Rural Communities adapting to Climate Change Opportunities for

Rural Communities adapting to Climate Change Opportunities for ICTs

Climate Change – A Reality

Adaptation is necessary 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

Create Awareness & share Knowledge Build Capacities Adaptation Process Develop Adaptation responses & strategy Assess Impacts & Vulnerabilit y Capture local coping strategies & traditional knowledge

Need for proactive approach Adaptation Planned anticipatory Autonomous and reactive Planned anticipatory adaptation has the potential to reduce vulnerability and realize opportunities associated with climate change Source: IPCC TAR

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 unelectrified • Nearly 26% of the population lives below the poverty line • Over 7000 km of coastline Source NATCOMM , Survey of India 2001, Times of India Portal

Key climate sensitive sectors Health Agriculture Water

Key challenges in India • 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

Poor & Rural communities Especially vulnerable to climate change 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

Agriculture Impacts • 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 crops Source IPCC

Water Impacts • 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 environment Adaptation • 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

Opportunities for ICTs • • • 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 • 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

Integrated approach Multi-Stakeholder Involvement- PPP Model Coping Measures Impact and Vulnerability Assessment ICT Backbone Internet Radio Resource Centres Mobile Television Satellite Telecentres Rural Communities Telephone

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 Met Department TERI Agriculture Knowledge Centre Farming Community Research Institutes Local bodies Climatic Info Cropping Pattern Soil Condition Pest and Disease Ground 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 pyramid Develop coping measures for the rural poor Build capacities among the vulnerable communities Create an information and knowledge exchange for wider awareness

It is not time to think… It is time to act… and fast

"A technological society has two choices: First it can wait until catastrophic failures expose systemic deficiencies, distortion and selfdeceptions. Secondly, a culture can provide social checks and balances to correct for systemic distortion prior to catastrophic failures"