The Climate-(Ir)resilient Society of the Indian Sundarbans: Tropical Cyclones, Sea Level Rise, and Mortality Risk

Document Type

Book Chapter

Publication Title

The Palgrave Handbook of Climate Resilient Societies: Volumes 1-2

Abstract

Despite some indicators that suggest increasing resilience in the Sundarbans area, most evidence points to rising natural hazard risks associated with the effects of anthropogenic climate change and increasing exposure due to accelerated development in the area. Development is exposing more people and property to disaster risks while also making the environment in the Sundarbans less resilient to disaster impacts. The relatively disadvantaged background of the Sundarbans residents and shortcomings in public service provision and social safety nets combine to leave them particularly vulnerable to disaster. The Sundarbans has suffered increasingly severe tropical cyclones in recent decades, and these storms have led to huge losses in terms of property damage, injury and loss of life, and significant disruption of life in affected communities; the region has avoided more significant losses due to some fortuitous coincidences (e.g., storms avoiding the largest and destructive storm swells due to the timing of cyclone landfalls with daily tidal flows). The allocation of public investments aimed at improving resilience has, at best, a mixed record and also points to opportunities for improving the area’s resilience in the future. The chapter reviews the factors driving the decline in resilience observed in the Sundarbans based on available data and analyses.

First Page

1897

Last Page

1925

DOI

10.1007/978-3-030-42462-6_95

Publication Date

1-1-2022

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