Dated: 4th May 2026
SIGMA Foundation took up evaluation of two livelihood and climate change related projects funded by Sign of Hope Germany. Based on analysis of secondary data and those collected during the evaluation, a paper “Hoping to return? Migration and ecological balance in the Sundarbans” has been authored by Dr Sanjukta Das and Dr M.N.Roy of SIGMA Foundation and Mr Dirk Baldenhofer of Sign of Hope. The paper has been published online (https://doi.org/10.1080/17565529.2025.2610696) in the journal CLIMATE AND DEVELOPMENT by Taylor & Francis, a highly reputed journal based in the United Kingdom. This paper studies whether permanent evacuation is the optimal coping strategy, from the point of view of both the inhabitants as well as the environment, in the Sundarbans, to inform the broader debate on climate induced migration worldwide. Results show that while migration leads to a deterioration of the ecological balance by 1% in the region, it also has a positive impact on the level of hopefulness experienced by low-income migrants. However, the majority of migrants express a desire to return to their native place, regardless of income groups. The results speak to the importance of making scientific advances in effective coping strategies in the face of the growing scale of climatic disasters, such that migration is a voluntary choice rather than a compulsion.