Is climate change the prime trigger for Wayanad landslides?

Climate change has been identified as a vital trigger for the devastating Wayanad landslides in Kerala early on July 30, which left over 150 people dead and hundreds missing.

Scientists say, the landslides could be attributed to excessive mining and loss of forest cover in the region and the impact of climate change.

Wayanad ranked 13th among the most landslide-prone districts in India. Out of the 30 most landslide-prone districts, ten were in Kerala, according to the landslide atlas released by the Indian Space Research Organisation's (ISRO) National Remote Sensing Centre in 2023.

Loss of green cover

Kerala landslides occurred mainly in plantation areas, according to a 2021 study. Per the study, 56 per cent of landslides took place in plantation areas. According to a 2022 study, 62 per cent of forest cover disappeared in regions that are in Wayanad district now, between 1950 and 2018. Until the 1950s, 85 per cent of the total area of Wayanad was under forest cover, according to International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health.

Climate change

Director of the Advanced Centre for Atmospheric Radar Research at Cochin University of Science and Technology (CUSAT), S Abhilash, noted that the warming of the Arabian Sea could be one of the causes of the extremely heavy and unpredictable rain patterns in the state.

“Our research found that the southeast Arabian Sea is becoming warmer, causing the atmosphere above this region, including Kerala, to become thermodynamically unstable,” news agency PTI quoted S Abhilash as saying.
The trend of deep cloud systems has been observed since the 2019 Kerala floods, Abhilash said. The cloud systems formed due to the warming of the Arabian Sea cause extremely heavy spells of rain in shorter periods of time. This increases the risk of landslides.

Environmental neglect and mining

Wayanad hill ranges should be declared ecologically sensitive, according to the ‘Western Ghats Ecology Expert Panel’ set up by the government under ecologist Madhav Gadgil. The panel noted that the most vulnerable and sensitive sections needed to be monitored and protected from rampant commercial activity.
The panel recommended banning of mining, quarrying, new thermal power plants, hydropower projects, and large-scale wind energy projects in the area considered an ecologically sensitive zone 1.
                                                                           (By arrangement with livemint.com)