Walk the Talk: A look at the climate challenges facing coastal villages in Vizag

Oceans help in slowing down climate change, they meet 15% of the global population's protein needs, and they provide livelihoods to millions of people. But the health of the world's oceans, the marine life they support and the fisherfolk who depend on them for employment are under severe threat due to unchecked human activity and a warming climate.

Women in Mangamaripeta village discuss the health impacts of rising salinity in their water / Credit: Monika Gulati

Earning a living from the sea can exact a physical and emotional toll, but increasingly fisherfolk also have to prepare for climate-related disasters that can destroy infrastructure and trigger displacement, food crises and water insecurity.

Are those who earn a living from the sea aware of what it will take to curb climate change or adapt to the changes that are coming? In this story, All India radio reporter Monika Gulati explores how marine habitats are being damaged. She also looks at how the health of women in the Bay of Bengal region is being affected by rising salinity in soil and water systems, erosion and other challenges associated with rising sea levels.

 

The Coastal Lives is a podcast in the format of “Walk the Talk” and incorporates recordings done during a field trip supported by Internews' Earth Journalism Network to the coastal villages of Bheemli and Marimangapeta in Andhra Pradesh, India.