rural communities adapting to climate change
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Rural Communities adapting to Climate Change. Rural Communities adapting to Climate Change. Opportunities for ICTs. Climate Change – A Reality . Adaptation is necessary. - PowerPoint PPT PresentationTRANSCRIPT
Rural Communities adapting to Climate Change
Opportunities for ICTs
Rural Communities adapting to Climate Change
Climate Change – A Reality
Additional adaptation measures would be required to reduce the adverse impacts of projected climate change and variability, regardless of the scale of mitigation taken in the next 2-3 decades.
Source IPCC
Adaptation is necessary
Adaptation Process
Planned anticipatory adaptation has the potential to reduce vulnerability and realize opportunities associated with climate change
Adaptation
Planned and anticipatory
Autonomous and reactive
Source: IPCC TAR
Need for proactive approach
Source NATCOMM , Survey of India 2001, Times of India. India Portal
India• Population of over a billion people• Nearly 65% in rural India- over 700
million • Nearly 40% is illiterate• Nearly 56% of rural households still un-
electrified • Nearly 26% of the population lives below
the poverty line• Over 7000 km of coastline
Key climate sensitive sectors
Agriculture
Water
Health
• Agriculture vital to India’s development– Provides food to over 1 billion people,
contributes significantly to the GDP– Source of livelihood to many
• Nearly 2/3 rd of land under agriculture still rainfed
• Water-scarcity• Over-stressed natural resources • Lack of primary health facilities • High level of illiteracy and poverty
Key challenges in India
Poor & Rural communities
Unaware about the looming threat which Climate Change imposes
• Low adaptive capacities• Direct dependence on climate sensitive sectors and natural resources for livelihood and sustenance
Especially vulnerable to climate change
AgricultureImpacts• Decreased crop yield• Irrigation demands• Cropping pattern• Pests and diseases• Malnutrition• Food security• Prices
Adaptation• Erosion control• Development of early warning system, tolerant/resistant
crops• Conservation & management of soil and water • Diversification & intensification of food & plantation cropsSource IPCC
WaterImpacts• Stress on existing water resources• Reservoirs and wells would be affected-increase
in salinity• Reduced water supplies would place additional
stress on people, agriculture, and the environmentAdaptation • Integrated Water resource management• Water re-use• Desalination • Irrigation Efficiency
Source IPCC
Health
Impacts• Increased deaths, disease and injury due to heat
waves, floods, storms and droughts
Adaptation• Disease surveillance and control systems• Access to better health facilities• Emergency relief systems
Source IPCC
• Integrated natural resource management• Early warning models• Surveillance system• Disaster response and relief systems• Decision Support Systems (DSS)• Knowledge and information networks• Capacity building tools• Advisory services• Awareness creation and communication
Opportunities for ICTs
Opportunities for ICTs• Options for last mile connectivity • Mobile/ portable devices• Smart mobile telecentres• Smart cards• Low cost technologies and rugged solutions• Energy efficient equipment• Alternate sources of energy
India’s National Action Plan on Climate Change
Two out of 8 missions• Mission for Sustainable Agriculture • Mission on Strategic Knowledge on Climate Change
Role of ICTs• Extensive use of GIS and remote-sensing methodologies for the
mapping of vulnerable regions and pest and disease hot spots• Developing regional databases of soil, weather, agricultural practice,
land-use patterns, and water resources• Low-cost high-performance computing facility to generate climate
projections through sophisticated climate models run for longer time periods and at a high spatial scale
Rural Communities
Multi-Stakeholder Involvement- PPP Model
Impact and Vulnerability Assessment
Coping Measures
ICT BackboneICT BackboneInternet Radio Mobile Television Satellite Telephone
Integrated approach
Resource Centres
Telecentres
Pilot projects
I. Develop Information Sharing System (ISS) to Enhance Coping Capacities of Farming Communities in Dealing with Climate Variability and Climate Change in drought prone region in Northern India
• Provide real-time agro advisory services • Facilitate rapid exchange and sharing of information among various stakeholders including farming communities, agriculture scientists and agri- extension workers
Agriculture Council
Local bodies
Research Institutes
Met Department
TERI
Agriculture Knowledge Centre
Farming Community
Climatic InfoCropping PatternSoil Condition Pest and DiseaseGround water status
Pilot projects
Pilot projects
II. Use of existing telecom infrastructure in rural areas for installing automatic weather stations to capture weather parameters such as temperature, rainfall and humidity.
• Provide more accurate agro advisory• Feed into regional level climate modelling for impact assessment studies• Help in designing weather related insurance products
Long way to go…
Reach the bottom of the pyramidDevelop coping measures for the rural poorBuild capacities among the vulnerable communitiesCreate an information and knowledge exchange for wider
awareness
It is time to act… and fast
It is not time to think…
"A technological society has two choices: First it can wait until catastrophic failures expose systemic deficiencies, distortion and self-deceptions. Secondly, a culture can provide social checks and balances to correct for systemic distortion prior to catastrophic failures"