Evaluating rural poverty and livelihood diversification in the context of climate-induced extreme events in coastal area: Insights from Indian Sundarban

Abstract

Agriculture has traditionally been the backbone of the Indian economy, accounting for a large portion of our country’s gross domestic product. Climate change scenarios, rising sea surface temperatures, and other environmental concerns have had a significant impact on agricultural production, making this situation more vulnerable and forcing rural communities to seek alternative forms of income. To better grasp the genuine status of livelihood diversification, researchers looked at some of the most vulnerable cyclone-affected villages in the Indian Sundarban’s southwest coastal districts. For this exploratory work based on geomorphological units, 850 households from fifteen different places were surveyed. However, 15 FGDs were performed to get specific information from the community. Using Alkire and Foster technique with Simpson Index, this study seeks to estimate multidimensional poverty index for village households in coastal blocks of West Bengal. The multiple linear regression model (MLRM) subtraction of predictor variables using the T-test uses stepwise regression. Results reveal livelihood diversification as way-out to poverty due to climatic extreme events. Coastal and riverine villages decomposed of roughly 80% of deprivation with 48% intense poverty. Livelihoods in island, coastal and riverine locations heavily transformed during last 10-12 years. In MLRM model food security alone explains (81.7%) the regional livelihood diversification. The majority of rural communities primarily from island, coastal, and riverine areas, have diversified their livelihoods from agriculture and fishing. Multiple factors, both positive and negative, lead to the reduction of livelihood diversification. Extreme occurrences have a substantial impact on livelihood diversification, as do the number of migrants, household assets, education of the head of family, dependence ratio, and amount of savings. In order to address such problems, households in most villages aim to diversify their income opportunities from nature-based (farm-related) to non-formal (non-farm) activities, as shown by the findings of this assessment.