Sindh, 6 August

Salt crusts crunch beneath Habibullah Khatti’s feet as he visits his mother’s grave for the last time. Soon, he will leave Abdullah Mirbahar village in Pakistan’s Indus delta, a once-thriving farming and fishing hub now choked by seawater intrusion.

Where the Indus River meets the Arabian Sea, dwindling freshwater flow — reduced by 80 per cent since the 1950s due to irrigation canals, dams, and climate change — has allowed saltwater to engulf communities. Salinity has risen 70 per cent since 1990, rendering farmland barren and devastating fish, shrimp, and crab populations.

Kharo Chan, once home to 40 villages, has mostly vanished beneath the rising tide. The town’s population has plummeted from 26,000 in 1981 to just 11,000 in 2023. Across the Indus delta, over 1.2 million people have been displaced in the past two decades, according to the Jinnah Institute.

With only four households left in his village, Khatti plans to move to Karachi, joining tens of thousands who have fled the delta’s coastal districts. For many, relocation means not just losing land but a way of life, especially for women who once stitched fishing nets and processed the day’s catch.

Government and UN initiatives, including mangrove restoration, aim to slow the delta’s collapse, but challenges persist. Land grabbing, unchecked development, and upstream water disputes with India further threaten the fragile ecosystem.