In this last and final episode of our 6-part series on climate change and the meaning of resilience, we delve into Kerala’s constant efforts to support social progress in parallel to its development journey. We look at the assets Kerala chose to develop preemptively, in anticipation of the next disaster: a strong and agile grassroot army of volunteers, robust women self-help avenues, detailed disaster risk management even at the local level, and most importantly pulling together lessons...

Kerala’s economy relies heavily on things that are native and unique to the State - its natural resources, traditions, and heritage. It chose to skip the wave of industrialization, instead developing these other indigenous economies - the best known of which is tourism. Through some very clever marketing this tiny State has made itself a global destination. But even ‘God’s Own Country’ isn’t immune to the recent and successive natural disasters. Traditional sectors like handloom, fishing, and...

Over the last few years Kerala has been experiencing crop failures and productivity loss, exacerbated by the recent floods and landslides that severely damaged the agricultural sector. Climate change is affecting agrarian micro-climates, impacting predictability, yield, and increasing crop diseases. Something needs to change. But how do you overhaul one of the largest and oldest departments in the State, restructuring its entire operation to support resilience? It is a big, bold...

Following the theme laid out in episode 1 and 2 on prioritizing environmental consciousness, in this episode we look into how Kerala’s new resilience building activities are integrating this priority into its two most important resources, rivers and remittances. The rapid and recent urbanization of Kerala has put stresses on the consumption of both resources. The flow of remittances into the State brought with it a construction boom. This in turn changed land use to accommodate new personal...

The Great Flood of 1924 is often considered a landmark moment in Kerala’s history, such that people who experienced it anchor their memories in relation to this event. Smaller floods occurred in 61, 84, 94. Then 2018 brought with it a once-in-a-century flood, with three times more rain than the Great Flood. With the rains came destruction - loss of property, culture, livelihoods, and life. Kerala’s identity seems to have been irrevocably changed by these 2018 floods. The romance about the...

Over the past 5 years, the annual monsoons in Kerala have been changing dramatically. Climate change has brought with it rainfall deficits, severe heat waves, rare cyclone events, droughts, and more all of which have impacted the lives and livelihoods in the state. Then came the devastating floods of 2018. The worst floods seen in nearly a century washed away precious lives, property, resources and cultural memories. However, the floods also brought with it an incredible surge of humanity, as...

The Kaalavastha podcast series aims to capture some of the stories behind how Kerala is building a more resilient future for itself. Through a series of 6 episodes, we dive deep into God’s Own Country, following multiple protagonists on this journey, and getting a behind-the-scenes perspective from the communities, government, scientists, diaspora, World Bank staff, and even the cultural voice of Kerala itself!