Rural Communities and Climate Change: A Study of Fishing Communities in Chilika, India

It is being increasingly recognized that climate change is the most pressing environmental issue of this century with unprecedented social and economic impact on the poor. This is especially so in the case of rural communities who are already economically disadvantaged and are often dependent directly on the natural environment for their livelihood. In this paper I explore the challenges of climate change faced by one such vulnerable group, the small-scale fishing communities in the ecologically fragile Chilika coastal lagoon of Odisha province, India. Unlike other a-historical studies that focus on local experiences of climate change, this paper offers a historical analysis of climate change experienced by the fishing community. Methodologically, the paper combines analysis of unpublished archival material and published sources with oral histories.