What Mumbai’s net-zero pledge means for residents threatened by impending sea level rise

As Mumbai prepares a climate action plan looking forward to 2050, worsening heatwaves and a deadly monsoon season are already threatening the city’s most vulnerable population. Stuti Mishra reports

The city is home to 20 million people and one of the world’s largest slums (AFP via Getty Images)

Ranjana Kumari, 51, says her tin roof in the crowded Oshiwara area of suburban Mumbai has been trapping heat inside her shack since the mercury soared to 40C in the middle of March – unseasonably early in the year – making her feel like she is “living in a chimney”.

“There is no ventilation in houses like ours, it is difficult to stay at home in this burning heat and it seems to be getting worse,” she says, adding that until she was forced to stay home by Covid lockdowns, she did not even own a fan.

The grandmother of four is not aware of the climate crisis, but she has heard how soaring heat, intense rainfall and rising sea levels are going to make the lives of her children even more difficult in the coming years, and she isn’t optimistic that action will be taken by political leaders to alleviate this. “Who thinks about us?” she asks.