An island in India is disappearing, but some of the last residents say they can't afford to move away
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Ghoramara Island, located in eastern India, is gradually disappearing due to rising sea levels. The island is only about 1.8 square miles in size - half of it was 20 years ago. Most residents have left, but some say they can't afford to resettle.
The #Sundarbans, the world's largest mangrove forest, stretches across the border between India and Bangladesh in the Bay of Bengal. It is home to endangered tigers, dolphins, and 300 species of birds.
But this biodiversity, along with thousands of people living on islands in nearby river deltas, are in danger due to rising sea levels caused by climate change.
India's Ghoramara Island is currently disappearing. Once home to 40,000 people, Ghoramara's population has decreased to roughly 4,000 today. It's now only 1.8 square miles in size - half the area it had 20 years ago.
Here's what life on Ghoramara looks like. The #SundarbansReserveForest is the world's largest contiguous group of mangroves.
The British began cutting timber in the Sundarbans about 150 years ago, and the area's mangrove population has been shrinking ever since.
Even if the world limits global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius, which is very unlikely, seas will rise between 10 inches and 2.5 feet (0.26-0.77 meters) by the end of the century, according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
Though natural forces contribute to the islands' changing shapes and sizes, scientists say human-caused climate change is worsening these effects. On Ghoramara Island, high tides are swallowing land from all sides, forcing residents to move inland and rebuild their homes.
Frequent floods on Ghoramara Island damage betel leaf crops, which many residents rely on for food.
The high tides can also make it impossible for government ferries to reach the island with supplies. In June 2016, Ghoramara remained water-locked for an entire week, according to Firstpost.
Rice is the main crop in the #Sundarbans, but rice paddies are getting flooded by saltwater more frequently. After a flood destroys a paddy, it may take three to five years before rice can be replanted in the same spot.
Climate change could displace between 150 and 300 million people by 2050, according to a 2011 study cited by The Conversation.
But as of now, people leaving their homes for environmental reasons generally can't seek asylum.
An island in India is disappearing, but some of the last residents say they can't afford to move away
businessinsider.in/an-island-in-i…
businessinsider.in/an-island-in-i…
