Climate Crisis Makes Sundarbans Population Vulnerable to Migration-Related Exploitation

The promised job was in Delhi for Rs 40,000 per month as a background dancer in television shows. “That is the kind of money I had not seen in my life,” Rituri said, as she cooked fish curry in her home in the Sundarbans. The money from the job would help repay the loans the family took to rebuild their house. Instead, on reaching Delhi, she was kept alone in a room for two days and then asked to work at a sweatshop, making clothes for Rs 12,000 a month. “I lived with two other girls, in a tiny, asbestos room, which would get extremely hot in May and June.” Rituri said she sent Rs 5,000 back home for a few months, but then returned home.

This is the story of many who migrate from the Sundarbans–the largest mangrove ecosystem in the world–only to find themselves trapped in low paying jobs or worse, trafficked.

Extreme poverty–especially for the marginalised scheduled castes and tribes that make-up 47% of the Sundarbans population–has meant that at least one family member in 75% of the families surveyed had migrated for work, most to other states, found a 2013 study.

A rising sea, frequent natural disasters, and climate change have worsened prospects for farmers and fishermen, while destroying homes and businesses in the Sundarbans, leading to even greater migration. Decades ago, only male members would migrate, households told IndiaSpend. Now women and sometimes entire families migrate in search of better livelihoods, and a better quality of life.

Saline soil reduces crop yield, climate change impacts fishermen

Deforestation of mangrove forests has led to increased coastal vulnerability for 4.5 million residents of the Indian Sundarbans, we had reported in October 2024. Between 1891 and 2002, the Sundarbans were hit by 35 cyclones. The region has faced 8 cyclones in just 6 years since 2019 (Bulbul and Fani in 2019, Amphan in 2020, Jawad and Yaas in 2021, Sitrang in 2022, Hamoon in 2023, Remal in 2024).

A report from the National Centre for Coastal Research, under the Ministry of Earth Sciences shows that 60.5% of West Bengal’s coast is eroding, 14% is stable, and 25% is accreting, said an IndiaSpend report from July 2024. Coastal districts like East Midnapore (near the Sundarbans delta), South 24 Parganas, and North 24 Parganas in the Sundarbans, exhibit significant erosion, with only a few pockets of accretion and stable conditions.

“The average elevation of the Sundarbans is lower than one metre above sea level, meaning that this region is highly susceptible to flooding,” as per this factsheet by the United Nations Environment Programme. The factsheet adds that the recent disappearance of some of the delta’s islands is concerning as these events cause people to emigrate, becoming environmental refugees who will eventually cause population pressures in neighbouring regions and urban centres.

Several studies (cited in this 2023 review paper) have found that climate change, rising sea level and frequent cyclones have been changing the crop production and cropping pattern in the Sundarbans delta. The communities of Gosaba, Kultali, Kakdwip, Sagar, Patharpratima and Namkhana blocks of the Sundarbans have been particularly affected by climate change and soil salinity, the paper says. Cyclonic storm Aila in 2009, and super cyclone Amphan in 2020 adversely impacted the area's agricultural ecosystem by increasing the salinity of the soil, the review paper further adds.

“Migration triggered drastically after Aila in 2009 because people realised that saline water had paused cultivation for another five years at least,” said Tuhin Ghosh, professor and director of School of Oceanographic studies at Jadavpur University. Salinity intrusion reduces the availability of freshwater for agriculture and drinking.

11-year-old Lakhman has seen his father, Rabindra Gupta, only 12 times since he was born. Gupta, who migrated to Surat to work in a garment factory in 2014, lives in Gujarat for work, and visits mostly on Durgo Pujo. Rabindra’s wife was pregnant, when Rabindra realised that the frequent flash floods were ruining the crop and the soil, and staying back would mean no livelihood. The father and son talk on video calls, Lakhman said.

Aquatic sea life is also impacted by the changing temperature of water and saline water threatens the health of freshwater aquatic life such as fish and giant prawns, the UN fact sheet says.

Rituri’s father was a fisherman and also had a 2,000 sq ft farm before he migrated to the Andamans. “He would get us fish almost everyday,” Rituri recalls. Every Sunday, the family would enjoy Hilsa, a sought after variety of fish in West Bengal. But as the fish population reduced, they would have just one Hilsa every few months. “Now we have to buy it to eat it,” she said.

Dangers of migrating

Sudipto, 15, migrated in 2024 to work at a lodge in Gurugram for Rs 12,000 a month, but he was not paid for four months and not allowed any leaves. Five months later, he was given half of the promised amount. He escaped to go back to the Sundarbans as the employers would not allow him to leave.

“The land is being eroded and eaten up by rising sea levels in the Sundarbans. Since there is no good documentation or studies we have no clarity on the future number of people migrating outside of the Sundarbans, but climate change-induced migration have micro and macro implications on the society,” said S Irudaya Rajan, chair of the International Institute of Migration and Development. “The residents on the coastal areas are largely dependent on fishing and farming and they do not know any other source of income so when they migrate, it becomes another form of challenge for them and the living standards deteriorate,” he added.

“Most of these migrated people suffer in their further life due to language barrier, fraud by people who help them migrate, trafficking in the name of migration. Only one fourth of those who migrate, succeed,” said Subhasree Raptan, programme manager at GGBK. “Some of those go into debt, some fall prey to bondage, some return due to in-humane working conditions, while others fall prey to violence and remain untraceable.” She added that there have been cases of trafficking for child labour and bonded labour of vulnerable people from the Sundarbans.

“Sometimes, there is a thin line between getting help for migration and being trafficked. Mostly, youngsters fall prey to the latter,” said Raptan. She gave the example of 18-year-old Rashmi Devi who went to Bihar to dance in an orchestra when she was 15 years old, but failed to find work in the off-season, was not paid on time and eventually forced into prostitution.

In 2024, IndiaSpend had reported how the climate crisis had made women in the Sundarbans more vulnerable to trafficking.

“The state government has no plans and policy for rehabilitation of those who suffer the disasters and lose livelihood plus house,” says Ghosh.

Rehabilitation comes under the West Bengal disaster management policy, which says that there should be ‘livelihood rehabilitation measures for relocated communities, wherever necessary’, without laying out details.

We reached out to Janab Javed Ahmed Khan, minister in-charge of disaster management in West Bengal, Dushyant Nariala, principal secretary, and Satyajit Sen, senior special secretary of the West Bengal Disaster Management & Civil Defence Department via email. We will update the story when we receive a response.

Everyday, Usha Badui (36) of Goshaba island in Canning, lives in fear of becoming homeless for the third time. “My house was destroyed in 2019. The cyclone took it away and the panchayat gave a makeshift hut on the other side of the river which was also washed away in the flood.” She said the panchayat provided another makeshift shelter where she and her three children now stay. She leaves her children at the shelter while she fishes.

Usha says, “We are unsure of our future just like the uncertain future of the Sundarbans”.

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