Bigger issues on the backburner

As the campaign picks up in coastal wards, parties and candidates are yet to focus on critical issues such as climate change and CRZ (Coastal Regulation Zone) norms that demand a grassroots-level response.

Climate change

Leaders of independent organisations feel that climate change and CRZ are nowhere on the poll agenda. Director of Thiruvananthapuram Matsya Thozhilali Forum Father Matthias said that instead local issues such as housing and sanitation remained the pivots of the campaign. “If it is an Assembly election, broader issues such as climate change will be flagged.”

Anto Elias, secretary, Kerala State Matsya Thozhilali Federation (KSMTF), said local issues figured this poll because such issues helped to strike a chord with the electorate. The federation is planning to convene a meeting of elected representatives to discuss the need to incorporate climate change resilience into the Plan projects of local bodies.

CPI(M) district secretary Kadakampally Surendran said his party recognised the need to address the CRZ issue and its impact on the coastal communities.

“Our campaign leaders have been directed to flag the issue,” he said.

T. Peter, secretary, National Fishworkers Forum, said the failure to project climate change and CRZ issues during the campaign demonstrated the absence of a long-term perspective among the political class and reliance on post-disaster response.

The report of the State Action Plan on Climate Change (SAPCC) assesses that the nine coastal districts in Kerala are particularly vulnerable to the impact of climate change. It said the sea-level rise would inundate land, displacing coastal communities. The document also predicted the decline of fish stocks and damage to coastal infrastructure due to climate change, which would affect the livelihood of the fisherfolk.

Enforcement of norms

The SAPCC recommended strict enforcement of CRZ norms, even as the State government was exerting pressure on the Centre to relax the regulations, triggering protest from the fishermen community who saw it as a move guided by the real estate and tourism sectors.

Local issues figure more in the poll as such issues help

to strike a chord with the electorate