Resilient Lanka: a baseline for an island facing the tide

A baseline study of a 23-family island in Kochi's backwaters, so a community plan against tidal flooding can be designed with the people who live there and its results measured.

Why

Lanka is a small island settlement in Ward 13 of Ezhikkara Panchayat, home to 23 families and surrounded by backwaters and Pokkali rice fields. Over the last decade, tidal flooding has grown worse, bringing salt water into homes and wells, blocked drains and health problems. Some families have begun to leave.

Resilient Lanka aims to make the island Kerala’s first community-scale demonstration of tidal flood resilience, combining climate adaptation, ecosystem restoration, safe drinking water and livelihoods such as community-based tourism. Before anything is built, the community, the panchayat and engineers need a shared picture of where things stand today.

What we are doing

The preparatory phase has three parts: community engagement and co-design, engineering studies led by EQUINOCT Community Sourced Modelling Solutions, and a baseline assessment led by us. Our part covers:

• a socio-economic survey of every household: livelihoods, housing, income, flood impacts, water access and health
• a community perception study on priorities, aspirations and local governance
• documenting traditional knowledge, from oral histories to Pokkali farming and how families have managed floods
• a photo and video record of the island before the project, and a five-minute documentary

What it will lead to

The baseline gives the project measurable benchmarks, so its results can be evaluated honestly later. Together with the engineering studies and co-design workshops, it feeds into a Detailed Project Report that the community, the panchayat and government departments can act on.