Coastal communities across India are increasingly experiencing the frontlines of climate change, facing sea-level rise, cyclones, and coastal erosion that threaten both their physical safety and cultural continuity. In the absence of proactive and inclusive adaptation frameworks, government-led relocation and adaptation efforts remain fragmented, often failing to address the complex social realities of those being moved. This report emerges from a six-month internship under the Climate Change Local Adaptation Pathways (CLAPs) project, conducted with the Indian Institute for Human Settlements (IIHS). My work focused on Work Package 2 (WP2), which examines the differentiated effects of planned relocation and in-situ adaptation in Odisha’s coastal districts of Kendrapada and Ganjam.

The study draws on four field sites (Ramyapatna, Podampetta, Bagapatia, and Pentha) which represent different experiences with relocation and protective adaptation infrastructure. Using a qualitative comparative case study approach, the research explores how such interventions shape well-being, precarity, and adaptive capacity, particularly among communities historically marginalised on the basis of caste, occupation, and geography. Through semi-structured interviews and participatory photovoice exercises, the study also highlights how people make sense of the changes around them - not only materially, but emotionally and culturally.

A central contribution of this report is the integration of non-economic loss and damage (NELD) - including emotional distress, loss of place, cultural identity, and spiritual attachments - into the discourse on planned relocation. Concepts such as ecological grief and solastalgia are used to frame the psychological and emotional harms communities experience when they are forced to move or witness the slow degradation of their homelands. These insights underscore that the impacts of climate change are not limited to physical displacement or economic disruption but include deep, often invisible, disruptions to identity, belonging, and memory.

In total, 72 interviews were conducted across the four sites, alongside a photovoice exercise involving 9 participants. Translations and transcriptions were conducted in Odia and Telugu to retain local meaning. The findings emphasise that relocation, when done without attention to local attachments and histories, can exacerbate rather than reduce vulnerability. To be effective, climate relocation policies must account for these lived experiences and be grounded in principles of justice, participation, and cultural sensitivity.