Perception of Climate Change, Extreme Climatic Events and Impact on the Livelihood of Farmers of Sundarbans of West Bengal, India

Climate change is taking place in a faster way during last two decades. Sundarbans deltaic region is worst affected by the issues related to climate change and extreme climatic events. Erratic weather behaviour, rising temperature of the earth's surface, frequent occurrence of extreme climatic events, loss and depletion of natural resources like, land, water, flora and fauna cumulatively posing serious threat to the overall livelihood of the people of this area. Agriculture being the primary occupation of the people of the Sundarbans deltaic region is worst affected resulting in food scarcity, poverty and instability in the production system. There are many efforts taken by government and non-government organisations to mitigate the threat of climatic hazards to Sundarbans and its people but that is not sufficient. There is a need for a holistic approach encompassing the perception, awareness and knowledge of local people regarding climate change and extreme climatic events towards development, testing, standardisation and promotion of location and resource-specific appropriate agro-t echnologies. In this article, an effort has been made to elucidate the perception of the farming community of two blocks (Mathurapur II and Kultali) of South 24 Pargana district of West Bengal regarding climate change, extreme climatic events and the impact of those on their occupation and livelihood. Districts and blocks were selected purposively based on the IMD data for the period of 2000-2020 regarding the occurrence of maximum numbers of extreme climatic events that have taken place. A semi-structured interview schedule was employed among selected 150 respondents for capturing field data and was analysed with suitable statistical tools. Different constructs and statements were selected on the basis of reviews of previous literature and Judges' Rating. The results show that there is a significant differential perception of respondents regarding climate change, extreme climatic events and the impact thereof on their livelihood.