World Bank Document

INCORPORATING CLIMATE CHANGE ADAPTATION PRACTICES IN DEVELOPMENT PLANNING FOR SUNDARBANS REPORT Public Disclosure Authorized Public Disclosure Authorized Public Disclosure Authorized Public Disclosure Authorized 1 Contents 1. Introduction....................................................................................................................................... 3 1.1. Background ............................................................................................................................. 3 1.2. Objectives of the Event ........................................................................................................... 4 1.3. Scope of the Events ................................................................................................................. 4 2. Background for the Events ....................................................................................................................... 5 2.1. Assessment of current situation ............................................................................................. 5 2.1.1. Key issues and challenges................................................................................................ 5 2.1.2. Possible problem solving approaches ............................................................................. 7 2.2. Approach and Methodology ................................................................................................... 9 2.2.1. Justification for the selected events................................................................................ 9 2.2.2. Salient features of the pre-event consultation and communication process ................. 9 2.3. Stakeholders and participants .............................................................................................. 11 2.3.1. Key stakeholders and participants in the event ............................................................ 11 2.4. Design of the Events ............................................................................................................. 12 2.4.1. Type of Events ............................................................................................................... 12 2.4.2. Selection of issues and content and ensuring maximum participation ........................ 12 3. Description of Events .......................................................................................................................... 16 3.1. Description of the deliberations, presentations, etc. ............................................................ 16 3.2. Key Recommendations from the workshop .......................................................................... 43 3.3. Outcome of the event ........................................................................................................... 45 4. Lessons learnt .................................................................................................................................. 48 4.1. Salient features ..................................................................................................................... 48 4.2. Challenges faced in approaches ........................................................................................... 48 4.3. Degree of engagement by different stakeholders ................................................................ 49 4.4. General recommendations for follow up tasks..................................................................... 49 5. Annex ........................................................................................................................................... 50 5.1. Background Materials circulated for the Event .................................................................... 50 5.2. List of participants (or persons consulted/interviewed) ....................................................... 58 5.3. Details of Photos and videos ................................................................................................ 66 2 1. Introduction 1.1. Background The Sundarbans delta is one of the most ecologically fragile and climatically vulnerable regions in India. The region supports rich biodiversity and as well as a population of more than 4.5 million. This population, living in fifty-four low lying islands of Sundarbans, depend almost entirely on paddy cultivation for their subsistence and livelihoods. These islands are prone to changing weather patterns, erratic storms and cyclones and rising sea levels, which often cause flooding of agricultural fields with brackish water, destroying the high yielding varieties of paddy crops as well as indigenous paddy varieties that cannot withstand salinity. Despite stupendous national and international efforts toward prompt mitigation, it is increasingly likely that the world will experience 2°C and more of global warming. Under such circumstances, a long-term adaptation decisions become even more crucial. As nations throughout the world prepare to adapt to the consequences of climate change, the extremely vulnerable Sundarbans region requires urgent attention. Current policies and management practices in Sundarbans lack understanding of essential physical process and ever-expanding population. Add to it, there is less institutional collaboration between different departments. Development interventions are being carried out without taking into the notice the change in physical environment which makes it difficult to ascertain the types of interventions that would be most effective in mitigating adverse effects of climate change impacts and improving the existing poverty conditions. In the absence of the needed new adaptive solutions, this environmentally and economically important area is rapidly heading towards an uncertain future. Government programs or initiatives are yet insufficient to mitigate the current water resources and ecosystem management (delta management) or possible climate change effects. In view of the grave situation facing the eco-region, WWF-India has been entrusted by World Bank to organise a multi-stakeholder engagement to develop an alternative scenario to the “business as usual” informed by best available current knowledge and research. Keeping the above in mind, planning meetings were envisaged in all the five subdivision of Sundarbans. The meetings engaged representatives from the grassroots of Indian Sundarbans to share and discuss innovations in primary livelihood activities, role of women and appropriate infrastructure development to build climate resilience of communities and sustainable development. It is planned to develop sustainable and climate resilient roadmap for the Sundarbans. At the end of consultations, a Sundarban Planning meeting is scheduled at 3 Kolkata involving all concerned Government stakeholders to discuss the outcome from these meetings and finalize the recommendations before sending to the World Bank. 1.2. Objectives of the Events Mainstreaming climate change adaptation is the iterative process of integrating considerations of climate change adaptation into policy-making, budgeting, implementation and monitoring processes at national, sector and subnational levels. It is a multi-year, multi- stakeholder effort grounded in the contribution of climate change adaptation to human well-being, pro-poor economic growth, and achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). It entails working with a range of government and non-governmental actors, and other actors in the development field. Keeping these factors in mind, the events were organised with the following objectives: (i) Presenting a macro picture of the challenges due to climate change induced risks and development deficit in the Sundarbans. (ii) Presenting the strength and opportunities that Sundarbans has to offer to develop a climate resilient development plan. 1.3. Scope of the Events “Mainstreaming adaptation practices into development projects” is the process of identifying climate related risks and adjusting activities or approaches to reduce these risks. The approach is different from a “targeted” Community-Based Adaptation project, where the explicit goal is to build vulnerable people’s resilience to climate change. By integrating adaptation into our projects, we can: (i) minimise the likelihood of climate change undermining or negating the effectiveness and sustainability of development interventions and (ii) ensure that activities contribute to people’s adaptive capacity, when possible, and don’t unintentionally increase their vulnerability to climate change. Thus the major scope of the events were to understand and analyse the risks that climate change poses to project activities, stakeholders and results and then modify project designs or implementation plans to reduce those risks. Integrating adaptation practices in development planning has the potential to build people’s adaptive capacity towards the risks. By analysing peoples’ vulnerability to climate change and adjusting project activities to maximise their contribution to resilience, the positive impact of development projects can be significantly increased. 4 For example, the selection of technologies and crop varieties can make a major difference in the impact of an agricultural project. In a changing climate, production-oriented, high input agriculture may actually increase vulnerability, as the varieties may not be suited to tidal inundation or shifting rainfall patterns and the purchase of inputs may require credit – leaving farmers in a

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