Lament of the Brahmaputra riverbank

Assam is extremely vulnerable to climate change. Much of the state is in the basin of the Brahmaputra, a river that has changed its depth and width many times in history. Now the floods have worsened due to climate change, while erosion has increased because the river no longer carries as much silt as before – the silt is being trapped in dams upstream.

All this has come on top of the 8.7-magnitude earthquake in 1950 that changed the topography of the region. It started a massive displacement of people from the riverbanks, a process that is accelerating now. Many have used songs to describe the pain of losing homes and livelihoods along the Brahmaputra river.https://dialogue.earth/en/climate/brahmaputra-river-songs/

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