contents and others - rcdc india · mr. sasanka padhi, ms. laura, mr. mihir bhatt, mr. sanjay...

Organizing Committee

• Mr. Dipankar Datta, Concern Worldwide

• Mr. Saroj Dash, Concern Worldwide

• Ms. Sweta Mishra, Concern Worldwide

• Dr. Ambika Prasad Nanda, UNDP

• Dr. Kabir Mohan Sethy, Utkal University

• Mr. Kailash Chandra Dash, RCDC

• Mr. Sasanka Padhi, Save the Children

• Ms. Shikha Srivastav, Practical Action

CREDITS

Documentation : Mr. Bimal Pandia and Mr. Jagannath Chatterjee

Editing : Mr. Saroj Dash and Ms. Sweta Mishra

Organizing Team : Mr. Suresh Bisoyi, Ms. Sarojini Brahma, Mr. Ghasiram Panda, Ms. Monalisa

Majumdar, Mr. Suresh Pakki, Mr. Siva Prasad, Mr. Dillip Ku. Subhudhi,

Ms.Gayatri Harichandan, Ms. Anamika Choudhury, Mr. Ramakrishna

Maharana, Dr. Akshyaya Ku. Dash, Mr. Asim Ku. Mahapatra, Mr. Bhagyarathi

Sahoo, Mr. Priyabrata Satpathy, Mr. Bijan Kumar Dalai, Mr. Biswaranjan

Mishra, Mr. Manas Kumar Biswal, Mr. Jagannath Chatterjee, Mr. Sabyasachi

Rath, Mr. Abhimanyu Mallick.

Design & Layout : Mr. Ramakrishna Maharana

Photographs : RCDC and Concern Worldwide

Printed by : Perfect Print & Graphics Pvt. Ltd., Bhubaneswar

*Disclaimer: All the views and opinions expressed by the authors are the sole responsibility of the correspondingauthors and do not represent the view of European Union in any manner.

Acknowledgement i

Abbreviations ii

INTRODUCTION 1

DAY ONE - 12th July 2012WORKSHOP PROCEEDINGS

Inaugural Session 3

PANEL DISCUSSION: Bay of Bengal Perspective and the Role of Civil Society 6

TECHNICAL SESSION 1: Climate Change and Impact Assessment/Monitoring 9TECHNICAL SESSION 2: Climate Change and Food Security / Agriculture / Livelihood 12

DAY TWO - 13th July 2012PLENARY SESSION 15

TECHNICAL SESSION 3: Climate Change and Technology 18

TECHNICAL SESSION 4: Climate Change and Youth / Children 21

TECHNICAL SESSION 5: Climate Change and Gender / Inequality 24

TECHNICAL SESSION 6: Climate Change and Community Based Adaptation 26

DAY THREE - 14th July 2012PLENARY SESSION 29

TECHNICAL SESSION 7: Climate Change and Disaster Risk Reduction 31

TECHNICAL SESSION 8: Climate Change and Governance / Policy Advocacy 34

CONCLUDING SESSION 36

MAJOR OUTCOMES OF THE WORKSHOP 37

MEDIA COVERAGE 38

ANNEXURES

Charter on Community Resilience to Climate Change in the Bay of Bengal 2012 39

WORKSHOP AGENDA 49

LIST OF PARTICIPANTS 54

CONTENTS

We wish to thank one and all whose valuable contribution led to the success of the Sub-RegionalWorkshop on 'Community Resilience to Climate Change in the Bay of Bengal' - 2012 held from 12thto 14th July at Bhubaneswar, Odisha. In particular all credit goes to Mr. Dipankar Datta, CountryDirector, Concern Worldwide, Mr. Saroj Dash, Technical Coordinator, Climate Change, ConcernWorldwide and Ms. Sweta Mishra, Team Leader of Concern Worldwide. Dr. Ambika Nanda, StateProgramme Officer, UNDP was the guiding light whose coordination efforts deserve all praise. Wewish to thank Dr. Kabir Sethy and Prof. Gopal Panda of the Geography Department, Utkal Universitywho were involved right from the inception stage. Credit must go to all the staff of Regional Centre forDevelopment Cooperation (RCDC) whose untiring efforts made the workshop a success. We wouldalso like to thank the Partners, JJS and Sushilan from Bangladesh. Mention must be made of the co-organisers, Practical Action, Save the Children, Trocaire, AIDMI, and CANSA represented by Ms.Vishaka Hidellage, Mr. Achyut Luitel, Mr. Ranga Pallawala, Mr. Gehendra Gurung, Mr. Ray Kancharala,Mr. Sasanka Padhi, Ms. Laura, Mr. Mihir Bhatt, Mr. Sanjay Vashist, and Mr. Tirthankar Mandal withoutwhose support the workshop would not have been a success. We are particularly grateful to theHon'ble Minister of Forest and Environment, Government of Odisha, Mr. Debi Prasad Mishra who sokindly inaugurated the workshop and committed all help, and Hon'ble MP's of India and Bangladesh,Mr. A V Swamy and Mr. Tanvir Shakil Joy who enriched the workshop with their presence, supportand valuable suggestions. Our special thanks to the resource persons and panel members, in particular,Mr. Mukul Sharma, Dr. Debal Deb, Dr. Sinhababu, Dr. P Bhattacharya, Dr. Gurmeet Singh,Dr. Tawhidul Islam, Mr. Rafique Haque, Mr. Palash Haldar, Dr. P Mishra, Dr. Dillip Pattnaik, Prof. AshaHans, Ms Bipasha Dutta, Ms. Umme Salma, Ms. Padmavathi Yedla, Mr. Ghanshyam Pandey, Dr. KamalMishra, Ms. Binapani Mishra, Mr. G. Padmanbhan, Mr. Anirudh Dey, Mr. Charudutta Panigrahi andthe community representatives from Kendrapara and Jagatsinghpur who enriched the workshop withtheir valuable inputs. We wish to thank Mr. Jagadananda, State Information Commissioner, Odisha,for the concluding session. We cannot thank enough the eminent media personalities Mr. DillipSatapathy, Mr. Rajaram Satapathy and Mr. Sampad Mahapatra who spared their precious time toattend and share their views. We also wish to thank profusely the community members and theparticipants for their enthusiasm, meaningful interaction and valuable sharing of their experienceswhich made the entire exercise worthwhile. The facilitation efforts of Mr. Suresh Bisoyi, Mr. GhasiramPanda, Ms. Sikha Srivastava, Ms. Mamata Dash, Mr. Bimal Pandia and Ms. Sarojini Brahma must bepraised. This acknowledgement will not be complete without mentioning the staff of Hotel SwostiPremium who worked silently in the background and ensured the perfect ambience for such animportant workshop.

Organising Committee

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

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AIDMI All India Disaster Mitigation Institute

CANSA Climate Action Network South Asia

CBA Community Based Adaptation

CHE Centre for Hydrological Education

CIS Centre for Interdisciplinary Studies

CRRI Central Rice Research Institute

CWB Crop Water Budget

DCA Dan Church Aid

DRI Disaster Risk Index

GHG Green House Gas

GIS Geographic Information System

GPS Geo Positioning System

HoD Head of Department

LDF LetzDream Foundation

MP Member of Parliament

NGO Non Government Organisation

OSDMA Odisha State Disaster Mitigation Authority

PRI Panchayati Raj Institutions

RCDC Regional Centre for Development Cooperation

SAARC South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation

SAYCC South Asian Youth Climate Coalition

SRI System of Rice Intensification

SWAD Society for Women Action Development

UNDP United Nations Development Programme

UNEP United Nations Environment Programme

UNICEF United Nations International Children Education Fund

ABBREVIATIONS

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BackgroundA considerable number of the world's poorestpeople live on the coast of Bay of Bengal, whichis also the world's largest Bay. Bay of Bengal isendowed with rich natural resources andmonsoon that provides livelihood support to themillions living along the coast. Vast stretches offertile land, wet lands, resourceful forests andgrasslands make this region one of the mostinhabited ones. This sub-region, areas around theBay of Bengal, is among the most denselypopulated regions of the world. This coast,however, also bore some of the deadliest naturaldisasters. It has had all - massive cyclones, crueltsunamis and continuous sea surges. The list isonly growing in number and intensity. Expertshave no two opinions that such disasters havevery close link with global climate change andthat this region is among the hot-beds of climate'sfury. These disasters are posing additional and

THE BAY OF BENGAL SUB-REGION

The sub-region has Srilanka and Maldives in the South-west andMyanmar, Thailand and Indonesia in the South-eastern part ofthe Bay of Bengal. Since the coastal areas also have significantclimatic relation with majestic hills like the Himalayas, EasternGhats and river basins like Ganga, Brahmaputra and Mekongetc; countries like Nepal also become integral part of the Sub-region.

significant threat to an already vulnerablepopulation and environment.

The coast of Bangladesh and India are amongthe most vulnerable regions in South Asia withvery significant exposure to coastal disasters andhigh mortality risk which are now accentuatedfurther by climate change. Agriculture is comingunder increasing stress, coastal livelihoods arein jeopardy. They are posing serious socialchallenges too. The problem of huge climaterefugee has already emanated as a big problemin the region. Vulnerable people with theirscience and resources are trying to adapt withthe impacts of climate change that have becomethe central concern. With the emergence ofscientific consensus on climate change, thegovernments in the coasts have intensified theirefforts to tackle the impacts. Climate changepolicy and actions are already formulated in these

Sub-Regional Workshop onCommunity Resilience to Climate Change in the Bay of Bengal - 2012

INTRODUCTION

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countries to strengthen their effort in sustainabledevelopment, poverty alleviation and disastermanagement.

To contribute to this effort Concern Worldwide,through partnership with regional NGOs, hasinitiated a project, "Multi Country Initiative onIncreasing Resilience and Reducing Risk ofCoastal Communities to Climate Change andNatural Hazards in the Bay of Bengal". Thisproject - titled 'Paribartan' - covers the South Westcoast of Bangladesh and the coast of Odisha inIndia. One of its partners, Regional Center forDevelopment Cooperation (RCDC), alsoimplements another project in the coastal partsof Odisha with United Nations DevelopmentProgramme (UNDP) support. That project"Climate change adaption and reducingvulnerabilities of communities to climate changeand disaster risk through integrated watermanagement", named 'Prayas' aims to addressthe issues of climate change impact throughIntegrated Water Management.

As an outcome of the collaboration between bothprograms, the Sub-regional conference on"Community Resilience to Climate Change in theBay of Bengal - 2012" was organised inBhubaneswar, Odisha to facilitate a dialogue oncommunity resilience in the Bay of Bengal region.The conference was hosted as the first initiativeto bring the communities and their agencies livingalong the coastal areas of Bay of Bengal togetherto share their issues and probabilities to overcomethe climate crisis across the Bay.

The three days conference from 12th to 14th July2012 was co-hosted by Regional Centre forDevelopment Cooperation (RCDC) andGeography Department of Utkal University withthe support and facilitation of ConcernWorldwide and UNDP in Odisha. The eventwas co-sponsored by Save the Children, PracticalAction, Trocaire, AIDMI, CANSA based on their

commitments for the specific themes assignedas part of the design. All these supportingorganisations having international presence caterto different sectors and subjects but are bondedby one common goal - of fighting climatechallenges.

The three days event had participation fromcountries along the Bay of Bengal; India,Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Nepal. Theparticipants included representatives fromdifferent sectors and walks of society likeinternational and national civil societyorganisations, academic institutions, policymakers including members of parliament,practitioners and community representativesacross the countries bordering the Bay of Bengalregion.

ObjectiveThe broad objective of the process was to fosteran informal forum for sharing experiences andbridge the knowledge gap on the climate changephenomenon and its impact on the coastalcommunities in the Bay of Bengal region bycutting across geo-political boundaries.

The Specific Objectives were set out as;1. Bring together stakeholders and

practitioners to share and discussknowledge of community resilience andadaptation planning from different parts ofBay of Bengal.

2. Capture the scientific learning fromcommunity by engaging with the scientistsand academicians to develop a people'sscience model appropriate for thedeveloping world.

3. Enhance the capacity of most vulnerablegroups of people to develop their resiliencecapacity in developing countries andintegrate lessons into development plans.

4. Disseminate lessons learnt at the workshopas a summary charter for follow up.

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Mr. Dipankar Datta,Country Director, ConcernWorldwide, India,welcomed the delegates tothe workshop andmentioned that thisworkshop is the firstinitiative to create a

platform to bring together the coastalcommunities along the Bay of Bengal coast andaddress the climate change issues across the subregion. He highlighted that climate change is aglobal issue and does not respect stateboundaries; hence the entire geo-climatic politicsneeds to be explored to address the issueholistically. Quoting the UN Secretary General

that there would be no food security withoutclimate security he emphasized that mostvulnerable countries along the Bay of Bengalcoast are facing the worst impact of the scenarioand coordinated effort is required at the regionallevel to address the issue. He urged the delegatesto actively participate in the three day longworkshop and hoped that a meaningful dialoguewould ensue leading to some direction for thecommunities, Government and the key agenciesworking in the region.

This first of kind initiative aims to establish aplatform to bring together the communities alongthe Bay of Bengal coast and address the climatechange issues together.

WORKSHOP PROCEEDINGSDAY ONE- 12th July 2012

INAUGURAL SESSION

The workshop was inaugurated by Mr. Debi Prasad Mishra, Honorable Minister for Forest andEnvironment, Government of Odisha, along with an esteemed panel of delegates representing India,Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Nepal.

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Mr. Saroj Dash, TechnicalCoordinator -ConcernWorldwide, briefed aboutthe sub regional perspe-ctive and the need for suchan initiative and describedthe broad objective of theprocess. As a proponent of

the sub-regional workshop, he also highlightedthe need to bring together all stakeholders andpractitioners to develop collective action oncommunity resilience and adaptation in the Bayof Bengal region. The participation of keystakeholders from the region has helped to broadbase the scope of the engagement. Sharing brieflyabout 'Paribartan'- the multi-country climatechange initiative by Concern Worldwide, he saidthat this effort aimed to initiate and developdesired positive changes amongst thecommunities across the sub region living inhighly vulnerable conditions and facing the furyand challenges of climate change and naturaldisasters. 'Paribartan' is not a mere project but isa mirror to the problems afflicting the entire sub-region and reflects the hopes and aspirations ofthe people to bring positive changes. Thechallenge is to address a larger change workingin tandem with different governments,institutions, the different communities and theentire population who will be affected by thechanges in the region. This sub-regionalworkshop is the outcome of a series ofconsultations that has started from Bangladeshand now resulted in this event to bring theexperiences from the grassroots agencies,academic research and policy makers together.He also appreciated the participation of largenumber of people across boundaries forresponding to the call and sincerely hoped forstronger cooperation and effort to meet thechallenges ahead.

He also emphasized on the concept of theworkshop that it has linked the communities with

strategic partners like UNDP and EuropeanUnion, support partners like ConcernWorldwide, Practical Action, Trocaire, Save theChildren and academic partners Utkal Universityand Jawarharlal Nehru University and JahangirNagar University as the knowledge partners withthe support of the action partners as the organizersnamely Regional Centre for DevelopmentCooperation (RCDC) from India and JJS andSushilan from Bangladesh. Most importantly, hementioned the valued contribution and supportfrom Parliamentarians from India andBangladesh.

Ms Vishaka Hidellage,South Asia Director,Practical Action said herorganization wasimmensely pleased to bea part of this initiative. Sheemphasized that PracticalAction inherits the

principles of the eminent British economist andphilosopher E Fritz Schumacher and the founderof the organization who warned about theimpacts of lopsided development and climatechange nearly four decades ago. Practical Actionhas been trying to demonstrate an alternative pathto development based on the principle ofenvironment friendly development approach ofSchumacher that could still save the situation ifproperly implemented. She explained thatPractical Action is trying hard to bring 'technologyjustice' to the communities in need and offeredthe support of her organization's experience andexpertise for building up the resilience of thecommunities across the sub region. Wishing allthe success she extended her appreciation to theorganisers to initiate such a step which needsurgent attention and action as disasters do notrespect boundaries.

Coastal disasters have strong relation with whathappens in the hills and inlands. Hence needto think and strategies in a holistic manner.

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Reiterating her statement Mr.Achyut Luitel ofPractical Action- Nepal pointed that climatechange was not restricted to the Bay of Bengalregion alone and even in a highland country likeNepal temperature is constantly rising andaffecting livelihoods. The melting glaciers of theHimalayas are leading to flooding in the majorIndian rivers originating from Nepal and aredisrupting life in India as well as Bangladesh.Hence it is necessary for all nations to thinkseriously about climate change and its impact inthe upstream region as that would cover theissues with a holistic perspective.

The Chief Guest, Hon'bleMinister Mr. Debi PrasadMishra, expressed hisgratitude for organizingsuch an important multicountry workshop inOdisha and for invitinghim. The minister lucidly

described the importance of the Bay - both inthe development of region and also in the recentclimatic threats. The state of Odisha has alwaysbeen dependent on the Bay of Bengal, earlierknown as the Kalinga Ocean, and its inhabitantsused to sail across the bay to trade with countriesof Java, Sumatra, Indonesia and Sri Lanka addingto the prosperity of the state. Today unfortunatelythe same Bay has turned into a threat forcing thetransition from a once prosperous state to adisaster prone poor economy affecting the livesand livelihoods across coastal Odisha. Out of 40million people in the state, 60 percent aredependent upon the coastal ecosystem for theirlivelihoods. The changes witnessed in lakes,rivers and the coast are alarming. Sea level rise,saline ingress, and coastal erosion have emerged

as major climate induced problems affecting bothagriculture and marine productivity. Heemphasised that the Government is aware ofclimate change issues and has been taking stepsto control and mitigate the situation and in theprocess has developed a 'climate change actionplan' for the state and a separate coastal zonemanagement plan is also being implemented bythe Government with assistance from WorldBank. Coining this effort as a 'mini-SAARC'initiative he extended his commitment for thecause and gave call to join hands and promotesub-regional cooperation at the SAARC level andcreate a multi stake holder platform to addressthe challenges of climate change in the Bay

Dr. Ambika Nanda,summing up the session,expressed happiness thatthe workshop has startedon an auspicious note withstrong support andcommitments from theHon'ble Minister and

other participants. He expressed hope that theinitiative would bring results as other Afro-Asiancommitments have done in the past. He calledupon the facilitators, knowledge providers andexperts to come out with viable solutions duringthe various sessions so that they could be sharedand taken up with the Governments.

The vote of thanks wasextended by Mr. KailashChandra Dash, ExecutiveDirector, RCDC whoextended his heartfeltgratitude to the ChiefGuest, Panel Membersand all the participants and

wished that the event would be a great successand the deliberations would provide key solutionsto the crisis affecting the communities across theBay of Bengal region.

I on behalf of the Government of Odisha de-clare strong support to promote this sub-re-gional Cooperation to tackle climate changechallenges

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The inaugural session was followed by thesession on "Bay of Bengal Perspective and theRole of the Civil Society" which aimed to buildthe perspective before beginning of the technicalsessions. Apart from setting up the objective forthe workshop this session geared to develop themodalities and modus operandi for the

participants, paper presenters and session chairsto conduct the session. The session was chairedby eminent journalist Mr. Dillip Satapathy andthe panel included organizers like Dr. AmbikaNanda, Mr. Dipankar Datta, Mr Saroj Dash, MrKailash Chandra Dash, and Dr. Kabir MohanSethy.

Referring to the increasing number of climaticaberrations, both in number and intensity, Mr.Ambika Nanda expressed that people are gettingexposed to increasing number of varied climaticdisasters. They are staying prepared at their levelas they are trying their best to adapt. However acomplex issue like climate change cannot be

tackled at the community level alone. The roleof NGOs, CSOs and other stakeholders becomesvery important not only to intervene on a servicedelivery mode during emergency situations butto develop the capacities of the people andempower them to face the challenges. In spite ofsuch capacity building the people continue to

be dependent on the service providers and thusit is important to make the state accountable andfollow the rights based approach. He called uponthe civil societies to build a common agenda andwork together to ensure that all developmentinterventions are sustainable and well researchedso that the new programmes and interventionshelp reduce the risks and vulnerabilities ofcommon people.

Clarifying that the word 'civil society' does notmean only NGOs but all the people and theirorganizations, Dipankar Datta of ConcernWorldwide emphasized that the nature of thecivil society varies across all countries bordering

Bay of Bengal Perspective and the Role of Civil Society

PANEL DISCUSSION

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the Bay of Bengal. He expressed the need forunderstanding their different character and urgedthe need to bring them onto a common platformand develop common action points.

Representing the academia Dr. Kabir MohanSethy, HoD, Department of Geography, UtkalUniversity expressed the role of technicalinstitutes and universities to carry out scientificstudies and ensure the outreach of the studyfindings to the common people in a simplemanner which would help in demystifying thecomplex technical knowledge and theirapplication in common interpretable forms. Hecited his own experience with regard to study ofcoastal erosion in Satabhaya region in Odishaand how people's perception of the disaster hasgradually changed. Thus there is a need toundertake more of such grassroots studies toeducate the people and help them in developingtheir resilience and the role of the academia is toact as a bridge between science and people andblend the traditional knowledge of the peoplewith the scientific knowledge for the benefit ofthe community to overcome the climate crisis.

Echoing the voice of the civil society, Mr. KailashChandra Dash, Executive Director, RCDC opinedthat most of the climate change action plans,including the one that Government of Odishahas prepared, are beset by the top-downapproach. Fruitful action can come only by giving

more emphases to action at the local level.Technology is good and can be accepted if it issuited to the needs of the community and as perthe local situation. Highlighting the role ofNGOs, he expressed that government can ofcourse do many things but there are certain jobswhere the NGOs are better equipped. We need

to establish a perfect and healthy mix. Heappreciated the efforts of NGO's who areworking with the people to understand theirproblems, empowering them by building theircapacities, enabling them to form communitybased organizations, and advocating their causeto Governments and other agencies to bringabout people friendly policies and development.NGOs with their peoples led approach andadvocacy skills are better placed to take care ofnatural resources and their effective managementsuiting the needs of the communities. Heappealed to all civil society organizationsworking in the region to come together to meetthe aspirations of the people and help them infighting the vagaries of the climate and adaptingto changing circumstances.

Briefing about the agenda of the workshop therepresentative of Concern Worldwide shared thatthe workshop was proposed as the first initiativeto create a sharing platform to bring together thecoastal communities and their agencies along theBay of Bengal coast to address the climate change

issues across the sub region. The goal of the subregional workshop is to share the latestdevelopments and discourse on buildingcommunity resilience across the region byaddressing the core issues of disaster and climatechange

Mr. Saroj Dash expressed that climate change isa global issue and does not respect stateboundaries; hence the entire geo-climatic politicsneeds to be explored to address the issueholistically. In this regard, he appealed to all thegroups to demonstrate actions on the groundwhich would motivate the common man to jointhe struggle. As an anecdote, he cited the

Government can perform many things best butthere are certain jobs where the NGOs arebetter. We need to find a perfect and healthymix where both supplement each other.

The workshop aims to galvanise every indi-vidual living in the sub-region where theyrealise that they too have a role to play in miti-gating climate crisis.

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example of how Gandhiji associated commonsalt with the Independence Movement tocommunicate with common people to mobilizetheir participation. Similarly the issues of ClimateChange should be communicated to enable everyindividual living in the region to realise that it isaffecting their lives and they too have a role inmitigating the crisis which would not leaveanyone unscathed.

Summarizing the session and also representingthe media Mr. Dillip Satapathy said that thisworkshop will surely help build the intendedplatforms at all levels - from community tonational policy making to international

negotiations. Adding on the role of the media hesaid that the media needs to play a very importantand responsible role to tackle the climate crisis.He said that the media has a key role indisseminating knowledge on climate change, itscauses and effects and also in reporting on thevarious measures being taken to mitigate andadapt to such changes. He said the the medialooks for precise and genuine information andlack of such information makes it difficult for themedia to focus on the issue and urged the groupsworking on the issue to support the media withauthentic and timely information for widersharing.

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The first technical session was on 'ClimateChange and Impact Assessment/Monitoring'which was chaired by Prof. Gopal Panda,Geography Department, Utkal University. Theother members in the panel were Prof. TawhidulIslam of Jahangir Nagar University, Bangladesh;Mr. Rafique Haque of Sushilan in Bangladesh;and Mr. Sudip Chandra Pal, Sarpanch of avulnerable coastal Panchayat in Kendrapadadistrict of Odisha.

With a graphic present-ation Prof. Pandaelaborated on morpholo-gical changes and issues ofcoastal zone managementalong Odisha coast. Thepresentation highlightedthe distinct characteristics

of Odisha coast and described some conceptualand methodological aspects of use of RelativeVulnerability and Disaster Risk Index (DRI) forspatial analysis and multi hazard zoning in Indiasituation. He focused on coastal erosion alongthe Odisha coast and explained how sucherosion has become a major threat for the coastalcommunities making human habitation andlivelihood vulnerable due to climate induced

coastal processes. Citing the various agents andprocesses affecting the coast like coastal winds,coastal waves, littoral drift, storm surges, flooddischarges, tides, and human interventions hesaid that coastal communities are living inconstant threat of loss of lives and livelihood.He called upon researchers to identify and studythe various changes occurring along the coast asan impact of climate change so as to influencedevelopment in coastal areas in order to mitigateand adapt to the changes. He discussed aboutvarious tools and methods to study the forcesthat were causing the changes and hoped thatSMART modifications and intelligentinterventions could turn things around and helpthe communities thrive and become resilient andalso have ecologically sound impact on thecoastline. He ended by calling out for anintegrated process of sustainable developmentthat would ensure social justice and equity.

Dr. Tawhidul Islam, in hispresentation, dealt withContextual Assessment forDesigning CommunityResilience Program inClimate Change Scenarioand focused on the

Preparation can start only when we become aware about certain changes. Preparation becomessuccessful only when we are able find out the causes; and/or any pattern in such changes. Thusassessing impacts and monitoring the developments are the basic essentials, especially when we aredealing with highly erratic climatic situation. The scope of the session provided the opportunity toexplore the range and diversity of experiences on the process of conducting assessments and monitor-ing of climate change impact by drawing the learning from both existing and ongoing experiences ofkey stakeholders engaged in the region.

Climate Change and Impact Assessment / Monitoring

TECHNICAL SESSION - 1

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vulnerabilities of communities living in thecoastal regions of Bay of Bengal which has beenfrequently affected by cyclones, tidal inundationand floods most of which are considered asimpacts of climate change. Understandingcommunity vulnerability to shocks is not easyand linear rather it requires a conceptual line ofthought that may have sufficient space toaccommodate every major and minor contextualissues appropriate for a location and specific scale(i.e. household, community, regional). The papertried to explore how communities use theresources for their well-being and howuncertainties, threats and shocks creates groundsof vulnerability by amplifying gaps in assetholding and distribution pattern.

The panelists shared their views that developmentactivities, including some intended to mitigatecoastal hazards, along the coast has beenresponsible in degrading the coastal environment,leading to deterioration of common propertyresources which are the livelihood support ofpoor and marginal communities.

Mr. Rafique Haque fromSushilan, Bangladesh,advised caution whileimplementing projects insensitive areas. Citing fromexperience he shared thatin the 1960s Bangladeshimplemented a coastal

zone project which on the contrary caused moreadverse affects. The project's adverse affectstarted to be felt in 15-20 years. Now that areahas become water logged because of siltation asdrainage system has been blocked. He said thatwe tend to term climate change for loss oflivelihoods but there is no such provision yet toprove it. He stressed on the need for evidencethat can actually establish that the damages incoastal areas and loss of lives and livelihoods

are an impact of climate change. Through the'Paribartan' project, initiative has been taken togather evidences and baseline study has beenconducted which has captured the climatechange impacts and vulnerabilities at thecommunity level. This baseline informationsystem will be updated every year to capture thechanges.He concluded by highlighting that lotsof actions are being taken by the communities atthe grassroots but there is need to develop stronglinkage between the researchers and thecommunity people for better results.

Mr. Sudip Chandra Palshared about the climatechange impacts faced bythe people of this region.He said that people havebecome victims of thedevelopment projectsalong the coast and the

improper planning by the government. He sharedthe examples of Satbhaya and Pentha which havebecome climate hot spots and impacts of sea levelrise could be witnessed in these areas. Elaboratingfurther on his area, the Sarpanch said that nature's

fury is more acute in his area as it has beentrapped in a dreadful triangle with the restrictionto access and use the resources due to impositionof Wildlife Act in Bhitarkanika National Park onone side; Marine sanctuary at Gahirmatha on theother and restrictions imposed by missile testingcentre on the third side. He narrated aboutclimate refugees and how people are forced tomigrate to live a pitiable life. He howeversounded very positive and concluded by sayingthat it is our duty to safeguard nature, which willthen protect us.

Researchers have to identify changes occur-ring along the coastas an impact of climatechange so as to influence development incoastal areas.

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The contribution of the paper and inputs fromthe panel members shared the practices fromacross the region and captured the view pointson the relevance and legitimacy of the monitoringprocesses to establish a community basedmonitoring system to capture the changingimpacts of climate change. The use of informationand technologies in building such comprehensive

monitoring system was emphasized as theemerging trend to capture the communityperception in an effective manner. The sessionalso identified common issues and called for crossregional cooperation to share the practices anddiscuss knowledge of community resilience andadaptation planning from different parts of Bayof Bengal.

Suggested Action Points

• Monitoring hazards and their impacts need to be assessed by the researchers along with thecoastal communities and issues need to be addressed at the sub regional level since there existsdiversity in people, environment and resources.

• Micro level studies will help more in community centric adaptation and mitigation.

• In climate change scenario the affected communities and civil society organisations need todesign community resilience programmes using the 'asset, inequality and vulnerability' frame-work.

• Local specific community resilience programmes can be a solution to address the coastal issuesof climate change and lessons can be drawn from contextual analysis which has been adoptedin Bangladesh as a model.

• Tracking the impact of development in reduction or enhancing climate change effects requiresto be given special emphasis.

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Climate change hits the poor hard as it affects the primary sector first. This sub-region is home to thedensest poor population of the world. About 80 percent of that population is directly dependent onagriculture and natural resource as their primary livelihood sources. The impact of climate change isbeing felt the most in these sectors. In such backdrop this session offered sharing of wide range ofexperiences, knowledge and practices in agriculture sector to develop the coping capacity of the farmdependent communities and the scope to maintain/enhance food security. The panel members dis-cussed the range of impact generated through the action research models that captured the scientificresearches; and learning from community. They provided a potential ground to develop a people'sscience model on sustainable agriculture in a climate change scenario. The session also shared aperspective on community based crop water budgeting systems. The issues of access to commons andinteraction with the market was proposed to ensure the livelihoods and food security of the mostvulnerable groups as the challenges to develop and management of the climate resource to benefit thedeveloping world with livelihoods insecurity caused by climate change and suggested to secure liveli-hoods and food security as a perfect blend of traditional knowledge and new innovations.

The second technical session was a very crucialone as it meticulously tried to learn both fromthe grassroots as well as from the laboratoriesthe impacts of climate change on agriculture andthe ways to mitigate or adapt to the challenges.The panel for this session included farm scientistsDr. P Bhattacharya and Dr. Sinhababu, fromCentral Rice Research Institute (CRRI); Dr DebalDeb, a known ecologist and Director of Centrefor Interdisciplinary Studies, Kolkata; Mr. S VGobardhan Das, Executive Secretary of CHE;Mr Palash Haldar of Concern Worldwide,Bangladesh; and Mr Deepak Singh of Dan ChurchAid, New Delhi.

Dr. Bhattacharya gave anidea about technologicalinnovations andexperience to assess andcombat climate changeeffects on agriculture in hispresentation titled"Climate change and

agriculture; special reference to rice". Heinformed that the developed nations alwaysblame the rice producing developing nations likeIndia for contributing to climate change as largescale rice cultivation release Green House Gases(GHG), a factor for climate change. To verify the

Climate Change and Food Security / Agriculture / Livelihood


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claim the Central Rice Research Institute (CRRI)at Cuttack took up a study and shared the studyfindings which proved that it was a myth thatrice fields are adding significantly to GHGemissions, on the contrary, these fields in factact as net carbon sinks and he supplemented thefindings with the information and figures fromfour other rice producing countries. The GHGemitted by rice fields can be better managed byslight changes in cultivation practices, he pointedout and spelt out various technological optionsthat could lead to terrestrial reduction of GHGsand carbon sequestration.

Dr. Sinhababu in his presentation on "Food andLivelihood Security by Rice and Rice basedFarming Systems" spoke on how integrated ricebased farming system has been introduced inmany coastal and North Eastern states of thecountry to augment food security taking intoconsideration that different factors are puttingagriculture under stress. He narrated the benefitsof integrating rice farming with fish, prawn,poultry, horticulture and trees in variousecosystems and shared about the various ricevarieties developed by CRRI and the differentinitiatives undertaken by CRRI towards food andlivelihood security.

Dr. S.V Gobardhan Das, ascientist and water/cropmanagement practitionerfrom Andhra Pradeshhighlighted experiencesfrom an arid region whichis facing increasing waterstress. He discussed about

his practical action on community based groundwater budgeting in an arid region of AndhraPradesh in India. In his presentation on "CropWater Budgeting (CWB): A tool to buildcommunity resilience to drought" he shared howcommunities/farmers could be trained on watermanagement, community preparedness to facethe drought situations and how to improve thescientist-farmer relationship. Using variousinnovative tools and institutional arrangementsthe communities can be organized to carry outsimple scientific water tracking at the communitylevel and sensitized to use water sustainably. Thefarmers accordingly went in for low waterconsuming crops, diversified their crops, adoptedvarious water saving methods, and went in forwater saving equipment for watering andirrigation. The documented results were veryencouraging and also influenced policy makersat the national level.

Mr. Palash Haldar fromConcern Worldwide,Bangladesh, narrated hisexperiences with theimplementation ofParibartan project and theinitiatives undertakenunder this project as

climate adaptation measures so as to ensure foodand livelihood security of the targeted coastalcommunities.

Mr.Deepak Singh focusedmore on the policiesrelated to food productionand food security. Heviewed that the process ofindustrialization and theactivities of industries area significant contributor to

climate change which is being overlooked byeven the monitoring agencies. He complainedthat most of the international initiatives and

Rice fields do not 'sink' the climate; ratherthey 'sink' carbon. It is incorrect that rice fieldsare significant GHG emitters. They in fact actas carbon sink with minor modification in cul-tivation practices.

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negotiations have ignored the base, which is thefood production and impact on billions of people.He mentioned that of all such internationalagencies it was only the UNEP which had itsHead Office in a developing country; Kenya. Atthe regional level too, the efforts have beenmostly macro-centric. Governments sometimesdid chalk out plans to combat climate changebut did not earmark sufficient budgets toimplement them. Thus the intents are nottranslating into work. He warned that unless thecurrent development paradigm was revisited andchanged for a better model, the world would onlysee an aggravation of its current problems.

Dr. Debal Deb whochaired the session putforth his observation andshared that today intensiveagriculture and mono croppatterns favoured by theagricultural institutionshave created many

problems in agriculture and the presentperception of such practices indicates that thereneeds to be a change in approach. Climatechange is putting agriculture under stress butcurrent research on rice, that is 60 years old, isyet to produce any stress tolerant variety.

Indigenous varieties have been ignored andneglected but these varieties have evolved overcenturies to tolerate various kinds of stress. Hesaid that in his own capacity as a riceconservationist he has come across several salttolerant indigenous varieties of rice and has inhis possession 18 varieties that can be grownunder 15 feet of water. These varieties have beenidentified by farmers themselves and hewondered why such a rich and diverse array ofindigenous knowledge systems are being ignoredby the researchers and policy makers. He opinedthat contrary to the contention of agriculturescientists, zero chemical agriculture is bothpossible and feasible and countries like Cubahave also demonstrated it to the world. Hereiterated that the issue of rice fields leading toGHG emissions and climate change is a joke asa single jet plane emits more such gases thanentire rice fields of India.

Many suggestions and inputs came in a livelyopen session which also suggested action points.The chair summed up the session by saying thatwe have a rich bio-diversity and when they react/interact with each other we get the most effectiveresult but we need to learn the wisdom from theaffected communities and build a people'sscience mechanism at large.

Suggested action points

• A perfect blend of traditional knowledge and new innovations is required in order to securelivelihood and food security.

• All technology new or old have to be practical and implementable and should be developedkeeping the most vulnerable persons and sectors in focus.

• Adopting integrated systems could increase output and spread the risks from failures due to thevagaries of weather. Adopting a proper cropping pattern, a sound knowledge system and increas-ing agri-biodiversity is very important, was the advice to communities.

• Overall the session cleared the misconception that agriculture in developing nations was contrib-uting to climate change. There were assurances that there existed traditional varieties that couldresist flooding and higher temperatures. Institutions were also engaged in research to come outwith stress tolerant varieties.

• With the emergence of scientific consensus on climate change, the issues of the fisher folk commu-nities are also manifold and their science have been challenged by the unpredictability of the shiftin fish harvest and impacts of frequent disasters due to climate change. There is an urgent needto address the issues of fisher folk livelihoods.

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The second day of the workshop started with arevisit to the first day progress. It was followedby morning plenary session chaired by Mr. TanvirShakil Joy, Honourable Member of Parliamentfrom Bangladesh. The panel members includedMr. Achyut Luitel, Country Director Nepal fromPractical Action; and Mr. Mukul Sharma, SouthAsia Regional Director, Climate Parliament.

Mr. Joy expressed his firmcommitment and addedthat in order to negotiatewith the internationalcommunity and in order tosafeguard the interest ofour vulnerable people, weas South Asians have to

think together, act together and develop a sense

of being in the same boat and negotiate with thedeveloped nations in an united manner. He subtlyreferred to different stands taken by countries ofthe region at international forums on climatechange and hoped that the countries will soontalk an unified voice. Speaking about Bangladesh

he narrated the plight of the dense populationliving in the coast. Siltation along the rivers inthe coast has created numerous small islandsknown as "chars" which is inhabited by thecoastal communities and easily fall prey to bothflash floods and erosion that have become

Day two was a natural progress from day one. Many technical sessions were covered during thecourse of the day. However the day started with a plenary that distinctly aimed to facilitate practicaltakeaways from the workshop which will help during negotiation and lobbies at forums of variouslevels.

We suffer for other's sins. Our sub-region needsto organize and bargain strongly. For that wehave to think together, act together and de-velop a sense of being in the same boat.

DAY TWO- 13th July 2012PLENARY SESSION

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frequent in the recent days. Increasing salinityhas made drinking water scarce in the region andto add to it Northern Bangladesh is ravaged byfrequent cyclonic storms. There are also areaswhere due to droughts there is desertificationleading to problems of food security. Bangladeshis not contributing to climate change but isbearing the full brunt of it, he said adding thatsimilar is the condition of the poor anddeveloping nations of the sub region. Whileemphasizing that the western countries are boundby their responsibilities towards developing andunderdeveloped countries to transfertechnologies and fund, our local knowledge isno less important. Many communities are tacklingclimate vagaries on their own, through their ownlearning and knowhow that we need to learn fromand develop the future actions for acomprehensive plan to promote communityresilience.

Mr.Achyut from Nepal shared how localcommunities are coping with the changes andadapting through innovative local practices in thecoastal areas of Odisha and Bangladesh. Heshared the experiences of Practical Actionworking in the coastal district of Odisha alongwith SWAD, a local NGO. He urged thedevelopment practitioners to be sensitive to localcultural contexts and think of solutions from theecosystem point of view and work collectivelyrather than having isolated approaches to tacklethe issue.

Mr. Mukul Sharma, South Asia Director- ClimateParliament called upon the political communityto shed political boundaries and foster mutualcollaboration across the region to voice theconcerns of the affected communities. He alsoemphasized on four key points: a) Form aParliamentarian group for the Bay of Bengal;b) Initiate some legislation, policy discussion inthe parliament; c) Organise Parliamentarians atleast once a year to discuss on climate changeissues; and, d) Initiate cross-border sharing.

Mr. Mukul also gave emphasis on energy transferfrom one country of the region to other whichwill improve camaraderie further and help thesub-region in combating climate changechallenges better.

While doing the summing up the session, Mr.Tanvir Shakil reiterated that the challenge ofclimate change needs to be faced together andall the actors need to come together and form aunited South Asian voice. He urged theparticipants to formulate a charter and road mapat the end of this workshop.

Many issues were discussed in the open sessionthat followed. The subjects ranged frominternational scope for negotiation to preparationsat the grassroots for such negotiations.

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In the open session the following issues weresuggested:

• Need for political will and inter-regionalconsensus to tackle climate change issueand bring Parliamentarians together on acommon platform and develop a holisticapproach for the sub region.

• Need for the citizen of the affectedcountries to think across borders andconsider themselves as South Asians. Theyoung, experienced and knowledgeableMP from Bangladesh, Mr. Tanvir stood asan example for his countrymen and theentire region and it is the responsibility ofthe Parliamentarians like him to carry thecommunity voices forward.

• Ensure more women representation in thepolicy level.

• Appeal to Parliamentarians not to limitthemselves to discussing bigger issues but

also involve themselves with local issuesaffecting communities.

• Need for an urgent review of all climatechange projects in the sub region anddevelop uniformity and linkage within theactions taken up by the nationalgovernments across the region.

Summing up, Mr. Tanvir Shakil Joy emphasisedthat Parliamentarians of developing nations areawake to the problems of climate change, unliketheir counterparts from developed nations. Headmitted that there was need for bettercoordination of various projects across the Bayof Bengal and that they needed to be reviewedfor their probable impacts. He believed thatParliamentarians are accountable to their peopleand hoped that the workshop would lead todevelopment of a Charter and a road map totackle climate change in the region.


• Although governments of the sub region face the same problem and confront similar chal-lenges, their approaches at various negotiation forums have been independent and varied.Individual Parliamentarians need to be identified to further the overall goal of sub-regionalcooperation and common approach.

• All climate change projects need urgent review and reorientation. The national governmentsneed to forge uniformity and linkages within the actions around the sub-region.

• Efforts are required to persuade the governments and policy makers to devise action plans thatsupplement each others resources and capacities. For example, countries like Nepal and Indiacan meet energy requirement of Bangladesh.

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The session on 'Climate Change andTechnology', which was co-organised byPractical Action and Concern Worldwide, waschaired by Dr. Kabir Sethy of Department ofGeography, Utkal University and hadDr. Gurmeet Singh, School for EnvironmentalScience, Jawaharlal Nehru University, NewDelhi; Mr. Ranga Pallawala of Practical Action,Sri Lanka; Dr. P.Mishra, Senior Scientist ofORSAC, Odisha; and Mr. Gehendra Gurung ofPractical Action, Nepal as panel members.

Stating that India is among 27 most vulnerablecountries to climate change, Dr. Gurmeet Singhfocused on the natural shields like mangroves toprotect the vulnerable coasts and coastalhabitations. In his presentation on "ClimateChange & Mangroves: Issues, Adaptation andMitigation" he highlighted that mangrove forestsact as an important adaptation measure in thecoastal areas of the Bay of Bengal. Mangrovesprotect the communities by preventing seaerosion, restricting sea surges and reducing theimpact of cyclonic storms emerging from the sea.They provide a variety of eco-system services andalso help to sequester huge amounts of carbon,he informed. The coastal communities aredependent on these forests for food production,medicines, firewood, honey fish and construction

material. He further cited that the differentclimatic factors like increasing salinity, and sealevel rise are leading to fast degradation of themangroves. Over the last seven years the worldhas witnessed a sharp decrease in mangrovecover leading directly to a loss of 225,000 metrictonnes of carbon sequestration potential each

Mangrove forests not only give a protectivenatural shield to coastal disasters, they alsoare the major livelihood source of the coastalcommunity. Any technology aimed to protectand regenerate mangrove forest must have com-munity at the centre.

The third technical session of the workshop and first of the second day aimed to build from theplatform that the morning plenary provided. It discussed various technologies and mostly highlightedthe need for engaging the technological innovations for addressing the issues of climate change. Thefocus was on harnessing available technological options to assess climate change, predict its impactand enable communities to adapt to such changes by offering advance warning and technical tools.

Climate Change and Technology


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year. Dr. Singh elaborated on tools and methodsto enhance mangroves resilience. He discussedabout various scientific tools and ended hispresentation saying that there is a need for shiftin research attitude so that the community's needscould be kept in mind and transparency ismaintained during data processing and sharing.He emphatically said we need 'a science withhuman face'. Most of the modern scientific toolsare out of the reach of the common people whocan be the best monitors and thus we are losingout on the best possible opportunity, he argued.

Mr. Ranga Pallawala shared how Practical Actionhas demonstrated a pragmatic approach ofdeveloping people's model by enhancing theirknowledge and access to appropriatetechnologies starting from most modern satellite/web based technologies and developingcommunity technologies. He shared that use oftechnology in climate change presented manydilemmas; like whether to go in for mitigation oradaptation, whether to use hardware or software,what methods of sustainable development to goin for, whether efforts will be voluntary orfinanced, whether technology is to be transferredor developed, whether the transformation is tobe gradual or abrupt, and whether the approachesshould be local or national. Discussingelaborately on each of these options heemphasized on the need for balance accordingto the situation and contextual need. PracticalAction is offering a wide sharing in the regionwith advancing technologies but thedissemination and access to such technologiesremain a problem area. Finally he alsohighlighted the need to develop local technologythat would lead to practical action and must bescientifically sound to meet the standards.

Supporting the views, Mr. Gehendra Gurung alsofrom Practical Action shared that there was needfor technology assessment based upon thedynamics of the local situation and also the need

to assess the strengths and gaps of the communityand prepare plans for responding to climatechange through technology by using the strengthsand addressing the gaps. Currently there is needfor a forum for technology exchange and transferwithin the region and expressed his hope thatthis workshop would help create such a forum.

Dr. P. Mishra in his presentation titled, "CuttingEdge Geospatial Technology for Facts Findingand Monitoring Indicators of Climate Change",appraised the house about the advancedgeospatial technology and various tools that werenow available to map the trends and effects ofclimate change, particularly in the coastalregions. He informed that today's geospatialtechnology includes remote sensing GIS, GPS,web based GIS-WMS and WFS which couldeasily help to map out the trend and probablefuture impacts of climate change. The challengefor a researcher lies in how to collect anddisseminate such information relating to climatechange. He said that most of the governmentsmaintain huge data repositories. But they loosevalue as the information is not reaching the stateofficials who devise plans and other users at thegrassroots level. There is the need to be moreopen with information and for scientific and otherconcerned institutions to interact with each other.The science and technology available has to bemade community friendly and the Governmentand the Parliamentarians can become technologysavvy and start using them for the benefit of thecommunity.

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Open house discussion followed thepresentations by panel members.

The session was very informative and detailedthe ongoing research, using scientific tools, onthe various changes that are being observed inareas vulnerable to climate change and theirimpact on the lives, habitat and livelihood ofcommunities. All the members gave ideas onvarious technologies starting from most modernsatellite/web based technologies to low costcommunity technologies and the authors alsoshared the papers with the experience onpotential use of scientific tools and technologiesto develop any analytical model for the criticalresources essential to reduce the impact ofgreenhouse gases and promoting the scope ofmodeling the vulnerabilities in the coastal regionsof Bay of Bengal. Further, the panel membersalso highlighted the need to develop local

technology that would lead to practical actionand must be scientifically sound to meet thestandards. The chair of the session also reiteratedthat we need technologies, which obviously arenot limited to machinery or equipments, whichcan coordinate with other existing technologyand knowhow and further the interest of thecommunity in adapting to and/or mitigatingclimate change affects. The panel shared thattechnologies are advancing but the disseminationand access to such technologies remain aproblem area. Further the technology should leadto practical action and must be communityspecific. The session concluded by summing thatwe need technologies, which obviously are notlimited to machinery or equipment, which cancoordinate with other existing technology andknowhow and further the interest of thecommunity in adapting to and/or mitigatingclimate change effects.


• There is an immediate need for technology to map out the land cover and land use change as animpact of climate change. Efforts have to be made to form network of resource organisations ofthe sub-region.

• The technologies need to be simplified and popularised so that they become useful. There is aneed for resource organisations, governments and non-government organisations to work together.

• There is a need to convince and force developed nations for appropriate technology transfer orfund technology innovations to help the vulnerable people in developing nations.

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Children are among the most vulnerable to climate change. However, ironically, they neither have asay in any discussion or decision making process, nor are their issues prominently discussed atimportant forums or taken care in the climate change adaptation plans. As the future citizen theyexpect the present generation to not pass over a completely man-made climate change curse on theirgenre. On the other hand, the youth are the most efficient workforce and the most knowledgeableabout the climate change and its present course. This session aimed to discuss how issues of childrenand youth can be mainstreamed into the major actions and how they can play a lead role in challeng-ing climate change.

More of children's participation in the climatechange planning process and more childrencentered focus in disaster reduction and adap-tation measures is the need.

Climate Change and Youth / Children


This session was facilitated by Save the Childrenand was chaired by Mr. Ray Kancharla of Savethe Children. The Panel Members were Mr MihirBhatt of All India Disaster Mitigation Institute(AIDMI), New Delhi; Mr. Gourishankar Pattnaikof South Asian Youth Climate Coalition (SAYCC);and Mr. Mohan Kumar Dash, community leaderfrom a coastal village in Kendrapada, Odisha.The session sought to highlight the plight ofchildren and youth in the face of climate changeand how they should be encouraged to voicetheir concerns so that plans and policies deal withissues pertaining to them.

The session certainly brought the focus of thedebate on energy and climate change with a

human rights perspective and built on the strengthof the youth and children to engage in the debate.The session highlighted that children and youthwere suffering from various societal pressures andeconomic and livelihood impacts arising out ofclimate change which needed seriousconsideration while preparing for climate change.The issues that emerged were those of child

rights, child survival, growth and well-being, foodsecurity and nutrition, and their access toeducation.

Highlighting the fact that children are alwaysexcluded from any climate change discussionsMr. Ray Kancharla stressed that children andyouth are an important part of the climate changedebate and should be part of any such discussionsand decisions. They have a right to be heard aschildren and youth are, and in future will be,severely affected by climate change impacts,

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We are fast becoming climate's orphans.Worsening climate is forcing migration anddisplacement in a big way. The 'Panchayats'lack the resources to tackle such problems.

even though they have done the least to causethe change. Climate change poses a severe threatto child rights, child survival and well-being, foodsecurity and nutrition, and also children's accessto education and protection. Citing theBunyavanich 2003 study he outlined howmetabolic, behavioral, physiological anddevelopmental changes would come about inchildren by increased exposure to pollutants,thermal changes, lack of food and nutrition, risein infectious diseases, and ultraviolet radiationsas a result of climatic changes and their effects.He called for more of children's participation inthe climate change planning process and morechildren centered focus in disaster reduction andadaptation measures. Save the Children has takeninitiative to create awareness among childrenabout climate change and mitigation/preventionand educating that climate change was not allabout gloom and doom but about what can bedone to prevent it and reduce its impact.

Mr. Mihir Bhatt shared many study findings invarious parts of the sub-region and other parts ofthe world and informed that the new edition IPCCSpecial Report on "Managing the Risks of ExtremeEvents and Disasters to Advance Climate ChangeAdaptation for Children" has already beenpublished. He said that the issue of childmigration was very important and also the issuesof education, health, and food and nutritionsecurity. He said that the role of children's rightsin the biodiversity conservation agenda needs to

be studied as also the dynamics of increased stresson families due to climate change.

Dr. Pattanaik highlighted the role of the youthand called to strengthen South Asian YouthForum. He also shared that women and childrenare the worst victims of climate change andnatural disasters and they have to be the torchbearers to make things effective and bringpractical solutions. He called for youthparliaments and inter-continental/intern-countryyouth exchange programmes.

Mr. Mohan Das, a Sarpanch from Kendraparadistrict shared about plight of children andwomen in his area due to the impact of climatechange. Coming from one of the affected regions,he shared how the community is suffering fromissues of increasing salinity, agricultural loss dueto erratic rainfall, depletion of groundwater table,drinking water issues, soil erosion, anddisplacement due to coastal erosion which thecommunity perceives are impacts of climatechange. Such health and livelihood threats areforcing the youth to migrate in search of jobs

and the problem of child labour is raising its headas parents are forced to employ children tobuttress their dwindling livelihood opportunities.The worsening economic situation is forcingpeople to shun the girl child and give preferenceto boys leading to imbalance in the society. Thehealth and education of children are highlycompromised during natural disasters which needto be addressed by the Government. He sharedthat Panchayats lacked the resources to cope withthe situation and hoped that the Government andother agencies would come to their aid and thecommunity level issues are included in the

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government budget and planning process Heappealed to all to visit the area and develop theregion to end the intense human suffering.

The session certainly brought the focus of thedebate on energy and climate change with ahuman rights perspective and built on the strengthof the youth and children to engage in the debate.Integrating a rights-based approach to accesssustainable and affordable energy is an approachthat will recognize and take into accountwomen's specific needs to address the issues.

Current economic models based primarily onprivatization strategies do not includeaccountability in terms of meeting people's basicneeds and proposes the factors to enhance thecapacity of the most vulnerable groups to developtheir resilience capacity in developing countriesby integrating these lessons into developmentplans. Very pertinent suggestions were made toinclude children and youth as the focus in allclimate change adaptation and mitigationexercises. 'Children can't wait, respond to themtoday'.


• Children have to be educated about climate change. Child friendly version of education materialsneed to be developed.

• Inclusion of children and youth has to be ensured in all climate change discussions and debates.

• Children and youth need to be kept at the focus in all climate change adaptation and mitigationexercises.

• Developmentof infrastructure at the community level in the light of the needs of children.

• Development of actions plans and programmes to reduce the vulnerabilities at the family levelwhich would reduce the stress and check migration of youth to far off places for want of livelihoods.

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The session was chaired by Prof Asha Hans ofShanta Memorial Rehabilitation Centre,Bhubaneswar. The panel was shared byMs. Bipasha Dutta of Eminence, Bangladesh;Ms. Umme Salma of Concern Worldwide,Bangladesh; and Ms. Bhanumati, a communitymember from Balijori village, Jagatsinghpurdistrict of coastal Odisha. The objective of thesession was to give the climate change debatethe essential gender perspective by bringing outthe sensitive needs of the female population. Allthe panelists of the session shared about theneglect of women in various decision makingand negotiation forums. The panel's view wasthat gender does not mean thinking aboutwomen. It is about equal participation, equalopportunity.

The paper presented byMs. Bipasha highlightedthe issues related to theplanning andprogramming concerningthe vulnerability ofwomen in particular. Sheshared that Climate

Change Adaptation Policy in Bangladesh iscompletely gender insensitive and clearly reflects

the patriarchal nature of policy decisions. Climatechange has been studied to have detrimentaleffects on maternal and child health and alsoleads to increase in violence against womenbecause of both vulnerability and resultantsocietal tensions. After the tsunami, she pointedout, miscarriage increased in Indonesia, sexualviolence increased in India and, strangely,maternity clinics were destroyed in Sri Lanka.In Bangladesh it was observed that the tsunamiaccelerated infant mortality, led to early marriageof girls, increased sexual assault and increase intrafficking and prostitution. Women's healthproblems aggravate after disasters. The shelterhouses lack gender friendly sanitation facilitiesand witnessed sexual harassment. Disasters haveled to policies in Bangladesh, but they reflectthe mindset of a male dominated traditional

The impacts of climate change and effects have been found to be vastly different among the gender andsocietal divide. The burden of facing challenges of climate change and disasters has also fallendifferently among that divide. Women and socially excluded groups fall in the dark side of that divide.However, such considerations have hardly been at the mainstream during climate change assessment,adaptation or mitigations phases. The session drew on the perspectives of ensuring the issues ofinequality and gender as part of the overall planning processes on Climate Change Action Plan forthe respective governments of the countries around Bay of Bengal region.

Climate Change and Gender / Inequality


After the tsunami, miscarriage increased inIndonesia, sexual violence increased in Indiaand, strangely, maternity clinics were destroyedin Sri Lanka. In Bangladesh it was observedthat the tsunami accelerated infant mortality,led to early marriage of girls, increased sexualassault and increase in trafficking and prosti-tution. Women's health problems aggravateafter disasters.

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society. Female participation is not ensured whilemaking such policies which are often notdiscussed in the Parliament. The variouscommittees have very negligible womenmembers whose voices too are sidelined. Shecited two of the most important disaster policiesof Bangladesh and pointed out how they did notrepresent the voices of the vulnerable,particularly women. Women's issues are rarelyconsidered. She hoped that this workshop wouldresult in addressing the imbalance

Ms. Umme Salmahighlighted the issues ofthe most vulnerablecommunities across theregion and stressed on theneed for an inclusiveclimate change strategyand action plan in line

with the commitments assigned by the respectivedeclarations to protect their rights at all level.

Ms. Bhanaumati, community representative fromJagatsinghpur gave a presentation of womenpower in meeting climate change challenges. Shefocused on the role of women in her village who

were impacted by problems of drinking water,communication, children's education, health (thenearest health centre being 10 kms away) andlivelihoods. She made it evident to the Housethat women were an important driving force insolving the issues facing communities living inthe coastal areas and facing the vagaries ofclimate change.

The open house discussion came with thefollowing suggestions:

• It is important to understand the genderframework in climate change action plan

• Women are the real transformers anddrivers for change and are an important partof building the communities' resilience toclimate change.

• Sensitiveness and the willingness of theagencies to listen to the people and theirproblems.

• Urgent need for gender sensitization whileframing climate change and disaster riskreduction policies.

• The presence of women in panels thatframe climate change policies can help inaddressing gender specific problems.

The Chair summed up the session by saying thatequity and equality lies in recognition, day today communication and perception. Legislationsmay be improved but ultimately it is up to us tobelieve in equality for the women.


• In a climate change scenario, gender and societal inequalities not only cause discriminationtowards the weaker section; but also adversely affects the whole society. Thus a change in percep-tion is the need of the hour. This can be achieved not through legislations alone but throughlearning and awareness.

• No climate change plan or strategy can ever achieve positive outcomes if concerns of women andexcluded social groups are not mainstreamed into the scheme of things. Thus every governmentand every other non-government actor working on the issue must give enough emphasis to so thatinequality in scope and capacity is eradicated.

• International negotiations must give significant focus to problems associated with gender andsocietal inequalities and try to address those.

• There is a need for further assessments to study affects of gender and societal inequalities in aclimate change scenario and best practices need to be shared.

Women were an important driving force in solv-ing the issues facing communities living in thecoastal areas and facing the vagaries of cli-mate change

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Climate Change and Community Based Adaptation


The session was chaired by Ms. Padmavati Yedlaof UNICEF. Panel members includedMr. Ghanashyam Pandey from Global Allianceon Community Forestry, Nepal; Ms. Laura fromTroicare, India; Mr. Kailash Dash of RCDC; andMr. Pramod, Sarapanch from Rajnagar Panchayatin coastal Kendrapara district of Odisha. Thepanel members gave various examples ofcommunity based adaptation in different context-hill to coastal eco-systems. As Bay of Bengal hasbeen identified as the most vulnerable region thatwould face the brunt of the impact envisaged; itwould call for a comprehensive action toundertake a knowledge initiative in collaborationwith action partners, knowledge institutions andcommunities at large to develop a blue print onadaptation models. The presentations also dealtwith the lessons from existing or ongoingadaptation practices and develop linkages withkey stakeholders to broad base the scope ofpromoting community resilience through CBAapproach.

Mr. Kailash Chandra Dash presented the findingsfrom the community in the project area in Odishain his presentation on "CBA - Project Paribartan".He said that communities can be considered tobe climate resilient if they can withstand climatehazards and rebuild themselves. Community

Based Adaptation (CBA) consists of initiatives andmeasures to reduce the vulnerability of naturaland human systems to actual or expected climatechange effects. They can be spontaneous orplanned responses to actual or expectedconditions. He dilineated the various CBApractices documented from the Paribartan projectarea which ranged from cyclone resistant houses,traditionally built eco-friendly toilets,supplementing rural livelihoods, communityinitiatives to protect the mangrove forests,afforestation to check soil erosion, sea watersurges and saline ingress, creating drinking water

The whole world may be having series of endless negotiations on climate change and how to adapt toor mitigate the associated disasters, but thousands of communities across the globe either do notknow of such negations or do not bother for such events as they silently go on believing their ownwisdom and capacity in building their own adaptation strategies and do that quite successfully too.This session aimed to exclusively deal with such efforts of community based adaptation and tried tosearch relevance of community based adaptation in the changing context.

Community based adaptation initiatives are thequickest and/or best possible spontaneous orplanned response to actual or expected condi-tions.

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canals for animals, methods of rain waterharvesting, traditional methods of storing foodgrains, to introducing solar panels and alternativefirewood needs. He also briefly explained thecommunity based adaptation measuresdemonstrated as pilot initiatives in the coastaldistricts of Odisha under the Paribartan project.

Highlighting the importance of forests in climatechange adaptation and mitigation,Mr. Ghanashyam Pandey pointed out that forestcould provide solutions to many a crisis arisingfrom climate change. While speaking on "Forest,Climate Change, Green Economy, CommunityBased Adaptation and Mitigation", he informedthat community forestry was very strong in Nepalforging a bond between the forest, the peopleand their institutions which had helpedregenerate totally destroyed or over exploited

forest cover. He suggested a 10 point strategyfor CBA in forestry that had many distinctadvantages for both people and the ecosystemand also led to poverty reduction and ruraldevelopment in Nepal. Mr. Pandey also sharedhow in Nepal, the concept of Green Economyhas been interpreted as reducing, reusing,recycling, replacing, resilience, regeneration,reform, reorganising, and the right to resourceswhich has brought about vast changes in areasmanaged by community forestry initiatives andresulted in resilient communities and healthyforests. He concluded by emphatically saying thatgreen economy is little about money but more

about life and this principle applies not just tothe hills but to the coast as well.

Ms. Laura of Trocaire informed that the IrishGovernment has identified climate change as animportant issue and said that in future Trocairewould be working on specific climate changeissues and would concentrate on building partnercapacity for tackling climate change.

Mr. Pramod, the community representative fromPentha, an extremely vulnerable coastal villagefrom Kendrapada district, Odisha said that despitethe vagaries brought about by climate change,the communities are stoically facing thechallenge and have devised their own traditionalmeans to adapt to the changing environment. Heshared about the various indigenous methods ofrain water harvesting, grain storage, organicfarming practices, and community forestconservation which have helped thecommunities to adapt to the climate changeimpacts. He appealed to the Government todevelop coastal protection measures as theOdisha coast is quite vulnerable to sea level riseand Satbhaya and Pentha are hot spots of climatechange where the impact of sea level rise isclearly visible. He also welcomed the steps the

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28 28

NGOs were taking to help the affected peoplein the region.

The following suggestions came during opendiscussion session:

• The CBA concept being very locationspecific, it will be good to let thecommunity take independent decisionsand develop adaptation strategiesaccording to ground realities.

• The good practices should be documentedand widely disseminated.

• Clear strategies were needed to guidecommunities to come forward with theirown initiatives.

The Chair summed up by stating that there wasthe lack of clear and reliable information on the

changes that were affecting communities as theaffects of the process is gradual. She said that alladaptation measures must consider the differentkinds of vulnerabilities, be they social, economic,development oriented or natural.

The session clearly spelt out that the communitieshave demonstrated their ability to be dynamicand take independent decisions to come out withlocal solutions to their climate change inducedproblems. These solutions were the best as theywere location specific and being self-initiated alsoensured their sustainability. Communityinitiatives have helped preserve natural resourcesand create livelihood options that are climatefriendly.


• Community based adaptations are taking place all around the globe. There is an urgent need toproperly document those and find a pattern therein. Scope of reliability in different geographicalzones may be tried.

• Often community based adaptations are considered as adaptation to disasters and not to climatechange. This confusion relating to climate change and disaster has to be broken. This can bedone through more action researches.

• International studies and assessments as well as national/regional action plans should buildadaptation strategies from the learning of the community.

• Every preparedness strategy, howsoever technologically sound that may have been, must includecommunity based approaches as the first shield.

• Community based adaptation methods have to be included in the course curriculum at the schooland university levels.

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The third day's morning plenary session waschaired by Mr. A V Swamy, Honourable Memberof Parliament, Rajya Sabha from India; and inthe panel were Mr. Tanvir Shakil Joy, Hon'bleMP from Bangladesh; Mr. Mukul Sharma, SouthAsia Regional Director, Climate Parliament; andMr. Sanjay Vashist, Coordinator- Climate ActionNetwork South Asia (CANSA).

Mr. Mukul said that in the last two days we havetouched in a very comprehensive way the issuesof climate change but the main challenge is howwe really initiate change and how we look foran alternate for the Bay of Bengal region and forthat we need to have an action plan and our aimshould be to develop a comprehensive adaptationpackage. He further spelt out the way forwardby stating a seven point strategy where the firstpriority should be to connect the nationalParliaments and Parliamentarians to climatechange discussions and discourse who shouldtake the leadership in the region to take the Bayof Bengal initiative forward. He stressed on theneed to form a climate change group to link theregion both at national and state levels and

maintain a steady pressure on the Governmentsthrough the Parliamentarians to respond to theissues. Finally cross border cooperation betweenpeoples and countries should be fostered to pushforward the issues with high level consortiumsor Parliament Committees through theParliamentarian groups.

Mr. Sanjay Vashist put forth his points by sayingthat this sub regional workshop is a uniqueinitiative as it does not look only at macroregional issue and its probable solution but goesbeyond to address micro level sub regional issuealong the Bay of Bengal coast which will help usto design the action plan at the sub regional level.Due to the impact of climate change, it isestimated that 175 million will migrate of which40 million will be from Bangladesh. To check

The third and final day of the workshop began with summary statement of the previous two days byDr Ambika Prasad Nanda of UNDP, India. It was followed by the morning's plenary session.

The morning plenary session aimed to set the tone for the final day of the workshop. Like the secondday morning plenary this plenary too focused on sub-regional and international cooperation. Sincepolitics plays a vital role in furthering or sabotaging such cooperation the plenary focused on thataspect. The plenary also aimed to set a vision on probable workshop declaration or charter.

We won't wait for the rich to bail us out butwe won't let them slip away from their respon-sibilities either.

DAY THREE- 14th July 2012PLENARY SESSION

30 30

this local development and local level adaptationis required which is climate resilient. He urgedthe people to go forward with their initiativeswithout waiting for the rich countries to bail themout despite the fact that it was the rich who arecausing the problem. Pro people policies shouldbe framed which should tend to capturetraditional knowledge and blend with scientificknowledge to have the maximum impact. Thereshould be no compromise on three objectives;food, water and livelihood security whiledesigning any adaptation or mitigation policies.He urged the South Asians to generate a GreenClimate Fund to become self-sufficient and haveeffective coordination to ensure better policiesfor climate resilient life in the Bay of Bengalregion.

Mr. Tanvir Shakil Joy said that the workshop hasbeen an eye opener for him in various ways andit was very participatory. He opined that asMember of Parliament, we have the mostsignificant role to play as we have directinteraction and connection with our community

people as we represent the communities. Weactually know the ground reality. Climate changeis affecting the communities most. People livingin a better living standard are able to cope with

the situation but the real victims of climatechange are the ones who are living withvulnerabilities. Our prime role is to listen to thecommunities and get their opinion and knowwhat they need. Regional cooperation on climatechange issues is not so strong outside. We havedifferent standing in the issue of climate change.We have division amongst ourselves. We needto stand united and have uniform South Asiandemands and voice and on behalf of BangladeshParliament.

Mr. A V Swamy from India concluded the sessionby saying that all the natural hazards were thereearlier also but recently we are facing anenvironmental situation where it is becomingunpredictable to know what is going to happentomorrow. He also elaborated that the imbalancehas been because of man's desire to grow andbecome rich which is beyond nature's capacityto absorb. He said that we need to change ourattitude and follow the Gandhian principles ofsimple living, less consumption and coordinationbetween people. We as a developing nation neednot compete with the developed nations and weas citizens of any developing nation should comeout of the thinking that if developed nations havecommitted the crime, then we also have the rightto do so.

With this the morning plenary session came to aclose. The third day had a very busy day aheadwith two more technical sessions and thenframing of the Bhubaneswar charter.

We have to come closer, build pressure on ourrespective governments and stand/withstandunited. A seven-point strategy, with polity atthe centre, may go a long way in furtheringthat.


• Need for governments and communities to be sincere and remain prepared as the disasters werebecoming more frequent and unpredictable.

• Need for greater and better coordination between governments, departments, researchorganisations, civil society members and the communities.

• Need for proper knowledge management and the need to improve upon existing networks.

• More investment required on location infrastructure development and protection measures.

• Need to promote climate smart and ecologically sustainable development, he emphasised.

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The session was co-hosted by ConcernWorldwide and AIDMI and was chaired by MihirBhatt, AIDMI. In the panel were Dr. KamalMishra from OSDMA, Odisha; Ms. BinapaniMishra, SWAD, a grassroots organisation workingin coastal Puri district of Odisha; Mr G.Padmanabhan, Emergency Analyst at UNDPIndia; and Mr. Anirudh Dey from PRISM WestBengal. The panel members highlighted the needto look at the aspects of vulnerability along theBay of Bengal from an equality and inclusive lensby developing tools to track vulnerability in aparticipatory way and reflect at the policydecisions.

Dr. Kamal Mishra in his presentation on "ClimateChange & Disaster Risk Reduction" stated theprecarious nature of the Odisha coastline anddiscussed about its vulnerabilities and themeasures taken by the government to addressthem. The Government of Odisha is trying itsbest to tackle the situation and special initiativeslike construction of multi-purpose cycloneshelters along the entire coast, setting upcommunication systems to the remotest areas,specialized search and rescue teams to respondto any emergency, training the communities indisaster mitigation technologies, usingtechnologies of GIS and mobile phones torespond to disasters and capacitating the villagesto develop village based disaster managementplans have been taken which has shown positiveresults in the field.

Ms. Binapani Mishra, SWAD, shared about therisks and vulnerabilities of the coastal areas,particularly Puri district where SWAD has beenworking closely with the communities since adecade. She stressed that the situation can betackled only with coordinated efforts at the locallevel and focusing on the vulnerable social groupsand individuals is very important.

Climate Change and Disaster Risk Reduction


Climate change is bad for people and the world because it increases scope, incidence and abnormalityof disasters. This technical session highlighted the need for the integration of Climate Change Adaptationand DRR as one of the primary aspects that relates to community resilience processes. In the Bay ofBengal region there has been substantial experiences gained by the agencies working with the perspectiveto build community capacity, developing resilient livelihoods and ensuring early warning and riskreduction.

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Mr. G Padmanbhan, UNDP, pointed out that itis difficult to believe in climate trends andpatterns anymore as they keep changingfrequently and it is only preparedness that canhelp people and keep them secure these days.The administration is yet to wake up fully to theemerging situation; even though the Governmentpolicies have taken note of climate change butupon review it has been noticed that the disastermanagement plans of 10 states in India have

missed climate change considerations. TheFinance Ministry's clearance for developmentprojects contains a check list relating to disasterrisk mitigation, but these are rarely strictlyfollowed. He urged for the dire need to haveauthentic and detailed database and their analysis

to share with the Government and any otheragencies. Further he also stressed that there isurgent need for a proper platform to disseminateand discuss the information. Though UNDP hastaken initiative to develop solution exchangeforum but its membership is very limited andcannot help the entire country to be equippedwith information. Finally he urged the keyagencies working in this issue to scale up thepilots or the sporadic experiences of success andpromote locally suitable models as buildingcommunity resilience is the only answer to facethe current climate crisis.

Dr. Anirudh Dey reminded the audience thatperhaps no other country is as vulnerable toclimate change as India and in his presentation"Climate Change and Disaster Risk Reduction -Needs a Change in Lens" he discussed about astudy finding which pointed out that Asia hasbeen hardest hit by natural disasters of varioustypes. Keeping in view the diverse impacts of

Can we say that India is serious about climatechange when 10 of its states do not even haveclimate change consideration in their disastermitigation plans?

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climate change based upon the differentecosystems and livelihood patterns, communitybased localised action appears to be the bestoption. There is need to align climate changeadaptation with disaster risk reduction as DRR isnot yet fully adapted and fine-tuned to climatechange. Communities need to be sensitised aboutthe poor and vulnerable and they need to beempowered to map the dynamics of the variousaspects of disasters they are likely to face in theirregion. Their efforts must be backed byinvestments in local infrastructure developmentand protection measures. He emphasised ongood governance, strong public-privatepartnership, building a political will and onresearch and capacity building measures.

A lot of suggestions came during the open housediscussion. Most participants rued thatgovernments spend more on rescue andrehabilitation after a disaster than preparing tomitigate such disasters. This shows that we do

not proceed in a planned manner. Besides mostof the development initiatives do not considerclimate change factors at all. And thus they endup as a menace.

Summing up, Mr. Mihir Bhatt agreed thatinformation exchange and sharing amongstakeholders across the Bay of Bengal region isvery important. The chair also reinforced the needfor promoting dissemination of those lessonslearnt from a wide range of stakeholdersincluding government, civil societies,academicians, and communities. The sharingfrom the panel members also suggested thatfacilitation of developing a best practicesprinciple would be critical to graduate from DRRto climate change adaptation which is expectedto emerge from a set of indicators on communityresilience. The session came up with a few actionpoints at various levels to develop a platform orsystem for accessing information across the Bayof Bengal.


• Force respective governments to include climate change consideration and disaster prepared-ness aspect in all development programmes and schemes. Need to promote climate smart andecologically sustainable development.

• Need for governments and communities to be sincere and remain prepared as the disasters werebecoming more frequent and unpredictable. Need to spend more on preparedness than rehabili-tation.

• Need to facilitate greater and better coordination between governments, departments, researchorganizations, civil society members and the communities of the region.

• Need for proper knowledge management and the need to improve upon existing networks. Forthis various resource institutions and agencies have to be identified and networked.

• More investment required on location infrastructure development and protection measures.

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The final technical session of the workshop waschaired by Dr. Ambika Nanda, UNDP, andpanelists included Mr. Sampad Mahapatra, SeniorJournalist, NDTV; Mr. Tirthankar Mandal,CANSA; Mr. Charudutta Panigrahi, LDF, NewDelhi; and Mr Sanjay Vashist, CANSA. Thesession focused on activating the localgovernance system and influencing policy, whichis very important in climate change context anddifficult to do but which cannot be done awaywith. The main challenge is to link both with thelocal community as well as the negotiations atthe top level where all the key stakeholders havea role to play. Besides efforts towards improvinggovernance and policy advocacy also meansimplementing proper things in a proper mannerand in proper time.

Mr. Tirthankar Mandal spoke in detail about thepolicy context of climate change in hispresentation, "Post Durban Climate Process:Putting Region in the International Context". He

mentioned the Durban agreement of December2011 under which governments will now spend

four years negotiating how far and how fast eachcountry should cut carbon emissions. He spokeon Article 3 of the Fair Ambitious and Binding(FAB) Global Climate Deal which detailed thatdeveloped countries will take the lead incombating climate change adverse effects.Speaking in detail on the internationally setstandard about the 2 degree emission goal healso described how it could be achieved throughdifferent models. He then discussed aboutCANSA's plans to bring about reduction inemissions and the means of the implementationsand also the role of SAARC and other nationalactions.

Mr. Sanjay Vashist emphasized on the urgencyof reducing emissions and discussed about theresponsibilities of the developed and developingnations to achieve the target.

We have to facilitate multiple channels of com-munication. Even when mainstream media fails,other communication channels must be opento the community.

Climate Change and Governance / Policy Advocacy


The first two days discussed various technical aspects relating to climate change. This sub-regionalworkshop was unique as it tried to integrate a diverse set of differently governed nations which arecommonly bound by one threat - climate change. Thus aptly this session, the last of the workshop,discussed about the governance and policy advocacy.

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Mr. Charudutta Panigrahi rued that in the wholedebate about climate change there was more oftheory and less of action and said that there is aneed to take stock of opportunities available withus before asking for outside help. We need toprepare a database of policies and a repositoryof information available before framing any newpolicies or taking up new research. He also spokeabout the need for better governance and policyadvocacy, particularly keeping the needs ofvulnerable groups and women in mind.

Representing media, Mr. Sampad Mahapatra,NDTV, said that the media should be amainstream participant in the entire exercise.Communication is not just about print andelectronic media, it happens at multiple levels.Many media houses are just disseminatinginformation without realizing their socialresponsibilities. He said that he observed thatcommunication with the people at the grassrootlevel is singularly lacking. At the state level,beyond communicating with the districts littleelse is done. The policy makers should strive to

improve communication channels. There shouldbe every effort to link the affected persons andgroups with the agencies that can help them, heopined.

The Chair summed up the discussion stating thatthe key priority was to activate local governanceand also to influence policy level decisions. Thissession detailed how there is a stalemate as faras implementation of policies to combat greenhouse gas emissions is concerned. There appearsto be no end in sight to the imbroglio as thedeveloped nations seem to have lost interest inthe debate. Under these conditions it dependson the developing nations who are facing thebrunt of climate change to develop their ownpolicies depending upon ground realities. For thisthere is a need to come together in one platform.Ultimately things will depend upon localgovernance and thus there is the need tostrengthen the same. There is need for eachcountry to have availability and access to financeand technology to meet the challenges ahead.


• There is a governance deficit at all levels - from grassroots to the international levels. The laws,policies and principles have to be made clear and well focused so that they include climatechange consideration at all levels and facilitate smooth implementation with due accountability.

• Advocacy efforts also require attention at various levels - from promotion of community basedadaptation, to technology development and integration, to negotiations at the national andinternational levels. Organisations and institutes have to identified and networked to further thiscause.

• The media plays a very important role. But most of the large media houses are controlled by bigcorporate entities that may not prioritise climate change considerations. Thus multiple channelsof communications needs to be established - not only to face a disaster situation but also toovercome negotiation blues.

• Database of policies and a repository of information have to establish at various levels.

• Many national, regional charters, protocols, agreements exist. But their application is lacking.The civil societies of the sub-region have to identify the gap areas and work together.

• A similar workshop will be organised at Dhaka with support from Mr Tanvir Shakil Joy, MP fromBangladesh.

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CONCLUDING SESSION

As per the original agenda a group discussionwas scheduled to prepare a plan of action.However, for paucity of time that session wasmerged with the concluding or valedictorysession. The previous day evening all thechairpersons of various sessions and sessionfacilitators had prepared compilation of keysuggestions for action. On the third day also thesame exercise was done in the background whilethe normal session was still in progress. Thathelped in a robust compilation of action points.The valedictory session discussed the draftcompilation of the action points and helped comeout with a draft charter which was later namedby the house as the 'Sub-Regional Charter on Bayof Bengal'.

The valedictory session was chaired byMr. Jagadanada, Information Commissioner,Odisha and a widely recognized veteran in the

development sector. He along with othermembers in the panel, which includedMr. Rajaram Satapathy, Resident Editor withTimes of India; and Mr. Dipankar Datta ofConcern Worldwide India helped frame thecharter with precise suggestions. After openhouse deliberation on the draft charter the houseunanimously endorsed it. That provisional charterwill be shared among resource persons and afterrefinements and will be adopted as the 'Sub-Regional Charter on Bay of Bengal'.

Mr. Saroj Dash expressed satisfaction of the threeday long exercise. On behalf of the organizersMr. Dipankar Dutta of Concern Worldwide andMr. Ghasiram Panda of RCDC expressed theirthanks and gratitude.

With this the workshop came to a close.

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The outcome of the workshops has been capturedby the Chair of the plenary sessions and each ofthe session also helped to elaborate the indicatorsof community resilience by facilitating thesessions on the stated themes and suggested aset of action points by inviting the keystakeholders; Universities, NGOs/ INGOs,Media, Government agencies, knowledge amongstakeholders and communities. The key actionpoints have been finally shared by the Chair thatwould contribute to the Charter on Bay of Bengal.The key outcomes are the following;

• Declaration of a 'SUB REGIONALCHARTER ON BAY OF BENGAL'. Thecharter was collectively endorsed by theteam of civil societies, academic institutes,international organisations, climatenetwork groups, government agencies andvolunteers those who participated in theworkshop.

• Commitment from Members of Parliamentfrom both Bangladesh and India to takeforward the issue and work towardsformulation of legislations at theircountries.

• Commitments from civil societies at thenational and international level to workboth at the ground level as well as at theinternational forums on this issue, influencepolicies, develop local community friendlytechnology and develop local specificadaptation models and plans.

• Commitment from each one participatingin the workshop to sustain this initiativeand take it forward. Mr. Tanvir Shakil Joy,MP, Bangladesh, committed to host thenext sub regional workshop at Bangladeshand invited all the participants to theproposed workshop.

The three days event ended with the valedictorysession which was chaired by Mr. Jagadananda,Commissioner, Right to Information, Odisha andthe panel was shared by Mr. Rajaram Satapathy,Resident Editor, Times of India and Mr. DipankarDatta, Country Director, Concern Worldwide-India. Mr. Dipankar extended his thanks to oneand all who made this event happen andextended his gratitude to all the participants whohad come across the nations and expressed hishope that this initiative should be sustained withcoordinated efforts across the region.

MAJOR OUTCOMES OF THE WORKSHOP

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MEDIA COVERAGE

The workshop had quality representation of media people as participants. Their participation helpedstrategically position mainstream media as an important stake group in the sub-regional action plan.

The coverage that the event got in the mainstream media, both electronics and print, was very encour-aging. Press releases were issued on each day of the workshop. The television media also carriedinterviews of participant in their prime time coverage.

Media coverage of the workshop was displayed every day at the entrance of the venue.

The venue had a display section also where photographs of disasters, climate change related eventsand community's adaptation / mitigation experiences were shown through colourful and appealingvisuals.

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Summary Recommendations from the Sub regional Workshop on "Community Resilience toClimate Change in the Bay of Bengal" held at Swosti Premium, Bhubaneswar from 12th to 14thJuly 2012

DeclarationWe are now even more concerned about the widespread impact of climate change in the Bay ofBengal region that has already threatened the survival of millions of people living the coastlineand in the region at large. However not enough is being done to enable vulnerable people toadapt to climate change impact which is further aggravating the poverty context in the region.Often, we also note that development policies are not supportive enough to enhance thecommunity resilience in the region. We are disappointed with the lengthy international climatechange negotiations which have failed to produce meaningful outcomes that are essential toprotect the rights of the vulnerable men, women and children.

Issues and concerns have been raised through the Sub regional Workshop on Communityresilience to Climate Change in the Bay of Bengal held in Bhubaneswar from 12th to 14th ofJuly 2012. More than 200 representatives from Government, civil society, academia, media,and community leaders facilitated an active engagement on the issues of building a climateresilience community through a comprehensive plan of action to be carried forward.

We discussed evidences of climate change impact, new research findings, experience of peopleto tackle climate change and performance of national and international policy and actions toaddress climate change. Our common experience can also be utilised in shaping a sub-regionalframework of action to tackle climate change and it can be an important basis for collectivenegotiation in the UNFCCC process.

As the way forward, we believe that the communities and nations in the Bay of Bengal regionhave reasonable knowledge and experience that can be utilised to deal with certain aspects ofthe climate change impacts immediately. The call for actions is primarily addressed to thenational leaders of the respective governments in the South Asian region. A broad set ofprogrammatic actions is also set out at the end for the governments, scientific communities,academia, media, and civil society groups to foster a collective response through the highlightsof the "Charter" to address the Climate Change issues in the region of Bay of Bengal. .

Charter on Community Resilience to Climate Changein the Bay of Bengal 2012

Annexures...

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CALL FOR POLICY ACTIONS

1. Accelerating climate change policies and actions: National and international climate changeaction must speed up its pace with adequate resources to assist vulnerable people toadapt with acute nature of the climate change impacts that they experience today. Climateactions must also consider chronic poverty and historical unmet humanitarian needs thathas been exacerbated by climate change in recent past.

2. Action on inequality in climate change context: Climate policy and actions can onlyensure justice if they are built on historical inequality in the society. These must ensurethat people living in inequality in the form of gender, physical ability, generation, andethnicity have equitable access to information, technology, and resources to adapt withclimate change. Specific and proactive measures must be taken to build ability of thesegroups and establishing fare and predictable means so that they can influence local andnational climate change policies, planning and resource distribution. Greater attentionshould also be paid on publicly accountable monitoring on how different groups ofvulnerable people are assisted by national and international climate change policy andactions.

3. Protecting the vulnerable people's access and control over natural resources: Access andcontrol over natural resources has been the major safeguard for people to cope with theimpact of natural disasters in the face of climate change scenario. Climate policy andactions together with national policies must invest on conservation of the quality of naturalresources including the mangrove ecosystems and at the same time ensure that vulnerablepeople have sustainable access to utilise those resources through community led co-management initiatives to protect the coastal biodiversity.

4. Promote locally appropriate sustainable and scalable technologies: Technology solutionsare at the core of making communities resilient to adversities of climate change. Bothsoftware and hardware components of technology should be considered for enhancingthe resilient capacities of the communities along the Bay. Creating enabling environmentinvolving all stakeholders of the region will ensure that the solutions are sustainable andscalable within the socio-economic-cultural contexts to identify and characterize hot spotsof the climate vulnerable region.

5. Amplifying the voices of vulnerable people through Parliamentary actions: Members ofthe national Parliamentary and legislative bodies are the direct representatives of theconstituencies to engage in the most critical concerns of climate challenges. Facilitating aregional caucus on climate change for the members would enable to create opportunitiesto draw the attentions of the policy makers to amplify the key issues of the vulnerablegroups at the apex forums on climate negotiations.

6. Fostering regional cooperation on community resilience and climate change adaptation:The governments in the Bay of Bengal and the member countries of SAARC must fosterregional development and sharing of knowledge, lessons and technologies for adaptation

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to and mitigation of climate change. The civil society actors should also foster exchangeof information and knowledge through effective networking on cross cutting issue foreffectiveness of their community level adaptation activities on disaster risk reduction andCC adaptation at all level.

CALL FOR PROGRAMMATIC ACTIONS

Climate Change and Impact Assessment/Monitoring

Civil Society Groups• Establish longitudinal monitoring mechanism to find evidences of climate change and

how national and international climate actions are reaching the vulnerable people.• Develop a data sharing protocol to disclose program information to all parties to facilitate

joint monitoring exercises and assessment of transparency, relevance and effectivenessaspects.

Academic and Research Institutions• Undertake longitudinal assessment exercises to assess the impacts and develop the

indicators to build on the evidences of climate change through action research.• Ensure that research findings empower vulnerable people and shared as public goods

throughout Bay of Bengal communities and beyond.• Establish baseline of the climate change and people's vulnerability and capacity for

identifying gaps in actions.

Government• Invest on developing climate change projections for local, national and sub-regional level

to monitor the impacts along the coastal communities to address the issues at the subregional level

• Establish a Bay of Bengal Institute on Climate Change to facilitate sub regional engagementon issues of commonalities and make them available for wider policy and programmaticdecisions.

• Development of national and regional coordination mechanism to strengthen collaboration,learning, sharing by creating a scope to promote appropriate tools and technologies.

• Strengthen the Global Mangrove Database Information Centre (GLOMIS) to enhanceexchange of information and cooperation among the scientists, governments, and thepeople of the region.

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Climate change and Agriculture / Food security /Livelihood

Civil Society Groups• Develop a people's science mechanism to promote climate resilient agriculture with a

perfect blend of traditional knowledge and new innovations.• Adopt proper cropping pattern, a sound knowledge system to promote integrated farming

practices by using practical technologies for increased output to spread the risks fromfailures due to the vagaries of weather.

• Engage in the promotion of alternate livelihood for small holders/ women farmers andfisher folks with support for market linkages and storage support to make them resilient toshocks.

Academic and Research Institutions:• Develop institutional partnership between scientists and small farmers to evolve suitable

technology and practices that are resilient to climate change.• Undertake scientific studies to clear the misconception about agriculture in developing

nations as the major contributor to climate change and promote local varieties that couldresist the stress of climatic variability.

Government and Policy makers• Undertake institutional and policy reforms to enhance sustainable livelihoods as a means

to protect food security of the vulnerable groups.• Greatest focus should be placed on redistributive policy and programs with budget

allocation, promotion of indigenous varieties with rain-fed agriculture and right commonproperty resources.

• Combat the climate change impact on agriculture by promoting effective land-use, cropwater budgeting and watershed management to protect the hydro geological systemsacross the Bay.

• Promote climate adaptive livelihoods through effective natural resource managementefforts as the essential elements to prevent degradation of land and water resources throughcommunity ownership of the commons and prohibit shrimp farming and other harmfulpractices.

• Ensure that state takes all measures to protect the rights of the fishing communitiesbyfacilitating reef restoration in coastal areas to enhance the fish population and marineresource diversity.

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Climate Change and Technology

Civil Society Groups• Establish a common interactive platform to share and gain knowledge on green technologies

for community based adaptation and share best pilot practices across Bay of Bengal.• Promote technology for community actions, which are not limited to machinery or

equipments but based on the community knowledge and rightly mutating with the moderntechnologies and knowhow to enhance the interest of the community in adapting to and/or mitigating climate change affects.

Academia• Engage in the research to demystify the complex technical knowledge and their application

in common interpretable forms to make use of technology in transformations for promotingthe local economy and mainstream this component in the national five year plans.

• Ensure that the science of adaptation and mitigation has a human face with appropriatecommunity and academic interface through R&D and are accessible to common andvulnerable people.

Government and Policy Makers• Support evolution of adaptation technologies based on the traditional knowledge and the

local imperatives with financing opportunities and ensures that they are accessible tovulnerable people as public goods not as commercial product.

• Donors and national governments take responsibilities to ensure multi-hazard early warningsystems in place to alert officials, as well as communities, before they reach full emergencylevels.

Climate Change and Youth/Children

Civil Society Groups• Ensure that children and youth have legitimate means to participate in the climate change

policy and program planning processes at all level.• Ensure that sustainable livelihood interventions enable families to invest in their children's

education and provide opportunities for building their life skills.

Academic and Educational Institutions• Introduce the CBDRM course at education institutes to reduce vulnerabilities amongst

children and enhance community resilience.• Introduce youth exchange programs and fellowships to promote their engagement in

documenting the evidence of climate change impact and promote their task force toaddress issues at community level with various tools and techniques.

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Government• Invest on children as resilient citizens and leadersand ensure that education, health and

other services are resilient to climate change.• All efforts should be taken give children the best chance of surviving the effects of climate

change impact.• Address the basic needs of the poorest and curb the trend of climate induced migration

through vocational training support rural youth to reduce the vulnerabilities.• Investments by national governments and the UN must ensure child centered planning as

they have the right to participate in decisions that affect their lives, and as such adaptationplanning must involve children in identifying appropriate interventions to meet their needsand priorities.

Climate Change and Gender/Inequality

Civil Society Organisations• Undertake programs to assess the impact of climate change on women and their

reproductive health during and after disasters.• Ensure that women as the climate wise leaders do participate in the planning,

implementation and monitoring and negotiation process to voice their concerns inallocation of climate fund.

Academic and Research Organisations• Study on coherence among policy frameworks on health and environment to integrate

the women policy, environment policy, national disaster management plan of action andNAPs etc.

• Institute research around gender inequality and promote transformative actions on theuse of related sectors on food security, agriculture changing perceptions around climatechange.

Government• Invest to transform women members' current knowledge and skills to inform climate

change policies and actions as a means to access equal share of information, technologyand resources for adaptation.

• Facilitate the development of gender disaggregated database to record the increasedvulnerability of women during disaster and accelerated impact of climate change throughofficial assessments to recognize the disparities in the response and preparedness planning.

• Incorporating the gender issues in thematic area of National Climate Change Strategy andAction Plans and mainstream the gender framework to recognize the role of women asthe real transformers and drivers of building the communities' resilience to climate change.

• Allow the recognition of women and minority communities as key preserver of indigenousknowledge; recognize their achievements work on bio-diversity conservation andresilience.

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Climate Change and Community Based Adaptation

Civil Society Organisations• Promote and scale up the community led processes to develop adaptation practices of

CBA with location specific and self-initiated process to ensure their sustainability throughcollective action.

• Undertake process documentation for all demonstration models to promote best practicesof community conservation initiatives and widely disseminate the practices for replicationwith local solutions using traditional knowledge and wisdom to address the climate changeissues.

Academia• Facilitate participatory research on identification of traditional coping strategy and

adaptabilities in climate sensitive zones and encourage communities to come forwardwith their own initiatives.

• The community level indigenous techniques should be properly documented, researchedand provided with technical and scientific support to enhance their quality of engagements.

Government• Government to provide necessary support through its different line departments to create

models by involving the CBOs and based on different models in different climate zonethe Government can promote CBA through different schemes.

• Promote location specific community initiatives as they have proved to be the best andhave preserved natural resources and created livelihood options that are climate friendly.

• Adaptation to climate change should also involve conservation agencies to assess climatechange impacts on the animal habitats, natural resources and marine diversity of thecoast.

Climate Change and Disaster Risk Reduction

Civil Society Organisations• Greater focus on community planning and budgeting should be done as per the priorities

of the civil society initiatives with specific focus on issues of gender, inequality, minoritiesand others integration of DRR and CCA

• Agencies working on issues of children should invest in the education on climate changewith child friendly versions of education materials to raise awareness on hazards andpreparedness

• The local coping mechanism should be properly documented, analysed and supported ina scientific manner to enhance the quality thereby reducing the risk percentage.

46 46

Academic Institutions• Need for proper knowledge management to improve upon existing networks through

academic collaboration among multi stakeholders to develop scientific tools and techniquesto promote integration of DRR and CCA in the development planning process.

Government• Need to promote climate smart and ecologically sustainable development with a focus

on building institutional capacity on disaster risk reduction to protect the lives andlivelihoods of communities

• Ensure greater and better coordination between governments, research organizations,civil society members and the communities with relevant investment on planning forlocation specific infrastructure and protection measures to face the unpredictable impactsof climate change.

Climate Change and Governance

Civil Society Organisations• Focus on regional issues and advocate for their reflections at the international process

that will further ensure that international support can be duly made available.• NGOs need to act as watchdog group to monitor existing policy frameworks on climate

change to ensure that the benefits are aimed towards vulnerable communities of Bay ofBengal Region.

Academic• Need to develop knowledge on the Bay of Bengal region based on science to influence

the international community and develop climate scenarios for the region to inform policyfindings.

• Undertake losses and damages assessments to advocate for the appropriate allocations offunds.

Government• Adapt the sustainable development models promoting green technologies as the way

forward to take on the ambitions target to meet the goal of 2 degree without deviatingfrom the growth.

• Climate Policies in the region have to take into account local priorities of actions in theplanning and invest in building community resilience to achieve food, water and livelihoodsecurity.

• Ensure mainstreaming of climate change issues into development programs by usingexisting country institutional architecture by mainstreaming the financial allocations inthe budget.

• Govt. sponsored policies and programmes should be dovetailed to address the issue andspecial package declared and allocated for addressing the climate change issues.

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• Nations facing the brunt of climate change to develop their own policies depending uponground realities at local governance level by ensuring efficient and accountable resilienceprogram.

• Identity based discrimination should be prevented on all actions related to climate changein the Bay of Bengal region.

• South Asians to generate a Green Climate Fund to become self-sufficient and have effectivecoordination to ensure better policies for climate resilient life in the Bay of Bengal region.

Recommendations for Media Engagement

• Review and report on program challenges/drawbacks as to strengthen monitoring andaccountability processes of climate change scenarios and report on the inappropriatenessof the development programs that are primarily responsible to aggravate climate changeadversities.

• Media must handle the scientific and technical aspects with care as there are diametricallyopposite opinions within the scientific community and due importance should be givento all the view points to encourage journalists with scientific bend of mind to specializein writing stories related to climate change, adaptation and community resilience in Bayof Bengal region.

• Media should popularize the use of people friendly sustainable technologies, and carryout human interest stories on such application of technologies in local vernacular papersto popularise the adaptation technologies at all levels.

• More media coverage on the condition of children in climate vulnerable areas throughmedia campaign on making common people aware of how they are also been/beingaffected by climate change. ,

• Media should be informed about the outcome and success stories on the participatoryresearch and highlighting the positive changes round the world.

CALL FOR PARLIAMENTARY ACTION

• Need to engage in the climate change negotiation and action by mobilising the leadersof this region to develop common agenda put up with a united face by shading theiridentities based on political boundary and to undertake as the role of people'srepresentatives:

• Form a Parliamentarian group for the Bay of Bengal;• Initiate legislation, policy discussion on issues of climate change• Organise Parliamentarians caucus at least once a year; and• Initiate cross-border sharing and recommend issues of commonalities.• The civil society, government, NGOs have to be united as South Asian and develop the

position for regional cooperation to formulate a road map for promoting climate resiliencein Bay of Bengal.

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

We are indebted to the members for contributing their inputs and recommendations for theCharter on Community Resilience to Climate Change in the Bay of Bengal 2012.

ON BEHALF OF ORGANISING COMMITTEE

"There is a need to change our attitude and follow the Gandhian principles of promoting thelocal economy and taking responsibility of our resources with less consumption and effectivecoordination. We as developing nation need not compete with the developed nations and weas citizens of any developing nation should come out of the thinking that if developed nationshave committed the crime, then we also have the right to do so". A. V. Swamy, Member ofRajya Sabha.

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WORKSHOP AGENDA

12th July, 2012 (Thursday), Day - 1

Inaugural SessionTime: 9.30AM-11.30AM

1. Mr. Dipankar Datta Country Director, Concern Worldwide Welcome Address2. Mr. Saroj Dash Technical Coordinator, Climate Change, Introduction

Concern Worldwide3. Mr. Ambika Nanda State Programme Officer, UNDP Building Perspective on

Bay of Bengal4. Ms. Vishaka Hidellage South Asia Director, Practical Action Keynote Address5. Mr. Achyut Luitel Country Director, Nepal, Practical Action Guest Address6. Shri Debi Prasad Mishra Hon'ble Minister, Chief Guest

Forest and Environment, Odisha7. Mr. Kailash Chandra Dash Executive Director, RCDC Vote of Thanks

TEA BREAK : 11.30 TO 12.00

Panel DiscussionTime: 12.00 to 1.00PM

Facilitator: Mr Dilip Satapathy, Editor, Business Standard1. Dr. Ambika Nanda State Programme Officer, UNDP Panel Member2. Mr. Dipankar Datta Country Director, Concern Worldwide Panel Member3. Dr. Kabir Sethy Geography Department, Utkal University Panel Member4. Mr. Saroj Dash Technical Coordinator, CWW Panel Member5. Mr. Kailash Ch. Dash Executive Director, RCDC Panel Member

LUNCH: 1.00 to 2.00 PM

Technical Session 1: Climate Change and Impact Assessment/MonitoringFacilitator: Concern Worldwide/RCDC/JJS/Sushilan

Time: 2.00 - 3.30 PM1. Ms. Sweta Mishra Team leader, Concern Worldwide Introduction to the

session2. Prof. Gopal Panda Department of Geography, Chair

Utkal University3. Dr. Tawhidul Islam Jahangir Nagar University, Bangladesh Panel Member4. Mr. Rafique Haque Programme Manager, Sushilan Panel Member5. Mr. Sudip Ch. Pal Sarapanch, Rangani GP Panel Member6. Vote of Thanks

TEA BREAK : 3.30 TO 3.45 PM

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Technical Session 2: Climate Change and Food Security/Agriculture/LivelihoodFacilitators: Concern Worldwide/RCDC/JJS/Sushilan

Time: 3.45 PM - 5.00PM1. Mr. Bimal Pandia RCDC Introduction to the

session2. Dr. Debal Deb Director, Centre of Interdisciplinary Chair

Studies, Kolkata3. Dr. Sinhababu, Principal Scientists, CRRI Panel Members

Dr. P.Bhattacharya4. Mr. Palash Haldar Concern Worldwide, Bangladesh Panel Member5. Mr. S V Govardhan Das Executive Secretary, CHE Panel Member

Andhra Pradesh6. Mr. Deepak Singh Programme Officer, DCA Panel Member7. Vote of Thanks

13th July 2012 (Friday) Day - 2

Plenary SessionTime: 9.00AM-10.00AM

1. Mr. Saroj Dash Technical Coordinator, FacilitatorConcern Worldwide

2. Mr. Tanvir Shakil Joy Hon'ble Member of Parliament, ChairBangladesh

3. Mr. Mukul Sharma Regional Director, Panel MemberSouth Asia Climate Parliament

4. Mr. Achyut Luitel Country Director, Nepal, Panel MemberPractical Action

Technical Session 3: Climate Change and TechnologyFacilitator: Practical ActionTime: 10.00AM -11.30AM

1. Ms. Shikha Srivastav Practical Action Introduction to thesession

2. Dr. Kabir Sethy Geography Department, Utkal University Chair3. Dr. Gurmeet Singh School for Environmental Science, Paper Presenter

Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi4. Mr. Ranga Pallawala Practical Action, Mr. Lanka Paper Presenter5. Dr. P Mishra Senior Scientist, ORSAC Paper Presenter6. Mr. Gehenra Gurung Practical Action, Nepal Panel Member7. Vote of Thanks

Tea Break: 11.30 to 11.45AM

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Technical Session 4: Climate Change and Youth/ChildrenFacilitator: Save the Children

Time: 11.45AM - 1.00PM1. Mr. Sasanka Padhi Save the Children Introduction to the

session2. Mr. Ray Kancharala Save the Children Chair3. Mr. Mihir Bhatt Honorary Director, AIDMI Paper Presenter4. Dr. Dillip Pattnaik Secretary General, SAYCC Paper Presenter5. Mr. Mohan Ku. Dash Sarpanch, Satbhaya Panel Member6. Vote of Thanks

LUNCH: 1.00PM to 2.00PM

Technical Session 5: Climate Change and Gender/InequalityFacilitator: Concern Worldwide/RCDC/JJS/Sushilan

Time: 2.00PM-3.30PM1. Ms. Sarojini Brahma, RCDC Introduction2. Prof. Asha Hans Vice President, SMRC Chair3. Ms. Bipasha Dutta Eminence, Bangladesh Paper Presenter4. Ms. Umme Salma Concern Worldwide, Bangladesh Panel Member5. Ms. Bhanumati Balijori, Jagatsinghpur, Odisha Panel Member6. Vote of Thanks

Tea Break : 3.30 to 3.45 PM

Technical Session 6: Climate Change and CBAFacilitator: Trocaire and Concern Worldwide

Time: 3.45PM-5.00PM1. Mr. Suresh Bisoyi Director Field Operations, RCDC Introduction to the

session2. Ms. Padmavati Yedla Officer-in-charge UNICEF Odisha Chair3. Mr. Kailash Dash Executive Director, RCDC Paper Presenter4. Mr. Ghanshyam Pandey Global Coordinator, Community Forestry Panel Member5. Ms. Laura Tro-caire, India Panel Member6. Mr. Pramod Rajnagar, Kendrapara Panel Member7. Vote of Thanks

52 52

14th July 2012 (Saturday) Day - 3

Plenary SessionTime: 9.00AM-10.00AM

1. Mr. A V Swamy Hon'ble MP, Rajya Sabha Chair2. Mr. Tanvir Shakil Joy Hon'ble MP, Bangladesh Panel Member3. Mr. Mukul Sharma Regional Director, Panel Member

South Asia Climate Parliament4. Mr. Sanjay Vashist Coordinator, CANSA Panel Member

Technical Session 7: Climate Change and Disaster Risk ReductionFacilitator: AIDMI and Concern Worldwide

Time: 10.00AM-11.30AM

1. Ms Mamata Sahoo Concern Worldwide Introduction to thesession

2. Mr. Mihir Bhatt Honorary Director, AIDMI Chair3. Dr. Kamal Mishra UNDP/OSDMA Paper Presenter4. Ms. Binapani Mishra Secretary, SWAD, Puri Panel Member5. Mr. G. Padmanavan Emergency Analyst, UNDP, Delhi Panel Member6. Mr. Anirudh Dey Executive Director, PRISM, Kolkata Paper Presenter7. Vote of Thanks

Tea Break: 11.30 to 11.45AM

Technical Session 8: Climate Change and Governance/Policy AdvocacyFacilitator: Concern Worldwide/UNDP/RCDC/CANSA

Time: 11.45AM - 1.00PM

1 Mr. Ghasiram Panda RCDC Introduction to thesession

2 Mr. Ambika Nanda State Programme Officer, UNDP Chair3 Mr. Tirthankar Mandal Programme Coordinator, CANSA Paper Presenter4 Mr. Charudutta Panigrahi Executive Director, LDF Panel Member5 Mr. Sanjay Vashist Coordinator, CANSA Panel Member6. Vote of Thanks

LUNCH : 1.00PM to 2.00PM

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Panel Discussion on Plan of Action and Follow UpTime: 3.15 PM - 4.15PM

1. Mr. Saroj Dash Concern Worldwide Facilitator2. Dr. Ambika Nanda State Programme Coordinator, UNDP Chair3. Dr. Kabir Sethy Deptt. of Geography, Utkal University Panel Member4. Mr. G.B. Mukherjee Concern Worldwide Panel Member5. Mr. Kailash Ch. Dash Executive Director, RCDC Panel Member

Valedictory SessionTime: 4.15PM-5.00 PM

1. Mr. Jagadananda Commissioner, Right to Information Chair2. Mr. Tanvir Shakil Joy MP, Bangladesh Guest of Honour3. Mr. Rajaram Satapathy Resident Editor, Times of India Guest of Honour4. Mr. Ranga Pallawala Practical Action, Srilanka Panel Member5. Mr. Dipankar Datta Country Director, Concern Worldwide Vote of Thanks

54 54

1 U. Tirupathi Rao PRAGATI2 Sudhir Mishra PIONEER3 GB Mukherjee Concern, Bhubaneswar4 Ambika Prasad Nanda UNDP5 Kabir Mohan Sethy Geography Deptt.,Utkal University6 Md. Rafique Haque Shushilan, Bangladesh7 Palash Kanti Halder Concern World Wide, Bangladesh8 Narayan Barik RCDC9 SV Gobardhan Dash CHE10 Dr. P Bhattacharya CRRI, ICAR11 Sahadev Padhihari RCDC12 Bharati Prasad Sahoo RCDC13 Bhanu Senapathi RCDC14 Subhra Samantray Utkal University15 Mamata Sahu Concern Worldwide16 Dr. Sheikh Tawhidul Islam JNU, Bangladesh17 Dr. D. P Sinhababu CRRI, ICAR18 Pramod Pradhan RCDC19 Sudhir Chandra Pal Community Representative20 Keshari Mahata RCDC21 Brajahari Mandal RCDC22 Sushil Mandal RCDC23 Narayan Nayak Utkal University24 Umme Salma Concern Worldwide, Bangladesh25 Bipasha Dutta Eminence, Bangladesh26 Rabindra Nath Mondal RCDC27 Dr. K.C Rath Dept. of Geography, Utkal University28 Dr. Nihar R Das GRCS29 Tirthankar Mandal CANSA30 Jayajyoti Panda Concern Worldwide31 Dr. Anirudh Dey PRISM, Kolkata32 Dhaniram Sabar RCDC33 Mangaraj Panda UAA34 Sishir Pradhan Concern Worldwide35 Jetendra Kumar Samantaray CYSD36 Binapani Mishra SWAD, Puri37 Manoj kumar Meher Utkal University38 Sashank Ku Padhi Save the Children39 Santaram Nanda Save the Children40 Dr. Gurmeet Singh JNU, New Delhi41 Amulya Nayak People for Animals42 Sanjiv Kumar Pradhan Utkal University43 Upama Chatterjee Utkal University

LIST OF PARTICIPANTS

Sl.No. Name of the Participant Organization

5555

44 Suresh Ch. Bisoyi RCDC45 Rajkishor Mishra State Advisor, Food Security46 Anibrata Biswas Livolink Foundation47 Dillip Pattanaik SAYCC48 GS Pattanayak SAYCC49 Vishaka Hidellage Practical Action, Srilanka50 Shikha Srivastava Practical Action, Bhubaneswar51 Pradip Mahapatra Udyama52 Binimoy Mohanty RIE, Bhubaneswar53 Rajashree Purohit CWB, BBSR54 Meghanad Behera OSDMA55 Sudharshan Das HDF56 Achyut Luitel Practical Action, Nepal57 Devi Prasad Mishra Hon’ble Minister, Forest & Environment58 Rabi Chandra Nayak Ministry of Forest & Environment59 R. Sunanda Chowdhury Centre for World Solidarity, Odisha60 Dr. Kamal Lochan Mishra OSDMA / UNDP61 Anivaddhee Swain Badapalli, Kolipur62 Trilochan Baral Odisha63 Dr. P K Panigrahi ICZMP, Bhubaneswar64 Khokan Behura SKJS65 Soumya Ranjan Parichha RCDC66 Amalendu Das RCDC67 Upendra Behera RCDC68 Dr. GK Panda Utkal University69 Surjit Behra Pradhan70 Manas Kumar Biswal RCDC71 Tapan Kumar. Padhi NID72 Rina Parija RCDC73 Manoj Das PCI, India74 Vishal Pathak AIDMI75 Dipankar Dutta Concern Worldwide76 Chaya Rao Concern Worldwide77 Sanjiv Kumar Das Nayaptra78 Bikash Kumar Pati Water Aid79 Alekha Biswal RCDC80 Umi Daniel Aid et Action81 Rabindra Kumar Tripathy Welcome82 Bidyut Mohanty SPREAD83 Saroj Dash Concern Worldwide84 Meena Das Mahapatra FES85 Dr. Piyush Ranjan Routh Local Governance Network86 Prof. Pranab Misra Insurance Institute of India87 Sudarshan Chhotray FOCUS ORISSA88 Kumar The 4th Edition89 Utkal Ranjan Mohanty Collectorate, Jagatsinghpur90 Santosh Kumar Pattanaik PREM


56 56

91 Deepak Singh DCA92 Biswa Mohan Mohanty ORRISSA93 Ajoy Bharosha94 Siva Prasad Mahapatra Concern Worldwide95 Dr. Debal Deb CIS, Kolkata96 Gehendra B Gurung Practical Action, Nepal97 Dr. Anil Kumar Mohapatra Utkal University98 Kailash Ch Dash RCDC99 Priyabrata Sathapathy RCDC100 Bhagyarathi Sahoo RCDC101 Abhimanyu Mallick RCDC102 Sarojini Brahma RCDC103 Akshyaya Kumar Dash RCDC104 Asim Kumar Mahapatra RCDC105 Sabyasachi Ratha RCDC106 Gayatri Harichandan RCDC107 Anamika Chowdhury RCDC108 Biswaranjan Mishra RCDC109 Laura Latin TROCAIRE110 Avdhesh K Lodhi ICICI Fellows, RCDC111 Pranab Kumar Bhoi RCDC112 Ramakrishna Maharana RCDC113 Bimal Prasad Pandia RCDC114 Ghashiram Panda RCDC115 Dillip Subudhi RCDC116 Ghanshyam Pandey GACF, Nepal117 Md. Nashir Uddin JJS, Bangladesh118 W.M.G Wijayananda Practical Action, Sri Lanka119 Charu Datta LDF, New Delhi120 Raghunath Sethy CART121 Tanvir Shakil Joy Hon’ble MP, Bangladesh122 Bharat BhushanThakur JKS, Bhawanipatna123 Ranga Pallawala Practical Action124 Raghunath ASHA125 Bhakti Prasad Sahu RCDC126 Pravat Chandra Sutar Kalinga Development Foundation127 Namashya Nayak Utkal University128 Sampad Mahapatra ND TV129 Bhashkar Ch. Pradhan Centre for Children and Women Dev.130 Gourishyam Panda RARE131 Ashutosh Hota RARE132 Jyoti Mohanty PECUC133 Benudhar Sutar Desi Technology Solution134 Dr. P. Mishra ORSAC135 Santosh Rao Dora RCDC136 Sadasiv Swain CCWD137 Mihir Bhatt AIDMI


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138 B. Prasad Pati Nature's Club139 Mohan Kr. Dash Community Representative140 Baijayanti Routh NC Volunteer141 Sanjay Vashist CANSA142 Hemant Bag RCDC143 Monalisha Majumder Concern Worldwide144 Ray Kancharla Save the Children145 Prem Bahadur Thapa Practical Action, Nepal146 Srikant Pati KIRDTI147 Bijon Dalai RCDC148 Ranjan Mohanty PECUC149 Devi Kalyani Pattanaik CWS, BBSR150 Mukul Sharma Climate Parliament151 Goutam Mohanty Green Essence152 Jagannath Chatterjee RCDC153 Asha Hans SNRC154 Sweta Mishra Concern Worldwide155 Kashinath Sahu Welcomes156 Sarmista Mandal RCDC157 Sagarika Biswal RCDC158 Pushpita Jena RCDC159 Niranjan Giri RCDC160 G. Padmanabhan UNDP161 Bijayalaxmi Nayak RCDC162 Rijina Swain RCDC163 Siva Prasad Sahu SWAD164 Bijayananda Singh SFDC165 Sushant Kr. Sahoo Concern Worldwide166 Nihar Ranjan Sahu Practical Action167 Kulesmoni Sahu DFF168 Sonalin Panda UAA169 A.V Swamyi Hon’ble MP, India170 Pradip Mahanty FES171 Sanjoy Kumar CWS, BBSR172 Debi Pattanaik FIDR173 Rajaram Satapathy The Times of India174 Ambuja Bal RCDC175 Bhanumati Balijhori, JS Pur, Odisha176 Bighneswar Sahu Samadrusti


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