Children and Water Security
in
the Era of Climate Change
2016
was the third year in a row that set the record for the highest global
temperatures. The 2-degree mark has already been crossed halfway and we
aren’t even close to doubling the CO2 use yet.1 A warming
climate is a sign of many weather anomalies and extreme events.
Increasing temperatures will cause dry areas to become drier. With
increase in heat, evaporation will also increase making intensity of
droughts worse. The world is also likely to experience extreme weather
events in the form of heat waves and flash floods due heavy rainfall in
short periods of time.
The socio-economic impacts of climate change
are already being witnessed in the form of declining food and income
security, migration, loss of livelihoods and increase in diseases.
Children and women are at highest risk due to climate impacts, while
they are least responsible for it. Children’s lives and basic rights to
education, health, clean water and the right to food are all impacted
due to climate induced shocks.2
Water Factor and Rajasthan
Water is the resource through which climate
change impacts are most experienced whether in the form of scarcity or
in excess. Erratic precipitation patterns added to increased severity of
climate disasters threatens the availability of clean and safe water
that in turn could lead to an increase in food shortages, diarrhea and
waterborne diseases as well as compromise water and sanitation systems.
There is also an increased likelihood of conflicts over water. Further,
children are the most at risk due to the water
stress created by climate change.3
Rajasthan is a water scarce state with only
1% of India’s water resources.4 Its per capita water
availability is below 1000 m3/year compared to India’s average of 1903
m3/year. Although it covers 10.4% of the total area in India, the
rainfall statistics do not pose a pretty picture with Rajasthan’s
average rainfall being 531 mm compared to the national average of 1200
mm.5 With such trends by 2030, the state is expected to move
towards turning into an absolute water scarce state from a water scarce
state.6 In the backdrop of the above, it is reasonable to say
that climate change will exacerbate water issues in the state and will
lead to more recurrent droughts. Rajasthan already has the most
occurrences of droughts. Increase in temperature by even 1% would
increase evapo-transpiration by 15 mm increasing water requirements and
causing water loss of 40.4 mm.7 Also, a 1% rise in
temperature would lead to an additional stress on groundwater resources
by 20.16%.8
The Government of Rajasthan in order to
address this water stress situation has initiated the Mukhyamantri Jal
Swavlamban Abhiyan (MJSA). This initiative aims to bring the existing
schemes on a single platform along with a vision to conserve Soil
Moisture and Rainfall, Runoff and Ground Water to their maximum
potential. In the first phase, village areas sanctioned under the
Integrated Watershed Management Programme (IWMP) scheme (2009-10,
2010-11, and 2011-12) had interventions under this initiative. To bring
self-reliance and address water security by 2019, 20000 villages in
Rajasthan are set to be targeted in the second phase.9
The MJSA aims to converge existing schemes
of various government departments. The initiative is comprehensive
enough to even address drinking water issues. It aims to strengthen
measures to enhance resilience during climate induced water stress. But
most importantly, it aims to implement by ensuring ‘people’s
participation by motivating villagers and beneficiaries’.10
Enhancing Climate Resilience of Children
The UNICEF led Rapid Survey on Children (RSOC)
2013-14 reports that Rajasthan has low body mass index (BMI) of below
18.5 among 65.2% of the population. This is among the lowest in the
country. Most of these cases are found in rural Rajasthan (68.6%). Water
stress exacerbated by climate change will make things worse. As children
are particularly vulnerable to climate change, they deserve to receive
the highest protection from its effects. This cannot be only handled
through government departments but needs the involvement of public,
private and civil society as well.11
![](images/Pg8b.jpg)
We at Development Alternatives believe that
an initiative can be properly implemented only when interests of the
future generations are addressed and safeguarded. This cannot happen
without the participation of young people in important policy decisions.
Children should be educated on how to combat climate change impacts so
that they can act as key influencers in the community. When a child’s
adaptive capacity is enhanced the community has a trained group for at
least half a decade. It is important to prioritise childrens’ voices and
include them in plans regarding DRR, climate change adaptation and water
initiatives such as MJSA. Incorporating children’s perspectives will
help in bringing about a more comprehensive and inclusive approach to
building climate resilience in communities.
We as a country need to invest more on
capacity building of children and chalk out a mechanism where through
participatory methods these young agents of change get a fair chance to
be heard and understood. The idea is to have more inclusive and
elaborative water and national climate action plans. The society will
benefit from reduced child mortality, better early childhood
development, improved maternal health and better education.12
Conclusion
Development Alternatives in partnership with
UNICEF is directly looking at the major effects of climate change in the
state of Rajasthan. Children centric risk assessment and climate change
adaptation and planning approach will be adopted to enhance the
capacities of children and other stakeholders including caregivers and
local bodies who directly and indirectly are participants in the
process. This programme will allow mainstreaming concerns of children
into the initiatives at the state and district planning levels
especially in critical sectors like water where climate change impacts
are likely to be highly pronounced. The learnings and experiences will
be analysed and action points will be shared with district authorities
as policy briefs so that childrens’ needs can be incorporated in future
initiatives. ■
References
1 https://www.theguardian.com/environment/climate-consensus-97-per-cent/2017/jan/02/climate-change-in-2016-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly
2 Climate Change: Children’s Challenge, UNICEF UK, 2013
3 UNICEF, 2015
4 Rajasthan Action Plan on Climate Change, 2010
5 State Water Policy, 2010
6 Water Resource Vision, 2045
7 CAZRI, 2009
8 Rajasthan Action Plan on Climate Change, 2010
9 http://mjsa.water.rajasthan.gov.in/
10 Ibid
11 Climate Change, Children and Youth: Local Connections to
Global Issues
12 https://www.unicef.org/publications/files/
Unless_we_act_now _The_impact_of_climate_change_on_children.pdf
Syed A A Farhan
sishaqi@devalt.org
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