Vulnerability
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
HSBC Climate Partnership for a living planet The HSBC Climate Partnership is a five-year US$100 million programme on climate change to inspire action by individuals, governments and businesses worldwide. Formed in 2007 the partnership brings together HSBC, The Climate Group, Earthwatch Institute, Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute and WWF to tackle the urgent threat of climate change on people, water, forests and cities. Under the HSBC Climate Partnership, in India, WWF is working to reduce the impacts of climate change on people and livelihoods by promoting action in the Ganga river basin, which will lead to the development of a framework for sustainable water and energy management in critical parts of the Ganga Basin. For more information, please visit: http://www.hsbc.com/1/2/climatepartnership Living Ganga Programme (2007-2011) Vulnerability The Living Ganga Programme aims to develop and implement strategies for sustainable energy and water resource management within the Ganga basin, in the face of climate change. Specifically, the programme will work on key sites and a critical strech of the river of approximately 800 kilometres from Gangotri in Uttarakhand to Kanpur in Uttar Pradesh. The Assessment programme brings together components of climate adaptation, vulnerability assessment, environmental flows and water allocation coupled with pollution abatement and co- of management of water flow and energy. The programme aims to establish partnership with the People, key stakeholders with a focus on river restoration, community education and engagement, business and government involvement, and bio-diversity conservation. The programme consists of seven cross cutting components: Livelihoods * Sustainable Water Management * Climate Adaptation * Pollution Abatement and Ecosystems * Water-Energy Co-management * Sustainable Hydropower * Biodiversity Conservation * Communications and Business Engagement in the For more information, please visit: www.wwfindia.org/livingganga Ganga Basin WWF-India Secretariat 172-B Lodhi Estate New Delhi-110 003 for a living planet Tel: +91 11 41504770 Website: www.wwfindia.org 1. BACKGROUND Climate Adaptation is an integral component of WWF-India's Living Ganga Programme under the HSBC Climate Partnership. The Living Ganga programme aims to develop and implement strategies for sustainable energy and water resource development within the Ganga Basin, given climate change implications. Authors: Divya Mohan and Shirish Sinha The objective of the Climate Adaptation component is to assess the vulnerability of people, livelihoods and ecosystems with the purpose of identifying relevant adaptation response mechanisms, in a critical stretch of the Ganga Basin extending from Gangotri to Kanpur. This summary document presents the analysis of a macro level vulnerability assessment, based on secondary data, and has been used to identify highly vulnerable districts for further assessment and implementation of pilot adaptation projects. Living Ganga Programme 2. VULNERABILITY ASSESSMENT Climate Adaptation Project Team: Vulnerability implies the susceptibility to damage or injury due to any negative impact. In the WWF - India perspective of climate change, vulnerability simply refers to the probability of being negatively affected by the variability in climate, including extreme climate events. Due to the intricate ● Anshuman Atroley ● Rajneesh Sareen (till February 2009) interactions between diverse components of the natural system along with human interventions, assessing vulnerability becomes a complicated job. Nevertheless, Vulnerability Assessment is ● Divya Mohan ● Sangeeta Agarwal significant as it is an important method in developing policies and adaptation plans for specific vulnerable groups and areas. It thereby forms the basis for establishing response mechanisms ● G Areendran ● Saumya Mathur towards climate change risk reduction. ● Krishna Raj ● Sejal Worah The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) defines vulnerability to climate change as a function of three factors: ● Pallavi Bharadwaj ● Shirish Sinha i) the types and magnitude of exposure to climate change impacts, ● Prakash Rao (till July 2009) ● Sraboni Mazumdar ii) the sensitivity of the target system to a given amount of exposure, and iii) the coping or adaptive capacity of the target system. ● Rajesh Bajpai ● Suresh Rohilla (till February 2010) Exposure reflects factors external to the system of interest, such as changes in climate variability WWF - US including extreme weather events or the rate of shifts in mean climate conditions. Sensitivity and adaptive capacity reflect internal qualities, resilience and coping characteristics of the system of ● John Matthews interest. The adaptive capacity of a community depends on a combination of economic, social and technological factors such as extent of infrastructure development and distribution of resources. Depending on the system and regional differentials, these factors are quite dynamic and vary considerably. In some cases high levels of exposure are observed but they might be negated by high adaptive capacity thus resulting in lower vulnerability values. Developing countries owing to their comparatively lower adaptive capacity are considered to be inherently more vulnerable to climate change. This report has been prepared by WWF-India 1 1. BACKGROUND Climate Adaptation is an integral component of WWF-India's Living Ganga Programme under the HSBC Climate Partnership. The Living Ganga programme aims to develop and implement strategies for sustainable energy and water resource development within the Ganga Basin, given climate change implications. Authors: Divya Mohan and Shirish Sinha The objective of the Climate Adaptation component is to assess the vulnerability of people, livelihoods and ecosystems with the purpose of identifying relevant adaptation response mechanisms, in a critical stretch of the Ganga Basin extending from Gangotri to Kanpur. This summary document presents the analysis of a macro level vulnerability assessment, based on secondary data, and has been used to identify highly vulnerable districts for further assessment and implementation of pilot adaptation projects. Living Ganga Programme 2. VULNERABILITY ASSESSMENT Climate Adaptation Project Team: Vulnerability implies the susceptibility to damage or injury due to any negative impact. In the WWF - India perspective of climate change, vulnerability simply refers to the probability of being negatively affected by the variability in climate, including extreme climate events. Due to the intricate ● Anshuman Atroley ● Rajneesh Sareen (till February 2009) interactions between diverse components of the natural system along with human interventions, assessing vulnerability becomes a complicated job. Nevertheless, Vulnerability Assessment is ● Divya Mohan ● Sangeeta Agarwal significant as it is an important method in developing policies and adaptation plans for specific vulnerable groups and areas. It thereby forms the basis for establishing response mechanisms ● G Areendran ● Saumya Mathur towards climate change risk reduction. ● Krishna Raj ● Sejal Worah The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) defines vulnerability to climate change as a function of three factors: ● Pallavi Bharadwaj ● Shirish Sinha i) the types and magnitude of exposure to climate change impacts, ● Prakash Rao (till July 2009) ● Sraboni Mazumdar ii) the sensitivity of the target system to a given amount of exposure, and iii) the coping or adaptive capacity of the target system. ● Rajesh Bajpai ● Suresh Rohilla (till February 2010) Exposure reflects factors external to the system of interest, such as changes in climate variability WWF - US including extreme weather events or the rate of shifts in mean climate conditions. Sensitivity and adaptive capacity reflect internal qualities, resilience and coping characteristics of the system of ● John Matthews interest. The adaptive capacity of a community depends on a combination of economic, social and technological factors such as extent of infrastructure development and distribution of resources. Depending on the system and regional differentials, these factors are quite dynamic and vary considerably. In some cases high levels of exposure are observed but they might be negated by high adaptive capacity thus resulting in lower vulnerability values. Developing countries owing to their comparatively lower adaptive capacity are considered to be inherently more vulnerable to climate change. This report has been prepared by WWF-India 1 IPCC Definitions of some key terms 1 : GANGA RIVER BASIN Critical stretch and key sites of Living Ganga Programme Vulnerability Vulnerability is the degree to which a system is susceptible to, and unable to cope with, adverse effects of climate change, including climate variability and extremes. Vulnerability is a function of the character, magnitude, and rate of climate change and variation to which a system is exposed, its sensitivity, and its adaptive capacity. MEERUT Sensitivity Sensitivity is the degree to which a system is affected, either adversely or beneficially, by climate variability or change. The effect may be direct (e.g., a change in crop yield in response to a change in the mean, range or variability of temperature) or indirect (e.g., damages caused by an increase in the frequency of coastal flooding due to sea-level rise). Adaptive Capacity The ability of a system to adjust to climate change (including climate variability and weather extremes),