Climate Change and its Challenges to Heritage: Lessons from Majuli, India

Majuli, Assam is the largest inhabited river island in the world. Home to over 160,000 people living in 243 villages, the island is a living testimony to both the impact of ecosystem and landscape change on communities and their incredible ability to adapt their existence to changing landscape dynamics. Situated in the Brahmaputra River, the island is seasonally flooded during monsoon season when erosional and depositional processes alter the rivers course and banks. It is thought that increasing meltwater caused by global warming has resulted in more severe flooding during the last century. Some reports suggest that as much as 60% of the island has been lost over the last 100 years. This rapid change threatens Majuli’s rich cultural heritage. The island is home to a unique and continuous 16th century Neo-Vaishnavite religious and cultural traditional tradition based in over 30 Satras (religious monastic institutions) situated across the island. It is also home to a wealth of intangible cultural heritage associated with tribal communities often resident in critical areas along the banks of the river. Cultural heritage coupled with a rich natural heritage led to the island’s placement on the Indian Tentative World Heritage List in 2004. A recently started interdisciplinary project is exploring how local communities in Majuli have adapted to (and continue to adapt to) rapid landscape change and how these adaptations might be applied elsewhere to respond to climate change. It will also explore how cultural heritage (both tangible and intangible) can be preserved as the pace of landscape change increases. Preliminary results from this project will be presented in this paper, as will a framework for future study on the impact of, and adaptation to, climate change.