In India who are the most affected by Climate Change?

By Prakash Louis, SJ

Just a month before Pope Francis issued his well-known encyclical, Laudato Si’, a strong earthquake shook the mountain kingdom of Nepal on 25 April 2015. It left behind a trail of devastation and death. Around 10,000 people were killed and over 20,000 were seriously wounded. Nearly 600,000 buildings, both private and public, homes and institutions had been either fully or partially destroyed. About 1,26,000 pregnant women were severely affected. Further, over 2 million women and girls of reproductive age were badly affected. The UN Agencies announced that 12 million out of 30 million affected would need humanitarian assistance for years to come. Most of them are the poorest in Nepal.

It has become clear that cyclones and floods affect the poor who live along river banks and wash their dwellings away. Crop damage increases food shortage.

This is why the encyclical of Pope Francis, Laudato Si‘: Care for our Common Home was seen as timely and won wide appreciation. In this Encyclical, the Pope tried to enter into dialogue with all people about our common home. He termed this degradation of environment for the sake of excessive consumption and profit as sin – a social, moral, ethical, spiritual and ecological sin. This sin is against ourselves since it dehumanizes us, and opposes God’s plan for his creation. To be silent on the face this sin is neither Christian nor human. Hence, he called for immediate and urgent action.

With the increasing awareness about climate change and its effect on the marginalized, now hard data are available to demonstrate the level of impact that climate change has on the most vulnerable. The government of India’s economic survey, 2018 estimated an annual loss of US$ 9-10 billion, that is, 700 crore Indian rupees, due to the adverse effects of climate change. Some of these changes involve floods, droughts, storms, hail storms, cyclones, heat waves, tsunami, etc.

Bihar is India’s most flood-prone State, with 76% of the population in North Bihar living under the recurring threat of flood. Floods are recurring disasters that annually destroy thousands of human lives, livestock and assets worth millions of rupees. On an average, floods in Bihar affect 15 lakh hectares of land, and 76 lakh population every year.

With the increasing awareness about climate change and its effect on the marginalized, now hard data are available to demonstrate the level of impact that climate change has on the most vulnerable.

The most disastrous are floods in the Kosi River in Bihar. Hence, the Kosi River has been called ‘The River of Sorrow.’ Floods in the river have led to malnutrition and starvation, change in crop patterns, shifting of cultivable areas, change in settlements of villages, children becoming orphans, women becoming widows, etc.

How does climate change affect food security, particularly for the marginalized communities in India? Mahendra Yadav, a social worker associated with Kosi Nav Nirman Manch (Kosi Rehabilitation Forum), observed, “The 2008 Kosi flood deposited large amounts of sand and silt on agricultural land affecting millions of people in Nepal and India”. Quoting some of the studies, Mr Yadav asserted that over 700 hectares of fertile land were made uncultivable because of the inundation, which left sand and silt sediments. This forced thousands of people to migrate.  They had to migrate in order to survive.

Various studies examining the causes of migration in India have identified many natural and human-induced causes. The natural causes of migration include floods, droughts, earthquakes, tsunamis, landslides, unseasonal rains, melting of glaciers, global warming, climate change, etc. How can we help? All Jesuits, particularly members of groups like EcoJesuits,   should make the rulers – both in the State and at the Centre –  become aware of and commit themselves to 1) The principles enshrined in the National Disaster Management Act – rescue, relief, and rehabilitation must be strictly adhered to; 2) Infrastructure development in disaster prone areas should consider human and nature-related issues and construct common placesfor rescue, relief and rehabilitation; 3) Setting up large-scale alternative employment in disaster prone areas is one of the major demands of the people; 4) Large-scale skill training of youth to enhance their employability in the area and increasing employment opportunities; 5) Respecting formal and informal organisations that work to ensure women’s rightful place and role. 6) Emergency preparedness that helps address the emerging issues of climate change and their impact on people, especially the marginalised; 7) Promoting better health and education for the marginalised sector 8) Ecology, climate change and environmental protection must be taught in all schools.

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