ENRICH — ENgaging Researchers and coastal population In Communicating ocean’s role on human Health — is a live transdisciplinary project bringing climate and ocean scientists together with coastal communities across four districts of Kerala. It is turning research on ocean-driven, climate-related health risks into surveys, training, school programmes and an open-access digital platform for the people who live with those risks every day.
See our study region Meet the team Open the CLEANSE Dashboard ↗Coastal areas of developing and under-developed countries with high population density are among the most exposed to climate-related changes in the ocean — even though the drivers, like sea level rise and warming seas, are global. ENRICH exists to close the gap between what ocean scientists know and what coastal communities can act on.
Sea level rise and tidal flooding push coastal communities toward more crowded, less hygienic and less sanitary living conditions, raising exposure to water-associated disease. ENRICH also tracks a less obvious pathway: cyanobacterial Harmful Algal Blooms (HABs), which are becoming more frequent as coastal waters warm. Beyond damaging fisheries and local livelihoods, these blooms have an established affinity with Vibrio cholerae, the bacterium behind cholera — meaning a change in ocean conditions can directly translate into a change in water-borne disease risk.
That is why ENRICH's research partners work alongside social scientists and public health organisations: to scan the horizon for these emerging, climate-linked disease threats and get ahead of them, rather than just responding after an outbreak.
ENRICH pairs climate and ocean research expertise from Norway with public-health, geo-statistical and community-outreach expertise in India. It is one of the projects directly responding to the UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development (2021–2030) — specifically Ocean Decade Challenge 10, “Restore society’s relationship with the ocean”, which calls for better public access to ocean data and stronger science communication to the people most affected by ocean change.
ENRICH is being carried out along Kerala’s 593 km coastline, chosen for its high population density and its recurring history of water-borne disease outbreaks. Within it, four coastal Gram Panchayats (local self-government areas) were selected as the project’s focus.
A busy northern Kerala coastal district with dense fishing communities and high exposure to monsoon flooding.
Kerala’s commercial hub, where dense urban coastal settlement meets backwaters and estuarine systems.
The heart of Kerala’s backwaters, with low-lying settlements highly sensitive to tidal flooding and waterlogging.
Kerala’s capital district, combining a dense urban coastline with active fishing and fish-processing communities.
These four Gram Panchayats were selected using population-density mapping together with existing knowledge of where water-borne disease occurs most often along the coast.
ENRICH is structured into five work packages running from 2025 into 2026. Here is where each stands today.
Partners coordinate through regular online meetings, and this project website is kept updated as work progresses — this page is part of that ongoing update, not a one-time announcement.
Eight trained research enumerators surveyed coastal households across the four Gram Panchayats. Four focused group discussions were held with fisherfolk, fish-processing workers, youth and elderly residents (40–60 participants). The resulting data, combined with government disease-surveillance records, was statistically analysed to identify which climate and socio-economic factors line up with water-associated disease.
Findings from WP1 were turned into awareness and training materials, spatial water-associated-disease vulnerability maps were generated using fuzzy-logic spatial analysis, and both were built into an interactive, open-access web platform — now live as the CLEANSE Dashboard.
Training sessions ran in all four Gram Panchayats — around 50 participants each, roughly 200 in total — reaching local representatives, health, fisheries, agriculture and education officials, Kudumbashree self-help-group members, and fishermen’s societies.
School arts programmes (160 students) and a one-day online course for around 50 school teachers are complete. The final strand — online training for college lecturers and undergraduate/postgraduate students, expected to reach 400–500 participants — is running now.
WP4 is ENRICH’s dedicated effort to build climate-ocean-health literacy in the generation that will live with these changes longest.
ENRICH is led jointly by research partners in Norway and India, working with a India-based communication and outreach organisation, and networked with Kerala’s Health Department and State Disaster Management Authority.
Senior scientist at the Nansen Environmental and Remote Sensing Center; co-leads the Polar Climate group at the Bjerknes Centre for Climate Research, one of Europe’s largest polar climate research groups. Also leads C3-eKerala, a related, UNESCO Ocean-Decade–endorsed project on climate impact on Kerala’s marine coastal ecosystem.
Supports project management and leads the geo-statistical modelling of water-associated diseases and coastal vulnerability, applying machine learning to link environmental and health data.
Leads programme and research work on social-ecological analysis, disaster-risk resilience and how communities perceive climate change; also directs the web-based application development.
Specialises in socio-ecological studies and leads FDA’s work on community engagement, training and dissemination across the four Gram Panchayats.
Brings extensive experience coordinating outreach activities in India, helping connect ENRICH’s Norwegian research base with its Indian field partners.
Specialises in marine ecosystem studies, focused on integrating earth-observation and environmental data to assess climate change’s impact on water-associated diseases and public health.
ENRICH's activities are aligned with UN Ocean Decade Challenge 10 recommendations to widen public access to ocean data and strengthen ocean science communication, and touch several of the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals.
Like any field-based, multi-partner project, ENRICH tracks a small set of risks and mitigation plans as part of its regular project management.
Likelihood: Low
Pandemic-style or other travel restrictions could limit in-person work. Mitigated by using virtual and digital platforms for training and coordination wherever possible.
Likelihood: Medium
Partner staff can shift roles or organisations mid-project. Mitigated through early, clear communication between partners and prompt reallocation of responsibilities.
Likelihood: Low
Recruitment to training courses could fall short. Mitigated with proactive advance advertising and by drawing on the partners’ existing student and community networks.
As WP4’s college and university training round closes out, this page and the CLEANSE Dashboard will be updated with what ENRICH found. Explore the interactive dashboard, or visit our Health page for the wider picture on water-associated disease.