COASTAL CRISIS

Odisha is fast losing its shoreline to rising sea levels. Its adaptation plans must not only be immediate but also foolproof

- AKSHIT SANGOMLA

IT'S A race against time, and tide, for those living in Odisha's coastal villages. Data with the National Centre for Sustainable Coastal Management, Chennai, shows that 74 villages in the state are severely affected by shoreline erosion the highest in the country. A study paper published in the journal Spatial Information Research in June 2018 finds that almost half of Odisha's coast-196 km of shoreline-has undergone erosion between 1990 and 2015. A major reason for this is rising sea level, which is surging along the Odisha coast at a rate faster than the rest of the country. A July 2022 paper published in Applied Ecology and Environmental Research finds that sea level along Odisha has risen by 9.5 cm in the 50 years between 1966 and 2015. The average sea level rise along the Indian coast during the period is 8.5 cm, shows the response to a query in Rajya Sabha in November 2019. Odisha has also been battered by the maximum number of cyclones in the country.