Coastal Odisha Could Be Under Water In Next Three Decades, Says US Study

Large tracts of coastal Odisha could be under sea water in another three decades, affecting millions of people, US-based Climate Central has said in a study.

Researchers at the New Jersey-based institute have warned that while the rising sea will push some of India’s biggest cities in the flood-risk zone, the impact will be more profound in coastal Odisha and West Bengal.

Not giving a region-wise break-up, figures of people who will be affected, the study, however, said that by 2050, the land currently home to 300 million people in the country will fall below the elevation of an average annual coastal flood. “By 2100, the land now home to 200 million people could sit permanently below the high tide line”. The study was reported by news wire IANS.

According to the researchers, the projected rise in sea level could be between two and seven feet and possibly more, over the course of the 21st century.

Earlier studies too had projected large-scale sea erosion:

This is, however, not the first time when a leading science body has warned of possible large-scale sea ingress in coastal Odisha. In July last year, the National Centre for Coastal Research in Chennai had released a report, which said that Odisha had already lost 153.8 kilometres, or 28 per cent, of its 485-km-long coastline between 1999 and 2016 to sea water ingression.

The Integrated Coastal Zone Management Project (ICZMP), a World Bank-supported initiative had in 2014, said that Puri, Kendrapara and Ganjam districts, in particular, were vulnerable to sea erosion.

Chronic floods in coastal Odisha:

The latest release by Climate Central said that rising sea level, coupled with heat-trapping pollution could push chronic floods in coastal Odisha.

“This could also have profound economic and political consequences within the lifetime of people alive today,” it said.

The Mahanadi Delta region:

In December last year, Hyderabad-based Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services, in its study had also presented a grim picture of the Mahanadi delta region, saying the rising water could pose a threat to irrigated land, urban and other settlements.

What is, therefore, common to all these studies is the underlying threat to coastal Odisha by the rising sea level.

Speaking to Odisha Bytes earlier, noted environmentalist Jaya Krushna Panigrahi had feared the effects could lead to a drastic fall in agricultural productivity due to the level of salinity. He also feared that the coastal towns of Puri and Paradip could be in danger along with the mangrove forest.