Perceptions and Adaptations of the Coastal Community to the Challenges of Climate Change
Authors: Roy Anil Kumar , Sharma Shweta 
Published: August 2015

This study is an attempt to assess the vulnerability of the coastal community in the coastal city region of Jamnagar in the Gulf of Kutch, India. It assesses the exposure, sensitivity and adaptive capacity to climate variability and captures perceptions about the challenges faced due to climate change. Climate change variables have been analyzed using a relatively longer period time, that is, for 50 years (1955–2004) of rainfall and the number of rainy days in a year. The trends of rainy days per year have also been calculated for the same period of time in order to understand the linkages of rainfall on the economic activities particularly in agriculture and fishing in the city region. The mean annual temperature has been taken to observe the trend in rising temperatures during a span of 40 years (1969 and 2009). The vulnerabilities that the city is subjected to has been assessed with the help of secondary information on climate variables, socio-economic status of the city and stakeholder’s consultation about the possible challenges. The community perceptions about the possible impacts of these climate variables and the related challenges have been captured through a survey of two selected villages—Sachana and Gagva—in the city region. A total of 200 households have been surveyed (100 households from each village) from the agriculture and fishing communities to assess their vulnerability to climate change.

 The analysis of climate variables reveals an increasing trend in the annual mean temperature observed for period over 40 years during 1969 and 2009 in the Jamnagar city region (JCR). The average yearly rainfall does not conform to the declining trends; however, there has been a declining trend in the number of rainy days per year during 50 years time period between 1955 and 2004. This has resulted in the higher occurrence of extreme climate events such as droughts and floods in the region resulting in loss of life and property. Prime stakeholder consultation in Jamnagar city provided various challenges of climate change such as scarcity of drinking water supply at source, salinity ingress from the ocean, frequent flooding in the low-lying areas particularly in slums and incidence of natural and manmade hazards. Stakeholders have these local priorities to tackle as far as urban planning is concerned, while national- and state-level climate change priorities are larger with emphasis on the reduction of greenhouse gases (GHGs) and preparation of new energy policy.

 Climate change vulnerability in terms of exposure, sensitivity and adaptive capacity of the coastal community, particularly those engaged in agricultural and fishing activities, have been assessed. The assessment has revealed that they are highly exposed to the climate change impacts and are more sensitive towards extreme climate change events such as droughts, floods, cyclones and salinity ingress. They have poor awareness of climate change impacts; however, they have reported a change in their crop calendar due to the shifting nature of the cropping season. This has resulted in reducing the desired yields of major crops they grow. The fishing communities have reported decreasing tends in their fish catch throughout the year as compared to the quantity of fish hauled a decade ago. The comparative vulnerability assessment of these two community shows that the fishing community is more vulnerable compared to agriculture community due to lack of awareness, absence of social networks, low technology use and lower socio-economic status.