Mapping local level climate vulnerability

Abstract

The Sundarbans poses a unique challenge to policy makers. With rising sea level, large part of the area will be inundated and hence a climate adaption strategy needs to be in place. While there is a significant discussion regarding medium- and long-term strategies, preventing or mitigating such local level disasters need micro level data with minimum lag. In this article, we show how using satellite imagery can achieve both. With real-time data availability, one can map various villages, monitor their economic activities (primarily agriculture) and create a vulnerability mapping. While this article only highlights an extremely localised shock, such vulnerability mapping for the entire area will be an extremely useful tool for policy makers. We use Landsat images 2007–18 and perform clustering to map local area vulnerability in Mousuni island Sundarbans.