Stemming the Tide

An automatic tidal gauge being installed in Kumbalangi, Kerala, as part of the Alumni Engagement Innovation Fund project. (Photograph courtesy EQUINOCT)

“Global climate change creates problems of many kinds in Kerala’s coastal areas,” says Manjula Bharathy, professor and dean at the School of Habitat Studies, Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) in Mumbai. “One of the least noticed but most severe issues is tidal flooding.”

The Kerala coast’s seasonal high tide, which used to occur for only two months every year, “has increased in frequency, volume and number of days,” says Bharathy. The high-tide flood period can now extend for over half a year, devastating large areas up to 30 kilometers from the coast and destroying the lives of millions. “Acknowledging and acting holistically on these environmental changes is an important preventive measure in the age of climate change,” she says.

Bharathy, a Fulbright-Nehru fellow, was one of the experts enlisted to lead the project entitled, “Co-creating community resilience to climate change-aggravated high-tide flooding in coastal Kerala.” The project was supported by the U.S. Consulate General Chennai’s Alumni Engagement Innovation Fund (AEIF), run through the M.S. Swaminathan Research Foundation, and led by C. Jayaraman, a Fulbright-Kalam fellow and co-founder of the community-based environmental research firm EQUINOCT. AEIF projects, led by alumni of U.S. government exchange programs, have increased the collaboration of alumni and benefited communities around the world.

Knowledge and action were two of the most important goals for this innovative collaboration, created specifically to help Kerala’s residents and environment. Jayaraman says that the team worked together to spread awareness about coastal flooding and empower residents to know their rights and take action to help. The team also included Hubert Humphrey fellow K.P. Mohammed Basheer, along with EQUINOCT’s C.G. Madhusoodhanan, K.G. Sreeja and M.P. Shajan. Together, they created a remarkable number of initiatives to empower endangered communities.

Tidal flooding in Puthenvelikkara. (Photograph courtesy EQUINOCT)

Outreach through the arts

One of the team’s most impressive efforts was the creation of a three-minute documentary called “From the Brink,” which was screened at the 2023 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP28) in Dubai. The video, which is now publicly available on YouTube, shows vivid footage of the damage caused by the flooding, and tells both heartbreaking and inspiring stories of affected villagers. The documentary also highlights the importance of data collection and flood-friendly agriculture in fighting the negative effects of climate change.

A second fascinating manifestation of the project was “Chevittorma,” a staged play directed by Sreejith Ramanan, dean of the School of Drama and Fine Arts in Thrissur, Kerala. Ramanan wrote the script in partnership with residents of Puthenvelikkara, a village affected by tidal floods. The story shares their memories and experiences dealing with environmental disasters. “Chevittorma” was performed multiple times, including one showing at TISS that received thunderous applause, says Bharathy. Later, the play was selected for the National Drama Festival in New Delhi. Bharathy describes the Delhi performance as a “personal moment of pride, an idea conceived by me, transcending the boundaries that I dreamt of.”

“Chevittorma,” co-created by the tidal flood-affected people of Puthenvelikkara, was staged in New Delhi as a part of the Bharat Rang Mahotsav 2024. (Photograph courtesy EQUINOCT)

Community advocacy

Beyond such creative endeavors, much of the team’s work involved organizing local communities, building their knowledge and skills, and giving them resources to help them thrive and stay safe. Local women were trained to collect detailed data during the area’s high-tide floods, so researchers could have an accurate map of the damage being done by floods. Women community members were also trained by filmmakers to make short videos documenting how their lives are affected by climate change. Local residents were trained to create their own works of community theater to preserve local history, and change public awareness of the damage caused by the increasing floods.

On a more administrative level, Jayaraman highlights the team’s effective presentation of its findings and ideas in district planning meetings of local governments. As a result of these efforts, he says, funds were set aside to help vulnerable villages deal with flooding, and resolutions were passed “demanding that tidal floods be declared a disaster, and that they be made eligible for state disaster mitigation fund allocations.”

Jayaraman calls the project “a great success” overall, and specifically mentions how it successfully captured the attention of local, state and national governments alike, alerting them to the “totally neglected disaster of tidal flooding.”

The way ahead

“I am excited about these outcomes along with the local women and community,” says Bharathy. “We have made a women’s network—WICAN-Women in Climate Action Network—and will be continuing the discussions and engagements on climate change with these community groups formed from the project intervention.”

Efforts to help victims of flooding in Kerala didn’t end when the project concluded, and young people in India can assist by joining the discussion on climate change, says Bharathy, while keeping a focus on community and gender.

Jayaraman says that a technical approach is vital as well. “Global studies show that India and China will be the most impacted globally due to rising sea levels,” he says, “and it is high time that young people come up with innovative and novel ideas to develop early warning systems, measurement and monitoring mechanisms, and adaptive mechanisms.” He says that the potential for life-saving innovations is huge.

Michael Gallant is a New York City-based writer, musician and entrepreneur.

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