Climate Witness: Jalaluddin Saha, India
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Jalaluddin Saha, WWF Climate Witness from India
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© Jalaluddin Saha
Remnants of earlier embankment.
I am Jalaluddin Saha. I was born and raised on Sagar Island, the largest and westernmost in the Sundarbans, India. I have been a school teacher since 1971 on Mousuni Island east of Sagar Island, and also farm a small plot of land.
Homes destroyed a land slips away
In 1975, I built a house on the western fringes of Mousuni Island. My ten neighbours and I were protected by a seven metre high earthen embankment. My house was about 10 metres inland from the embankment.
Gradually soil slipped away from below the trees along the outer side of the embankment and eventually the remaining trees were washed away around 1985 and the embankment started to erode. In 1992, the earthen embankment gave away and about 100 of us lost our homes and land.
Since 1985, we have raised the height of the embankment but tidal waters keep rising. By 2005, we have raised the height of the embankment five times to 17 metres and it collapsed again in 2005, displacing 60 families. Either our island is sinking or the sea is rising.
The impact on agriculture
In 2005, I built another house about a kilometre and half inland from where my first house stood. I bought two hectares of land but now have only a little over one hectare. We are not only losing land but also agricultural productivity due to frequent salt water incursion which has affected five square kilometres of our land since 1969.
Watermelons used to be a very popular cash crop until about ten years back. Hailstorms started to come earlier and began to coincide with watermelon harvesting period causing extensive damage. I have also noticed a shift in paddy planting season, it is now two months later which squeezes out whatever little scope was there for a third crop.
I do not think I will have to build another house due to the embankment moving further inland but would not be surprised if my sons and grandsons are forced to move again.
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Scientific review
Reviewed by: Prof. Manmohan Kapshe, Maulana Azad National Institute of Technology, IndiaMr Saha has three observations in his climate witness story. His observation regarding increasing land erosion may be most obvious but there are other causes in addition to climate change that may be responsible for these effects. The erosion may be caused by many forces such as subsidence, shifting of water currents and expanding tidal flats.
Climate change, especially sea level rise may have exacerbated the effects of these forces. The observation about salt water incursion is more in line with the effects of sea level rise. However, many studies have included ground water withdrawal and slow surface water recharge as other responsible factors for salt water incursion.
Change in the cropping pattern is observable in many regions of India due to temperature increase and the same may apply here too. Saha has also mentioned that people were displaced due to these impacts. This is an important issue for any future consideration of likely climate change impacts and adaptation.
- Jayappa K.S., Mitra D., and Mishra A.K. (2006). Coastal geomorphological and land-use and land-cover study of Sagar Island, Bay of Bengal (India) using remotely sensed data, International Journal of Remote Sensing, Volume 27, Issue 17 September 2006 , pages 3671 – 3682.
- Dwivedi D.N. and Sharma V.K., Analysis of Sea Level Rise and its Impact on Coastal wetlands of India, Proceedings of the 14th Biennial Coastal Zone Conference, New Orleans, Louisiana www.csc.noaa.gov/cz/2005/CZ05_Proceedings_CD/pdf%20files/Dwivedy.pdf
- The Hindu (New Delhi), 05 June 2006: Sunderbans Faces Threat of Submergence. http://www.hinduonnet.com/2006/06/05/stories/2006060501972200.html
All articles are subject to scientific review by a member of the Climate Witness Science Advisory Panel.
An independent scientific peer review of this Climate Witness story has been coordinated by the WWF India office. Please contact Claire Carlton if you would like more details.
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