benefits from Sagar.4 Smaller landholdings were awarded, the proximity of the Haldia Dock Complex until the scheme ceased altogether. Those (a major port on the opposite bank of the who cannot afford to move are trapped; Hooghly) and from the presence of the Kapil they continue to live in misery and despair, Muni Temple on Sagar. Every January, the receiving no additional support from the Gangasagar fair at the temple site attracts government apart from what is available millions, and in recent years this alternative from existing national- and state-level source of income has brought asphalt roads, rural poverty alleviation programmes. electricity and 17 storm shelters to the island. Despite the obvious benefits expected The inordinate burden on women from migration to Sagar, the decision to Women in Ghoramara from households where migrate is by no means an easy one, especially some male members are seasonal migrants due to the unavailability of assistance for Climate crisis and local communities 17 FMR 64 June 2020 www.fmreview.org/issue64 resettlement. Accounts from the Ghoramara Looking ahead respondents show that consultations with Cases of forced migration such as these in and support from displaced members the Sundarbans throw up questions about of the community who have resettled in culpability and responsibility. It is worth Sagar greatly influence the decision of our while, as thinkers and practitioners, to other households to relocate. It is in hope search for answers to some of the questions of improved access to rights, resources and raised. Who pays the price for unsustainable protection that families take a leap of faith collective human development which and leave for a new life in Sagar. Thus, manifests itself in the form of environmental interaction between communities in different shocks and climate change phenomena: localities promotes the sharing of knowledge the affected individuals, the community or and experiences of forced relocation. the State? Whose responsibility is it then to Interviews with migrants in the villages compensate for losses resulting from such of Gangasagar and Bankim Nagar indicate disasters and to protect affected communities? a higher sense of well-being among the Insights from academic institutions, State resettled households than among the agencies, civil society and local practitioners displaced or soon-to-be displaced households within affected communities must be in Ghoramara. However, seasonal migration pooled to gain a broader understanding continues even after resettlement, not of the highly complex processes

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