Climate Change: Vulnerability and Adaptation Experiences from Rajasthan and Andhra Pradesh
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VClimateulnerability & Adaptation Change Experiences from Rajasthan & Andhra Pradesh Introduction I N D I A i n t Schweizerische Eidgenossenschaft e Confederation suisse r Confederazione Svizzera Confederaziun svizra cooperation Swiss Agency for Development Natural Resource Management Rural Economy and Cooperation SDC Local Governance and Civil Society MSSRF Climate Change Vulnerability & Adaptation Experiences from Rajasthan & IAndhrantr Pradeshoduction V&A I n t r o d u c t i o n Climate Change Vulnerability reduction and adaptation to climate change in semi- arid India The use and sharing of information contained in the document is encouraged, with due acknowledgment of the source. Contributors Main text by Ms. Anna Bruderle, Dr. Othmar Schwank Overall guidance Ms. Rupa Mukerj Inputs and Comments Dr. K.R. Vishwanathan Prof. Dr. T.N. Balasubramanian Design, Layout and Printing Divya Creations, Hyderabad - 500 044, M: 9440726907 This is a publication from the SDC supported Vulnerability Assessment and Enhancing Adaptive Capacity to Climate Change in semi - arid India (V&A) Programme Citation: V&A Programme (2009) Vulnerability and Adaptation experiences from Rajasthan and Andhra Pradesh, SDC V&A Programme, India Copies available from: AFPRO INFRAS Intercooperation M S Swaminathan Research Swiss Agency for Development CONTENTS Action For Food Production Binzstrasse 23 153/a, Sappers Lane Foundation and Cooperation, Acronyms 1 25/1-A Pankha Road, P.O. Box 8045 Balamrai, 3rd Cross Street, Embassy of Switzerland D-Block, Janakpuri, Zürich. Secunderabad 500003 Institutional Area, Chandragupta Marg, Foreword 2 New Delhi-110058 Tel +41 44 205 95 95 Tel: + 91 40 27906952 Taramani Chanakyapuri, Tel: +91 11 28525452, Fax +41 44 205 95 99 Fax: + 91 40 27906954 Chennai - 600113, India New Delhi 110021, India. Acknowledgements 5 28522575, 28525412 Email: [email protected] Email: [email protected] Tel: +91 44 22542698, Tel: +91 11 268 77819 Introduction 6 Fax: +91 11 28520343 22541229 Fax: + 91 11 26873631 Email: [email protected] Fax: +91 44 22541319 Email: [email protected] Email: [email protected] I n t r o d u c t i o n Climate Change Vulnerability reduction and adaptation to climate change in semi- arid India The use and sharing of information contained in the document is encouraged, with due acknowledgment of the source. Contributors Main text by Ms. Anna Bruderle, Dr. Othmar Schwank Overall guidance Ms. Rupa Mukerj Inputs and Comments Dr. K.R. Vishwanathan Prof. Dr. T.N. Balasubramanian Design, Layout and Printing Divya Creations, Hyderabad - 500 044, M: 9440726907 This is a publication from the SDC supported Vulnerability Assessment and Enhancing Adaptive Capacity to Climate Change in semi - arid India (V&A) Programme Citation: V&A Programme (2009) Vulnerability and Adaptation experiences from Rajasthan and Andhra Pradesh, SDC V&A Programme, India Copies available from: AFPRO INFRAS Intercooperation M S Swaminathan Research Swiss Agency for Development CONTENTS Action For Food Production Binzstrasse 23 153/a, Sappers Lane Foundation and Cooperation, Acronyms 1 25/1-A Pankha Road, P.O. Box 8045 Balamrai, 3rd Cross Street, Embassy of Switzerland D-Block, Janakpuri, Zürich. Secunderabad 500003 Institutional Area, Chandragupta Marg, Foreword 2 New Delhi-110058 Tel +41 44 205 95 95 Tel: + 91 40 27906952 Taramani Chanakyapuri, Tel: +91 11 28525452, Fax +41 44 205 95 99 Fax: + 91 40 27906954 Chennai - 600113, India New Delhi 110021, India. Acknowledgements 5 28522575, 28525412 Email: [email protected] Email: [email protected] Tel: +91 44 22542698, Tel: +91 11 268 77819 Introduction 6 Fax: +91 11 28520343 22541229 Fax: + 91 11 26873631 Email: [email protected] Fax: +91 44 22541319 Email: [email protected] Email: [email protected] I n t r o d u c t i o n Foreword The Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) initiated a process oriented programme in the semi-arid regions of India on Vulnerability Assessment and Enhancing Adaptive Capacity to Climate Change (V&A), in 2005. The aims of this programme include strengthening the resilience of local communities to conditions of unfavourable weather, like adverse alterations in temperature and precipitation leading to the more frequent occurrence of drought and to use the experiences for policy development processes at various levels. Over 60 percent of the cultivated area in India is rain fed and unfavourable and uncertain rainfall patterns will seriously affect the food, drinking water and livelihood security of millions of children, women and men. Since the initiation of this project, the emphasis on proactive research on adaptation mechanisms has increased at the national level. The present decade may mark the beginning of a new climate era, characterized by extreme and often unpredictable weather conditions and rise in sea levels. The recent Climate Conference in Copenhagen unfortunately failed to get a global commitment to halt economic growth currently based on high carbon intensity. The Climate Conference due to be held in Mexico in December 2010 will probably generate the political commitment essential to restrict the rise in global mean temperature to not more than 2ºC. Even Acronyms a 2ºC rise will adversely affect crop yields in South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa, which already have a high degree of prevalence of endemic hunger. It will also lead to the possibility of small islands getting AFPRO Action for Food Production submerged. The greatest casualty of Climate Change will be food, water and livelihood security. GDP Gross Domestic Product Farmers of the world can help to avoid serious famines by developing and adopting climate resilient farming systems. 2010 has been declared by the United Nations as the International Year of GoI Government of India Biodiversity. Biodiversity is the feedstock for a climate resilient agriculture. We should therefore redouble our efforts to prevent genetic erosion and to promote the conservation and sustainable and IC Intercooperation equitable use of biodiversity. This is the goal of another SDC supported project in the field of biodiversity conservation being implemented by MSSRF in Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Orissa. JIG Joint Implementation Group 2010 will also witness a major Conference at the United Nations Headquarters in New York, to review MANAGE National Institute of Agriculture Extension Management the progress made since the year 2000 in achieving the U N Millennium Development Goals. The first among these goals is reducing hunger and poverty by half by 2015. Unfortunately the number of hungry MoEF Ministry of Environment and Forests children, women and men, which was 800 million in 2000, is now over a billion. This is partly due to a rise in food prices globally, thereby making it difficult for the poor to have access to balanced diet at MSSRF M.S. Swaminathan Research Foundation affordable prices. There is no time to relax and the farmers of the world must redouble their efforts to increase food production through an ever-green revolution pathway of increasing productivity in PRECIS Providing Regional Climates for Impacts Studies perpetuity without associated ecological harm. Without the total commitment of the two billion farmers of the world to produce more by adopting climate resilient farming systems, the goal of “food for all and SC Steering Committee for ever” cannot be reached. SDC Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation For the V&A study, the States of Rajasthan and Andhra Pradesh were chosen for developing climate change adaptation measures. The districts chosen were Udaipur in Rajasthan and Mehabubnagar in SRI System of Rice Intensification Andhra Pradesh. The approach adopted was to bring about a blend of traditional wisdom and modern science through farmer participatory research. The participatory research and knowledge management V&A Vulnerability and Adaptation systems adopted under this programme during the past five years have provided many useful insights 1 2 I n t r o d u c t i o n Foreword The Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) initiated a process oriented programme in the semi-arid regions of India on Vulnerability Assessment and Enhancing Adaptive Capacity to Climate Change (V&A), in 2005. The aims of this programme include strengthening the resilience of local communities to conditions of unfavourable weather, like adverse alterations in temperature and precipitation leading to the more frequent occurrence of drought and to use the experiences for policy development processes at various levels. Over 60 percent of the cultivated area in India is rain fed and unfavourable and uncertain rainfall patterns will seriously affect the food, drinking water and livelihood security of millions of children, women and men. Since the initiation of this project, the emphasis on proactive research on adaptation mechanisms has increased at the national level. The present decade may mark the beginning of a new climate era, characterized by extreme and often unpredictable weather conditions and rise in sea levels. The recent Climate Conference in Copenhagen unfortunately failed to get a global commitment to halt economic growth currently based on high carbon intensity. The Climate Conference due to be held in Mexico in December 2010 will probably generate the political commitment essential to restrict the rise in global mean temperature to not more than 2ºC. Even Acronyms a 2ºC rise will adversely affect crop yields in South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa, which already have a high degree