Rising seas, shifting lives and a test of democratic values

The Hindu

07-07-2025

The intensifying impacts of climate change are reshaping India's coastline resulting in an environmental phenomenon and also profound social and economic rupture. 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
Industrial and infrastructural expansion along coastal zones — from port development under the Sagarmala programme to energy projects and commercial aquaculture — have compounded ecological degradation. Mangrove forests, sand dunes and wetlands that historically buffered coastal communities have been systematically cleared.
Environmental clearances for many projects have overlooked cumulative climate risks, leading to a development model that intensifies ecological and social vulnerabilities. The displaced populations are increasingly getting absorbed into the informal economy as construction workers, brick kiln labourers and domestic workers in urban centres such as Bhubaneswar, Chennai, Hyderabad and Mumbai.
These migration patterns often result in systemic labour exploitation, which include debt bondage (displaced families take wage advances to survive, tying them into exploitative labour conditions); lack of legal protections (informal workers have little or no access to rights under India's labour laws, such as the Building and Other Construction Workers' (Regulation of Employment and Conditions of Service) Act, 1996) and gendered exploitation (displaced women entering domestic work face heightened risks of abuse, underpayment, and trafficking).
Legal lacunae on climate displacement
The absence of a coherent legal framework on climate-induced migration exacerbates this crisis. While Article 21 of the Constitution guarantees the right to life and dignity, there is no specific legislation that addresses the rights of those displaced by slow-onset climate disasters. Existing frameworks such as the Disaster Management Act, 2005, the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986, and the Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) Notifications, including the diluted CRZ 2019, are limited either to disaster response or environmental conservation, without adequately factoring in the socio-economic dimensions of displacement.
The National Action Plan on Climate Change (NAPCC) and State Action Plans recognise vulnerability, but lack targeted strategies for the rehabilitation of displaced populations or integration into labour markets.
The CRZ Notification, 2019, intended to streamline clearances and promote sustainable coastal management, has often been critiqued for prioritising tourism and industrial development over the rights of coastal communities. Across States, the dilution of zoning regulations has led to a surge in commercial projects in fragile coastal belts, displacing traditional fishing communities without their informed consent — a principle enshrined in national law and international environmental standards. Even India's landmark Labour Codes are silent on extending specific protections to climate migrants.
Environmental justice jurisprudence from the Supreme Court of India — in M.C. Mehta vs Union of India (1987) and Indian Council for Enviro-Legal Action vs Union of India (1996) — has recognised the intrinsic link between the environment and fundamental human rights. Yet, the translation of these principles into robust, community-centric legal frameworks on climate displacement remains lacking.
The story of displacement is also the story of resilience. Coastal communities, particularly fisherfolk unions and indigenous groups, have resisted ecologically destructive projects with remarkable tenacity. The protests against the Adani ports expansion at Ennore Creek, Tamil Nadu, the Pattuvam Mangrove Protection Movement in Kerala, and the Save Satabhaya campaign in Odisha underscore how grass-roots mobilisations have challenged mainstream development narratives.
However, environmental defenders face intimidation, surveillance and criminalisation which are antithetical to India's constitutional commitment to protect the rights to protest and association. New challenges also emerge as climate change is weaponised to justify 'managed retreat' without participatory planning or safeguards for the displaced.
Towards a rights-based framework
Recognition of climate migrants within national migration and urban planning policies is essential. There is a need for a rights-based approach that guarantees decent work, housing, education and health care. Labour codes must be revised to explicitly extend protections to climate migrants, especially in sectors such as construction and domestic work where informality is rampant. Similarly, coastal zone management must be revisited to prioritise ecological sustainability and community rights over commercial interests. India's commitment to achieving Sustainable Development Goal Target 8.7 — eliminating forced labour and ensuring decent work for all — is contingent upon addressing the new vulnerabilities created by climate displacement.
If climate change is the defining challenge of our era, responding to climate-induced displacement must be at the core of India's adaptation strategy. Protecting the rights, dignity, and livelihoods of those most impacted is not just an environmental necessity. It is a test of India's democratic and constitutional values.
Bhoomika Choudhury is an international lawyer and researcher specialising in business and human rights, corporate accountability, and labour rights