The Wayanad landslides have put Kerala under the spotlight again. Extreme rainfall, flooding, and landslides have become a recurring phenomenon in the state since 2018. Multiple studies point to these being the result of the climate crisis. Kerala is particularly vulnerable due to its complex geology and ecology — a steep valley nestled between the Western Ghats on the east and the Arabian Sea on the west. The Western Ghats are a geomorphic feature of immense global importance. Unfortunately, indiscriminate infrastructure development has degraded this unique and fragile ecosystem.
In 1805, tropical forests covered 50-75% of Kerala’s three regions. This had fallen to 36% by 1956 (when United Kerala was formed), and to 12% by 1990. The highest levels of deforestation(65-80%) happened in the hilly districts of Wayanad and Idukki. An added problem was the extensive quarrying from the 1980s and the construction boom. Of the over 5,000 quarries in Kerala (legal and illegal), about 1,700 are in the Western Ghats. They (along with indiscriminate infrastructure development) are major contributors to the landslides and landslips.
About 13,000 sites in Kerala have been identified as prone to landslips, and 17,000 as susceptible to landslides. During the 2018 floods, there were over 5,000 incidents of landslips and landslides, of which 3,000 were in Wayanad and Idukki. In these districts, construction is permitted only on 7% of the land; however, this restriction has not been adhered to. About 70% of the 5,220 kilometre-long rivulets or streams feeding into the Kabini river in Wayanad were encroached and levelled for construction or agriculture.
Paddy fields (wetlands), at over 8.8 lakh hectares in 1980s, captured substantial water run-off during the monsoons. Sadly, around 80% of these have been destroyed for housing or commercial purposes. Further, large-scale encroachment of inland lakes and floodplains such as the Vembanad lake, the largest inland water body in Kerala, has exacerbated flooding prospects. In addition, Kerala’s 720 sq km of coastal mangroves (marine and inland), which act as natural bulwarks against storm surges, have now been reduced to a mere 24 sq km (as in 2021). Another challenge in Kerala is the dumping of urban garbage in drains and streams, resulting in clogging during excessive rains.
The ecological destruction and resultant increase in Kerala’s susceptibility to climate-related calamities and disasters has led to huge losses to life and property. Thus, a long-term vision for building a climate-resilient Kerala, with particular emphasis on disaster risk reduction, has become imperative.
Kerala’s Ecorestoration Policy, announced in December 2021, is a step in the right direction but this needs to see action on the ground. Additionally, some key elements still need to be made part of it. Based on the Madhav Gadgil Committee Report, plantations should be reconverted and nursed back to biodiverse forests. Agro-forestry should be adopted with the cooperation of the locals. All further construction in the Western Ghats should be banned and illegal encroachments removed. Mountain edges sliced for roads need to be sloped, and dense re-wilding done to prevent landslides. The concept of ‘limited tourism’, followed by Bhutan, should be adopted in key tourist locations.
People living in areas most prone to landslips (Zone 1 in the Gadgil report), such as Wayanad, should be relocated to safer places. Further migration to the hills and quarrying should be fully banned, and a ‘catchment area treatment plan’ should be prepared for denuded areas of river catchments. The decimation of hills for paddy fields should be stopped or at least minimised. The current method of constructing uniform elevations of concrete walls upto 18 feet high and filling them with soil from destroyed hills for building roads needs to stop. Besides Wayanad and Idukki, hill destruction is rampant in Kannur and Kasaragod. Hills in these districts from where 16 rivers originate should be declared as protected areas.
Erosion by the sea is another major climate-related challenge in Kerala. Many sea walls constructed so far have been swallowed by the sea. The real solution would be mangrove restoration with people’s participation.
Except in heavily populated former paddy fields where streams could be carved out to facilitate drainage of flood waters, these wetlands need to be restored by reclaiming them. Most of the rain gauges are in urban or semi-urban areas. They need to be established in areas now known for excessive precipitation, especially in fragile zones. Kerala could also have its own centralised flood monitoring station for real-time alerts.
The government’s famous “room-for-rivers” slogan should be implemented in letter and spirit. Kerala did begin successful restoration of some of its water bodies. This has stopped now. Their extensive restoration should be undertaken under the government’s job guarantee programmes. Encroachments should be removed and punitive measures for garbage dumping into water bodies should be enforced.
For building climate resilience, it is imperative that policies and plans do not end up being mere roadmaps, but also fuel action to strengthen institutional and financial governance for “preparing and planning, coping, recovering, and importantly, adapting to adverse climate events.” Transitioning from being ‘environment-friendly’ to ‘climate-relevant’ is the need of the hour. This would entail establishing a multilevel, climate governance framework. The World Institute of Sustainable Energy (WISE), Pune, carried out a study to assess how governance in Kerala needs to be transformed. Based on WISE’s findings and the first author’s own research to write Kerala’s environmental history, the following recommendations are suggested.
Climate action must be mainstreamed into developmental planning, with supporting regulation and adequate enforcement. Promulgation and implementation of a more comprehensive land-use policy would be an integral step forward. In the context of emerging climate challenges, there is an urgent need to update and amend existing Acts, rules and regulations.
Streamlining inter- and-intra-departmental cooperation in and between local and state departments, and working in partnership with non-state actors would ensure inclusive and participatory action for building climate resilience. Creating a climate fund and introducing monitoring and reporting mechanisms to track progress on climate action, assessing the adequacy of funding and its utilisation, and capacity building for climate action, would also be necessary.
G Madhoosudanan is director general of the World Institute of Sustainable Energy (WISE), Pune. Praveena Sanjay is director, Centre for Climate and Sustainability, WISE. The views expressed are personal
