Odisha’s Kendrapara faces twin threats of floods and droughts — it needs an integrated climate strategy

There is an age-old saying in the Odiya language: Jala bihune srusti nasha, jala bahule srusti nasha, which means too much and too little water destroys creation. This holds true for the coastal district of Kendrapara, Odisha.

Eleven districts in India, including Kendrapara, face a ‘very high’ risk of both floods and droughts, revealed a pan-India climate risk assessment commissioned by the Department of Science and Technology (DST) under the central government in collaboration with the Swiss Development Council. The report was prepared by the Indian Institutes of Technology (IIT) Mandi, IIT Guwahati and the Centre for Study of Science, Technology and Policy (CSTEP), Bengaluru.

The assessment, titled District-level Climate Risk Assessment for India: Mapping Flood and Drought Risks Using the IPCC Framework, analysed 698 districts for climate risks, providing detailed profiling of flood and drought hazards, exposure and vulnerability. But do the districts have pathways to address these dual climate risks?

The study categorises 51 districts as having ‘very high’ flood risk and 118 as ‘high’ flood risk. Similarly, 91 districts fall into the ‘very high’ drought risk category, with another 188 categorised as ‘high’ risk. While 85 per cent of drought-prone districts are concentrated in 13 states, the majority of flood-prone districts lie within seven states. 

For complete article See, Avilash Roul, Odisha’s Kendrapara faces twin threats of floods and droughts — it needs an integrated climate strategy , Down To Earth, December 23, 2024.