People who continue to live in Munroe Thuruthu, a tourist destination that is fast going to seed, are looking at an uncertain future.
An abndoned country boat in Munroe Island. Photo: Jithesh Damodar
Located a little away from the hustle and bustle of Kollam city, Munroe Island — a group of inland islands locally known as Munroe Thuruthu — is a sought-after cruise destination in Kerala.
Hundreds of tourists from across the country descend here daily to experience the joy of travelling in wooden country boats through tranquil canals flanked by mangrove patches and coconut palm-lined lagoons.
The greenish waterways, home to many local and migratory birds, are a visual treat for visitors to the destination, which comprises eight tiny islets.
Only very few among the visitors know the beauty and tranquillity of the islands are ephemeral.
The cluster of islets is slowly going underwater, and those who occupied it over generations are now turning into climate refugees — people forced to move out of their fast-submerging or already submerged localities.
Those who continue to live in Munroe Thuruthu don’t know what the future holds for them. During high-tide days, their houses are inundated, and unlike in the past, the water refuses to recede for many months.
Tourists moving around in the premises of Munroe Island. Photo: Jithesh Damodar
At least 800 families have already left their submerged properties in the scenic tourism spot, which is located at the confluence of Ashtamudi lake and Kallada river.
They have become the first climate refugees in Kerala, and the situation has become more difficult for them since the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami.
Agencies like the National Centre for Earth Science Studies (NCESS), which studied the situation at Munroe Thuruthu, believe that the climate change-related challenges were accelerated by anthropogenic interventions — or human-caused changes — in the case of all the islets.
According to Devika Jithin, who owns a small homestay in Munroe Thuruthu, the islanders are now facing many climate-related survival challenges, including steady land subsidence, tidal flooding, and lower agricultural productivity.
Facilities meant for tourism are also getting inundated by the surging sea waters, which arrive through the Ashtamudi lake from the Arabian Sea.
The NCESS pointed out in its latest report that anthropogenic activities have considerably affected the isostatic conditions and land neutrality of the islets, causing drastic environmental degradation.
The agency demanded suitable strategies to protect the highly vulnerable estuarine ecosystem of the islets, and proposed reverse landscaping as an innovative method to retrieve the landscape’s original geomorphic state.
The study found that almost 39 percent of the land area of the Munroe Thuruthu had already been inundated.
Across the region, the skeletons of numerous abandoned houses can be seen submerged in water.
According to local resident S Janardhanan, saline water enters his house daily as an unwelcome guest and fills the rooms with filth. “Our houses are sinking, and the authorities lack any concern,” he told South First.
Tourists moving around in the premises of Munroe Island. Photo: Jithesh Damodar
According to the district administration, the population of the islets has dwindled to around 8,000 from 12,000-13,000 about a decade ago. The Thuruthu has an area of 13.4 sq km.
According to residents, high tides are followed by seepage of saline water into houses, creating waterlogging and connectivity issues. Houses are accumulating dirt and stench during the rainy days. Even pathways are submerged, forcing people to wade through the water.
The saline water seeps into houses at regular intervals due to high tides, causing the destruction of the concrete structure of the houses and turning the premises into pools of brown filth.
Once heralded as a picturesque coconut lagoon, the islets are losing their coconut trees because of the high salinity in the water and the continuing waterlogging. The saline water decays the roots of coconut trees and turns them into lifeless husks.
It is almost a decade since the local farmers abandoned rice cultivation. They say the saline water incursion into the rice fields is their biggest threat.
While some expert studies attribute the unusually high tides to global warming and climate change, others attribute the situation to post-tsunami tectonic shifts.
Experts also point to the construction of the Kallada dam about three decades ago in the vicinity of the islets as one of the contributing factors. They also find fault with the vibrations caused by trains passing through the island. Kerala’s main rail route passes through the islands.
Munroe Thuruthu. Photo: Jithesh Damodar
Residents said there have been incidents of people dying because they could not be taken to the hospital on time due to the lack of transportation facilities.
They pointed out that country boats remain the only mode of transport in many parts of the islets to ferry patients to hospitals and children to school.
Experts also cite sea level rise due to global warming as a potential catalyst for the unusually high tide and the consequent submergence of land in the islets.
As per studies, the sea level increase in the Indian Ocean is higher than the global average, and in some coastal areas, the rise is as much as 2.5 mm per year.
Kerala Finance Minister KN Balagopal, who has made repeated interventions in the past on behalf of the suffering islanders, said it would be difficult to find lasting solutions for the issues of Munroe Thuruth alone as it was part of the worldwide phenomenon of global warming and climate change.
Before the construction of the Kallada Dam, sediments used to be deposited in huge quantities on the island during floods, but this has decreased in recent years. That, too, has been cited as a reason for the present crisis.
According to social activist TK Vinodan, interventions must equip the local community to adapt to the changing circumstances and find sustainable solutions to overcome the issues they are now facing.
It must be the duty of authorities and government to support the natives to revive their livelihood means with available potential resources, he told South First.
As the island still attracts many tourists, sustainable and region-friendly means to conduct tourism can be developed to ensure a steady income for the islanders.
The possibility of “amphibian houses” and lightweight constructions using thin building articles can also be explored to solve the submerging phenomenon, as traditional houses have been largely seen going underwater for the last three years.
The history of Munroe Thuruthu can be traced to the 1790s when the British established their supremacy in South India, and started controlling affairs of the erstwhile princely state of Travancore.
The Madras Presidency of the British Raj appointed a British resident for the princely state. The first resident was Colonel Collin Macaulay, followed by Colonel John Munro.
During Munro’s time, a senior priest of the Malankara Church, Pulikottil Joseph Kathanar, expressed his desire to establish a seminary to train priests and a place to settle a set of newly-converted Dalit Christians.
The islets gifted by Munro to the church are today known as Munroe Thuruthu. The area remained unoccupied by humans until then. Dalit Christians constitute the majority of residents here.
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