Seawater Intrusion: Land Degradation and Food Insecurity Among Coastal Communities of Sindh, Pakistan

Abstract

Seawater intrusion is an evergreen problem of the coastal areas. It has immense potential to degrade natural resources that may further lead to disturbed livelihood and lifestyle of the people. District Badin is also recognized as one of the coastal districts of Sindh that attracted the researchers towards the locally ignored issue. Keeping in mind the research objectives, the study was aimed to overview infrastructural damages; socioeconomic profile of local population and challenges faced by food insecurity caused by seawater intrusion in district Badin, Sindh province of Pakistan. In this regard, the required information was gathered on primary basis from 400 local residents on semi-structured questionnaires. The findings revealed that the majority of the respondents were illiterate and habituated in wood made houses (Jhopra) with six children averagely, which portrays a typical poor rural life in the studied areas of the selected district. As far as economic activities of the respondents is concerned, the majority of the local people were engaged in the crop cultivation followed by fishing, livestock keeping and wage labourers, etc. Furthermore, the respondents were facing issues regarding cyclones, seawater intrusion, unavailability of basic amenities in their surroundings, like hospitals, electricity, roads, schools, etc. The previous literature evident that the reduction in downstream flow had also differential impacts on the various segments of coastal society, like the agricultural lands have adversely been affected due to the accelerated seawater intrusion that has not only turned cultivated lands into barren, but severely impinged on food grain crops in the region. These changes in the coastal zone had forced the farmers to switch to livestock herding and fishing as an alternative source of employment and income, despite the fact, there is no satisfactory or alternative measures have been taken by the government. Therefore, through this study it is recommended that there is need to mobilize the proximities (geographical and organized) to ensure sustainability in the lives of coastal communities.