Over the past few years, the province of Sindh has been grappling with the severe impacts of climate change, including water scarcity, unpredictable rainfall, changes in agricultural dynamics, and coastal erosion due to sea intrusion. Owing to the increasing impact of climate change, the coastal region of Sindh, which includes the districts of Thatta, Sujawal, Badin, and Ibrahim Hyderi, has been at the receiving end, bearing the brunt of this phenomenon. Allah Bachayo Themore, a farmer from the remote village of Qasim Themore in Taluka Jati, recalls the good old days when the coastline of Sindh, including Sujawal, was fertile and farmers earned well by harvesting crops such as red sugarcane, turmeric, red rice, onions, cotton, chilies, and paddy.
He said, “Around two decades ago, the coastline was like a hen laying golden eggs for farmers and fishermen. But as time went by, things started aggravating for us, mainly due to the environmental crisis causing the advancement of seawater.” He further said that the fate of the coastal population has been hanging between floods and droughts for the past many years, as natural disasters have become a matter of routine for them. Another villager, Wali Muhammad, belonging to the ill-fated locality, said that before the start of the 21st century, people had never imagined such devastation, but by the end of the 20th century, the signs of environmental degradation had started emerging, which further worsened as time went by.
The coastal region was badly affected by the cyclone of 1999, heavy rains of 2003, and flash floods of 2010, 2015, and 2022. Besides that, the scarcity of irrigation as well as potable water has been a constant quandary. The agricultural sector which was once the mainstay of the coastline is now on the back foot, mainly due to surging temperatures, an inconsistent and inadequate supply of water, and hypersalinity.
Javed Ahmed Merbahar, a local grower belonging to the Kalka Chani area of Taluka Jati, District Sujawal, claimed that bumper crops of the locality, including canola, sunflower, sugarcane, and paddy, have been giving low yields for the past many years, affecting the overall economy of the area. He further mentioned that hundreds of acres of agricultural land in the coastal region of the province had turned barren and fallow due to several reasons, prominent among which are the dearth of wat…
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