Climate Change: A Case Study of Orissa

The state’s fluctuating weather conditions suggest that it is reeling under climatic chaos. For more than a decade now, the state has been experiencing contrasting extreme weather conditions: from heat waves to cyclones: from droughts to floods. In the last four years, calamities have claimed more than 30,000 lives, which have not only becoming more frequent, but have hit areas that were never considered vulnerable.

The entire state has been experiencing an unprecedented rise in temperatures and for a region, which is otherwise known for its moderate temperature, this is a very alarming trend. The Titilagarh and Koraput best comprising of entire South and Western Orissa has witnessed an exception rise in daily maximum and minimum temperatures, about 1-2 degree Celsius above the normal temperatures, the area is known for and what is more alarming is that coastal areas which were known for its moderate temperature now see a mean maximum temperature of well above 40 °C (which was earlier unknown).

Orissa has been experiencing bouts of heat waves over the last 5 plus years, with the worst heat wave being in 1998 which killed around 1500 people mostly in coastal Orissa.

Orissa has also been experiencing severe drought, with the worst drought being recorded in the year 2001. It affected the lives of over 11 million people in more than two-thirds of the states districts, engulfing earlier drought free districts like Sundergarh and Kendrapada.

Ironically, the state has also been experiencing floods along with drought and floods have virtually become an annual feature in the state with the monsoon of 2001 leading to the worst ever flood recorded in Orissa in the past century. 25 of the 30 districts were inundated affecting one-thirds of the state’s 30 million residents. Some districts in Western Orissa, which had no history of floods, hitherto were completely submerged.

The frequency of cyclones has increased in the Orissa coast. In 1999, two cyclones hit the state in quick succession. The second one lasted three days and ravaged 14 coastal districts. Around 15 million people were affected, two million tones of rice crop was completely lost and around 17,000 square kilometers of agricultural land was devastated.

A large-scale destruction of forests was also reported, with about 200,000 trees being uprooted in an area of 25,000 hectares of reserved forest. In the districts of Jagatsinghpur and Kendrapada, the forest cover was reduced by 50%.

There has been a major change in the cropping/flowering patterns. Mango and Mahua trees have been reported to flower unusually early. Normally Mango trees in Orissa generally begin to flower in November while Mahua tress flower from February. From 2000, the trend has been changing, with Mango trees flowering in September and Mahua in December. Early flowering normally leads to low yield and this is what Orissa has been experiencing from 2000.

The `Annual Survey of Indian Agriculture’, published by The Hindu, has reported that an average of 900,000 hectares of agricultural lands lose crop every year in the state. It has also reported that the agriculture’s share in the net state domestic product has decreased from 33% in 1998-99 to 30% in 2000-01 and from 30% in 2000-01 to 27% in 2001-02 and to 26% in 2002-03.

The annual survey has also reported that around 100,000 hectares of fertile agriculture lands in the coastal areas are inundated every year and also suffer from high levels of salinisation. This has affected the rice production in the state, used to record five million tonnes of rice production every year, produces around 4.5 million tonnes from 2000.

There has also been a number of reports of depletion of mangroves dotting the coast line. This has resulted in coastal erosion since mangroves act as a natural protection of coast lines and thus has exacerbated flood risk.