Floating farms are transforming life on India’s waterways

 [The Sundarban region of southern India and Bangladesh] is a place where people have spent generations living alongside water and the rhythm of the seasons. But the Sundarbans are now feeling the force of climate change as it faces regular extreme weather events and the devastating impacts of cyclones. The waters here are rising by an average of over 3 cm a year and storms have increased by 47% in the past decade.

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Conventional farming methods in the region are chemically intensive, harm nature and remain at the mercy of rising sea levels. One innovative project is instead seeking to work with the water, lifting farms onto floating platforms which support sustainability and restore community life.

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The farms are also more resilient to the extreme weather which is now hitting India and Bangladesh.

In the past two years the Sundarbans have experienced two ‘super-cyclones’, called Yaas and Amphan, which caused billions of dollars of damage. Despite this, the floating farms, due to having climate resilience built into their design, saw only an estimated 10% loss.

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It is clear this is vital in many parts of the world where climate disasters are becoming the norm, and where relying on the land and seasonal patterns is no longer possible.