Erosion, a major threat to Indian Villages

By Akhand

Eastern Costal Indian state, Orissa has 476.6 km coast line covering Balasore, Bhadrak, kendrapada, Jagatsinghpur, Puri and Ganjam districts. In general notion, prosperity of any district or state generally determined by connectivity in terms of water ways. In this sense, above stated six districts of Orissa are in the advantaged condition. But in the changing climatic condition, these districts are facing severe threat due to erosion of the seashore.

The Paradeep port, the major port in Orissa, which came up in the late 1960s, has caused massive erosion across beaches up north and the worst example of this is Satbhaya panchayat in Orissa's Kendrapara district where five hamlets have already  been devoured by the sea. In Orissa's Kanhupur, five villages have been gobbled up by the sea.

"Scientific studies by the National Institute of Ocean Technology, Chennai have clearly shown that all ports lead to erosion in the north side. Since 1968 when Paradeep Port came up Satbhaya beach has started eroding. In fact the beach has been reduced as much as one to one and half kms since those days," said Biswajit Mohanty, environmentalist.

Then the marine drive of Puri drew the attention of environmentalists across the globe. Rajnagar block of Kendrapada district is now under high threat due to sea erosion. Starting from Gahirmatha to Barunei confluence point – 25 km of coastline is getting eroded. Every year, sea is grasping around 50 mtrs of land mass of Satabhaya region. According to revenue department, during 1930 settlement, Satabhaya region was of 320 square km. But in 2000, the region has been reduced to 155 square km. As per a journal named ‘Global Environmental Negotiation’, if sea level rises 1 mtr from the current level, 1,70,000 hector of cultivable land in Orissa will be submerged. Current erosion in marine drive of Puri has made the situation more panic.

Soil Erosion:

Due to massive de-forestation, the landslide and soil erosion has become a common phenomenon in eastern Indian state Orissa. In Orissa, over 100 kms out of the state's 480-km long coastline are facing erosion.The eroded soils drain out through the steams to river and river to sea. In a result, the natural drainage lines including streams are getting vanished and rivers are becoming flat through high deposition of eroded soils. Study by experts has found that in just 13 years, from 1991-92 to 2004-05, severely degraded land in the state has increased by 136 percent, barren land has increased by 69 percent and land converted to non-agricultural uses has increased by 34 percent. This is about 7 percent of Orissa’s total geographical area. All these have a direct impact on agriculture, which sustains close to 90 percent of rural population. By 2004-05, as high as 17.5 percent of Orissa has turned barren or unsuitable for agriculture.

             The state environment department however says there's no reason for worry. "We are taking steps and measures to protect the people and the sea-shore by plantations, by rehabilitation. We are taking up mangrove plantation and taking up casuarinas plantation so that sea erosion will not be there," said Bhagirathi Behera, Director, Environment, Orissa.

 Climate change is probably the biggest threat ever the world is facing today. Orissa is in the forefront of victims and many more impacts are yet to be faced. Government should plan a comprehensive strategy to combat this type of climate change.