Abstract
The inhabited regions of the Indian Sundarbans of the Bengal Delta are threatened by dual processes of sea level rise and persistent coastal erosion caused by regular tidal surges. A few islands of this region have already been completely eroded stimulating population movements. This case study seeks to bring out how a myopic understanding of the adaptation priorities have resolved the concerns only in the short run but in the long run has exacerbated the vulnerabilities turning them maladaptive. This chapter is based upon a fieldwork in the Sagar Island comprising of 240 households in 2021 to understand the implications of the two major adaptation measures undertaken in the region to combat coastal flooding and coastal erosion: embankment and resettlement of the environmental refugee population. It is evident from the study that embankments have been able to contain coastal flooding and coastal erosion only with limited success. Instead, they have interfered with the coastal processes by altering the sediment load dynamics, reduction in channel capacity, increasing the tidal amplitude, and have exacerbated the environmental crisis. The resettlement strategy has accommodated the displaced communities, but in the long run the economic as well as the environmental outcomes have clear indications of maladaptive practices. It has deteriorated the livelihoods of the relocated communities. Further, the location of the resettlement colonies being in the fresh accretion zones have interfered with the coastal processes aggravating erosion.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Bandyopadhyay S (1997) Natural environmental hazards and their management: a case study of sagar island. Singap J Trop Geogr 18(1):20–45
Bandyopadhyay S (2000) Coastal changes in the perspective of long term evolution of an estuary: Hugli, West Bengal, India. In: Rajamanickam V, Tooley MJ (eds) Quaternary Sea Level Variation. Shoreline Displacement and Coastal Environment, New Academic Publishers, Delhi, pp 103–115
Bandyopadhyay S (2021) The reclaimed Sundarban in a warming world: A short geomorphic appraisal. In: Chakma N, Jana NC, Siddique G, Guchhait SK, Samanta G, Mistri B (eds) Resonance of Environment, Society and Space: Global Perception through Regional Perspective, Golden Jubilee Commemorative, vol of. Department of Geography. The University of Burdwan, La Strada Publishers, Kolkata, pp 31–45
Bandyopadhyay S, Kar NS, Dasgupta S, Mukherjee D, Das A (2023) Island area changes in the Sundarban region of the abandoned western Ganga–Brahmaputra–Meghna Delta India and Bangladesh. Geomorphology 422:108482. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geomorph.2022.108482
Black R, Arnell NW, Adger WN, Thomas D, Geddes A (2013) Migration, immobility and displacement outcomes following extreme events. Environ. Sci. & Policy 27s:s32–s43
Chakma N, Bandyopadhyay S (2012) Swimming against the tide: survival in the transient islands of the Hugli Estuary. West Bengal, West Bengal Geo-spatial Issues, Department of Geography, University of Burdwan, West Bengal, pp 1–19
Christian-Smith J, Morgan CL, Peter JG (2015) Maladaptation to drought: a case report from California, USA. Sustain Sci 10(3):491–501. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11625-014-0269-1
Danda AA, Sriskanthan G, Ghosh A, Bandyopadhyay J, Hazra S (2011) Indian Sundarbans delta: a vision. World Wide Fund for Nature-India, New Delhi
Danda AA, Ghosh N, Bandyopadhyay J, Hazra S (2019) Managed retreat: adaptation to climate change in the Sundarbans ecoregion in the Bengal Delta. J. Indian Ocean. Reg., 15(3): 317-335. https://doi.org/10.1080/19480881.2019.1652974
Dasgupta S, Wheeler D, Bandyopadhyay S, Ghosh S, Roy U (2022) Coastal dilemma: Climate change, public assistance and population displacement. World Dev 150:1–14. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.worlddev.2021.105707
Diana R, Magnan AK, Singh C, Lukas-Sithole M, Ben Orlove E, Schipper LF, Coughlan E, de Perez, (2023) Navigating the continuum between adaptation and maladaptation. Nat Clim Chang 13:907–918. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-023-01774-6
Edwards, J (2016) A story of relocation and rising sea levels. Vunidogoloa Village, Vanua Levu, Fiji. New World Outlook: The Mission Magazine of the United Methodist Church.
Entzinger H, Scholten P (2016) Relocation as an adaptation strategy to environmental stress: lessons from the mekong river delta in Vietnam. IOM Migr, Environ, Clim Chang Policy Brief Ser 1(6). https://publications.iom.int/system/files/pdf/policy_brief_issue6_1.pdf
Ferris E, Weerasinghe S (2020) Promoting human security: relocation as a protection tool in a time of climate change. J. Migr. Hum. Secur. 8(2):134–149
Georgetown Climate Center (2019) GCC Hosts interdisciplinary convening exploring managed retreat as a strategy for community adaptation. https://www.georgetownclimate.org/articles/gcc-holds-2-day-workshop-onmanaged-retreat.html
IPCC (2022) Climate change 2022. Impacts, adaptation, and vulnerability. Contribution of Working Group II to the Sixth assessment report of the intergovernmental panel on climate change
Irrigation & Waterways Department, Government of West Bengal accessed at Irrigation & Waterways Department (wbiwd.gov.in) on 23/09/2023
Juliet C-S, Levy Morgan C, Gleick PH (2015) Maladaptation to drought: a case report from California, USA. Sustain. Sci. 10(3):491–501. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11625-014-0269-1
Kothari U (2014) Political discourses of climate change and migration: resettlement policies in the Maldives. Geogr J 180(2):130–140. https://doi.org/10.1111/geoj.12032
Long JW, Plant NG (2012) Extended Kalman Filter framework for forecasting shoreline evolution. Geophys Res Lett 39(13):1–6
Mallik C, Bandyopadhyay S, Bandopadhyay S (2023) Land scarcity and land access in a hazard-prone island: Sagar, Indian Sundarbans. Singap J Trop Geogr 44:255–276
McAdam J, Ferris E (2015) Planned relocations in the context of climate change: unpacking the legal and conceptual issues. Camb J Int Comp Law 4(1):137–166
Mortreux C, Safra R, de Campos WN, Adger TG, Das S, Adams H, Hazra S (2018) Political economy of planned relocation: a model of action and inaction in government responses. Glob Environ Chang 50:123–132
Piggott-McKellar AE, Nunn Patrick D, McNamara KE, Sekinini ST (2020) Dam(n) seawalls: a case of climate change maladaptation in Fiji. In: Leal Filho W (ed) Managing climate change adaptation in the pacific region. Springer Nature, Switzerland, pp 69–84. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-40552-6_4
Pritchard B, Thielemans R (2014) Rising Waters Don’t Lift All Boats’: a sustainable livelihood analysis of recursive cycles of vulnerability and maladaptation to flood risk in rural Bihar, India. Aust Geogr 45(3):325–339. https://doi.org/10.1080/00049182.2014.930001
Reckien D, Magnan AK, Singh C, Lukas-Sithole M, Orlove B, Schipper ELF, de Parez EC (2023) Navigating the continuum between adaptation and maladaptation. Nat Clim Change 13(9):907–918. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-023-01774-6
Sugata H, Ghosh T, DasGupta R, Sen G (2002) Sea Level and associated changes in the Sundarbans. Sci Cult 68(9–12):309–321
Acknowledgements
This study is funded by the Indian Council for Social Science Research (ICSSR) under the Impactful Policy Research in Social Science (IMPRESS) scheme vide Project Sanction No: IMPRESS/P970/283/2018-19/ICSSR. The authors are thankful to Prof. Sumana Bandopadhyay, University of Calcutta, for her support. Pritha Boral, Piyali Dev and Daibosree Adak are acknowledged for their help in the fieldwork and data aggregation tasks. Pritam Kumar Santra helped to prepare the maps.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2024 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Mallik, C., Bandyopadhyay, S. (2024). Peopling of the Sagar Island in the Indian Sundarbans: A Case of Maladaptation to Climate Change. In: Sarkar, A., Bandyopadhyay, N., Singh, S., Sachan, R. (eds) Risk, Uncertainty and Maladaptation to Climate Change. Disaster Risk Reduction. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-99-9474-8_7
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-99-9474-8_7
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Singapore
Print ISBN: 978-981-99-9473-1
Online ISBN: 978-981-99-9474-8
eBook Packages: Earth and Environmental ScienceEarth and Environmental Science (R0)