India, April 6 -- Kerala's election manifestos have arrived at a moment when the state is no longer debating climate change as a distant possibility. It is living in collapsing coastlines, loosening hills, and forest edges where human settlements and wildlife now collide with increasing frequency. Yet, across the political spectrum, the documents that outline Kerala's future continue to speak a language shaped by an earlier era, where development can be expanded without fundamentally confronting ecological limits.

The three major alliances, the Left Democratic Front (LDF), the United Democratic Front (UDF), and the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), differ in tone and emphasis. But when read against the backdrop of extreme weather, coas...