Vanishing villages: How seawater intrusion displaced 1.2 million from Pakistan’s Indus delta

Dying delta of Pakistan (Image: AFP)

Over the past two decades, more than 1.2 million people have been displaced from an island village in Kharo Chan town, located in Pakistan’s Indus Delta, according to a March study by the Jinnah Institute, a think tank headed by a former climate change minister.

In southern Pakistan, where the Indus River flows into the Arabian Sea, seawater intrusion into the delta has devastated local farming and fishing livelihoods. As a result, communities that once thrived have collapsed.

Kharo Chan which once comprised of over 40 villages most have disappeared due to rising saltwater the census data shows the village population has declined sharply from 26,000 in 1981 to just 11,000 by 2023.

"The saline water has surrounded us from all four sides," Khatti told AFP from Abdullah Mirbahar village in the town of Kharo Chan, around 15 kilometres (9 miles) from where the river empties into the sea.

With fish stocks depleted, a 54-year-old resident who once relied on fishing turned to tailoring, but even that became unsustainable as only four of the original 150 households remained.

The downstream flow of water into the delta has decreased by 80 percent since the 1950s as a result of irrigation canals, hydropower dams and the impacts of climate change on glacial and snow melt, according to a 2018 study by the US-Pakistan Center for Advanced Studies in Water.

That has led to devastating seawater intrusion.

The salinity of the water has risen by around 70 percent since 1990, making it impossible to grow crops and severely affecting the shrimp and crab populations.

The Indus River originates in Tibet, flows through Kashmir, and continues along the full length of Pakistan before meeting the Arabian Sea.

The delta it forms rich in sediment was once a thriving zone for farming, fishing, mangroves, and diverse wildlife. However, seawater intrusion has significantly altered the region. A 2019 study by a government water agency revealed that over 16% of fertile land in the delta has turned barren due to saltwater encroachment.

In Keti Bandar, a coastal town extending inland from the shoreline, a visible crust of salt crystals now covers the soil. Potable water is brought in by boats from distant sources, and residents transport it home using donkeys.

Beyond their physical homes, communities in the delta have lost an entire way of life, according to climate activist Fatima Majeed of the Pakistan Fisherfolk Forum.

Women, in particular, have been deeply impacted. Traditionally engaged in stitching nets and processing fish, they now struggle to find employment after migrating to urban centers. Majeed, whose grandfather moved their family from Kharo Chan to the outskirts of Karachi, said: "We haven't just lost our land, we've lost our culture."