Living with changing climate: impact, vulnerability and adaptation challenges in Indian Sundarbans
Most of the impact predictions in vulnerable ecosystems including Sundarbans have historically been carried out with a very limited set of socio-economic indicators (such as population, GDP per capita, and land-use change and technological improvement). For global models, this minimalist treatment is appropriate. But at smaller, local scales, where adaptation actually takes place, much more detail is needed about the residents, and how they live and work in communities. The culture of societies, their forms of social solidarity and organisation, are all important factors in shaping adaptation policy. There is also a growing recognition to the fact that adaptation in the South is a multi-scale environmental governance challenge – where sensitivities to climate change in institutions and their ability to respond are based on ability to connect across scales of decision-making. This necessitates individual exploration of the vulnerable areas independently and arriving at case specific remedial actions. This report is the culmination of such an effort where CSE researchers spent 20 days on the ground across four blocks in the Indian Sundarbans recording the perceptions of local people on climate change and its effect. Read full report: http://www.cseindia.org/userfiles/Living%20with%20changing%20climate%20report%20low%20res.pdf