Rising seas, shifting lives and a test of democratic values

The intensifying impacts of climate change are reshaping India's coastline resulting in an environmental phenomenon and also profound social and economic rupture.

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Across the eastern and western seaboards, communities that are historically dependent on agriculture, fishing, and coastal ecosystems are being displaced by rising seas, saltwater intrusion, and the cumulative effects of unregulated development. This has triggered migration, pushing displaced populations into precarious urban labour markets without legal protection or adequate state support.In Odisha, once thriving coastal settlements such as Satabhaya have been swallowed by the sea, forcing villagers to relocate to government resettlement colonies that often fail to provide sustainable livelihoods. In Karnataka's Honnavar taluk, traditional fishing communities face dispossession as ports, tourism projects, and mangrove destruction accelerate coastal degradation. Similar patterns are unfolding in Tamil Nadu’s Nagapattinam, Gujarat’s Kutch region, and the flood-prone lowlands of Kerala. Projects and environmental degradation