Kosi, Bihar

It is thus clear that the impact of climate change can be seen clearly in Bihar in the last two decades. Although it has had an impact on the whole society it has more severely impacted the lives of the vulnerable societies as the Rajbanshi community because they live on the banks of the river. In the above-mentioned report, the hazardous impact of climate change and floods on the Rajbanshi society has been presented under four major themes: climate change vulnerability, understanding of climate change, displacement, and existing framework and governance to tackle climate change.

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It is explained in detail under the Agriculture and Livelihood section, that the people of Rajbanshi society, which comprise of very small and marginal farmers, are continuously affected by the increasing intensity, frequency and horizontal area of floods every year due to climate change and are deeply frustrated by the loss of crops. Further, every year, they face migration in large numbers due to floods and river erosion. After being displaced from their native village, they face many problems while living on the embankment, railway lines and other places. Therefore, the Rajbanshi society, which has lost both its agriculture and home to floods, wanders about like a ‘Flood Refuge’. Furthermore, the male member(s) of each family have to migrate to other states and big cities to earn some money so as to stay alive.