Postcards of woes from a sinking island of Kerala

Two fused bulbs, copies of old Malayalam newspapers and a couple of bottles of soft drinks. The glass cupboard inside Vijayan’s tea shop in Munroe Island doesn’t have hot snacks. You don’t see a boiling samovar here as you see it in many traditional tea shops in Kerala. Two stems of bananas, one hanging from the ceiling and the other kept in the corner of the shop, and a dozen packaged drinking water bottles are the only items available for sale. If you want tea, Vijayan will make one for you. But it takes time. The tea shop is a symbol of the degradation that Munroe Island is undergoing.

Munroe Island (Mundrothuruth) is a group of eight brackish islands and some islets located at the confluence of the Kallada river and Ashtamudi lake of Kerala along the south-west coast of India. Located 24 km from Kollam, the Island is a famous picnic and tourist spot today, thanks to the scenic and picturesque settings it offers. The scenery, however, is just one side of the coin. Munroe Island has been experiencing drastic shrinkage due to land subsidence over the years.

A house on the verge of collapse on Munroe Island.

With an area of 13.4 sq kms (1340 hectares), Munroe Island is a gram panchayat in the Kollam district of Kerala. Studies reveal that almost 39% of the land area of the Island has been lost, especially in the northwestern regions, and the severity experienced in Peringalam and Cheriya Kadavu Islands with a land depletion of about 12% and 47% respectively. The Kallada river, which originates at the Karimala hills of the Western Ghats, joins the Ashtamudi backwater at Manroe Island after flowing 121 km. The river once brought a considerable volume of sediments from the Western Ghats and deposited it at the place where it merges with the Ashtamudi lake. The commissioning of a dam across the Kallada river in Thenmala in 1986, according to scholars, had disrupted the free flow of sediment through the river to Munroe Island, which eventually led to its degradation.

“True, but there are other man-made troubles as well. The riverbed pools formed due to sand mining in the Kallada river have immensely contributed to the present degradation of Munroe Island. The bathymetric study and salinity measurements confirmed this observation,” says a study conducted by a team of researchers from the National Centre for Earth Science Studies (NCESS), Thiruvananthapuram. Soil erosion due to tidal and monsoon flooding and the subsidence of constructed structures are the severe environmental issues occurring in Munroe Island, and the existence of these islands is at stake,” finds the study titled “Anthropogenic interventions on land neutrality in a critically vulnerable estuarine island ecosystem: A case of Munroe Island (India)”, which was published in Scientific Reports.

The shrinkage of the island coupled with a lack of livelihood and transportation leads to migration. Many left the island, mainly due to failure in the cultivation of paddy which was prevalent in the region during the 1950s. The study says rice cultivation was the principal economic activity of the inhabitants in the 1950s and now local people are more dependent on coconut cultivation and tourism for their livelihoods. A survey says there was about 227 acres of paddy land in 1950. It eventually reduced to eight acres in 1995 and two acres in 2018. “After the construction of the Thenmala reservoir in the upper stream of the Kallada river there has been a decrease in the supply of fresh alluvium during the rainy season and the rice cultivation was critically affected, so the farmers started to plant coconut trees, as it offers better yield and economic value. Due to the increased salinity of the water and soil and the lack of fresh alluvium to manure plantations, now the coconut cultivation is also under crisis,” it says.

There is an abundance of mangroves on the island.

A gram panchayat record says more than 500 houses have been vacated due to lack of livelihood and poor transportation. A census report says the population of the Munroe Island gram panchayat has come down to 9,440 people in 2011 from 10,013 in 2001 and 10,010 in 1991 respectively. “Frequent tidal flooding, lack of drinking water and migration in search of better pastures are the main reasons behind the downfall. The population was 9,440 as per the 2011 census, but it has now come down below 8,500. At least 500 houses have been vacated due to flooding caused by tidal surges and land degradation during the last few decades,” says Binu Karunakaran, former president of the Munroe gram panchayat.

“Earlier, we used to get drinking water for almost eight months in a year but today it has been reduced to two or three months only. And that too depends on the rain. The level of salinity in the water where the Kallada river merges with Ashtamudi lake is increasing up to 23 PTP which is very high. The low lying areas in Munroe Island are frequently getting flooded. To make things worse, the water level in the Ashtamudi lake is also increasing. And as a result, the land becomes fragile and marshy, making it difficult for farming,” he adds.

Why ‘Munroe’ Island? Colonel John Munro was a Resident of the erstwhile Travancore kingdom from 1810 to 1819. Besides his duties as Resident, he also served as the Dewan of Travancore from 1811 to 1814. When he retired, he was given a beautiful stretch of delta at the confluence of the Kallada river and Ashtamudi lake as a gift by the queen of Travancore Rani Lakshmibai. With the help of the Church Mission Society, Munro started a religious institution and collected tax from the farmers. It was during this time that the reclamation of the land in the delta was undertaken. To minimise the impact of flood and also to popularise paddy cultivation in the region, Munro built a canal (called Puthanaru) from Muthirapparambu to Manakkadavu. As a tribute to Munro, the delta region comprising eight islands and some islets was later named after him.

Former president of the Munroe gram panchayat Binu Karunakaran says people are increasingly deserting the island because of frequent tidal flooding, lack of drinking water and migration in search of better pastures.

A native of Munro island, Binu knows the realities better than the academics and scientists. During his childhood, travelling to the island was solely dependent on boats. However, one can reach Munro Island easily via the Idiyakkadavu bridge across the Kallada river today. Cultivation of paddy and coconut was rampant in Munroe Island. There were 300 acres of Kayal Nilam (paddy land reclaimed from backwater) and 50 acres of normal paddy fields. Besides, various types of tubers and plantains were also cultivated as intermediate crops. The coir industry was booming and many worked in the coir (a natural fibre extracted from the outer husk of coconut) manufacturing units. Toddy tapping and fishing were other livelihood options.

“There is constant rise in the level of seawater which leads to submergence of land in Munroe island since the tsunami in 2004. The construction of a dam across the Kallada river in Thenmala has reduced the flow of water and sediment to the Ashtamudi lake. And then there are global warming and inconsistent climatic patterns. The rise in the level of water and the high content of saline led to destruction of paddy cultivation in the region. It also affected the cultivation of coconut. Once the traditional farming failed, people started leaving the island,” says Binu, a crusader who has been creating awareness among people on how to tackle the issues and preserve Munroe Island.

Vijayan, who runs a tea shop in Munroe Island, says he doesn’t want to leave the place. After marriage, his daughters moved to Kollam, the nearby town. “I don’t get regular customers these days. The flow of tourists to the island is on the rise. But it is unpredictable. And that’s why I don’t keep snacks and other items ready in my tea shop,” says the 70-year-old. Why does he open the shop then? “It has become a habit. People are leaving this island because it is difficult to survive here. The traditional livelihood options are not available today. I don’t want to leave this island because I like it very much,” says Vijayan, who is back after a treatment at a hospital in Kollam.

When paddy and coconut cultivation diminished, mangroves took over the place. Binu says there are 20 hectare mangroves of various varieties today in and around Munroe Island. “The mangroves provide greenery to the Island. A number of birds come from various places due to this. The inflow of tourists is high these days. Tourism is the main livelihood for people here today,” he says. But the island lacks facilities to accommodate tourists. “Even though there are good, affordable homestays and resorts available, they are not enough to handle the inflow of tourists during the season. Boating is the main activity today. If there are more tourism-oriented programmes, it will open more livelihood options for the local people,” he adds.

When paddy and coconut cultivation diminished, mangroves took over the island. 

Tourism will definitely create more livelihood options for the islanders. But what are the solutions for the environmental degradation of the island? The environmental issues of Munroe Island can be addressed, and land degradation may be monitored through a well-drafted working plan, according to the study.

“All aspects of earth and social sciences may be integrated to draft such a management plan of reverse landscaping. The deep courses of Kallada river must be upwarped through a well-planned artificial sedimentation to eradicate the saline banks of deep basins,” says MK Rafeeque, lead author of the study. How do we save the existing buildings? “The construction methods practised in Munroe Island are outdated. Well-studied engineering methods suitable for an environmentally fragile area must be implemented with a proper understanding of the soil characteristics and hydrodynamics, such as tidal and fluvial actions,” he adds.