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It is 2023 and the world has by and large accepted that the climate is changing irrevocably. The race to keep global temperatures down to 1.5°C, at most 2°C above pre-industrial levels, is not matching in fervour and actions to manage the impacts of climate change that are already underway. Conversations regarding adaptation have moved to include resilience and loss and damage to the ecosystem and the environment at large. However, local communities, the world over grappling with the impacts of climate change, are still neither fully prepared to manage the slow shifts in their ecosystems nor able to fully comprehend the unfolding uncertainties and increasing intensities of extreme events in the near future. The Fragile Mountains of the Himalayas Nowhere is this more palpable than in the fragile Himalayas. The Himalayan mountain ecosystem is struggling with the rapid melting of glaciers, which is leading to glacial lake formations and avalanches, increased incidences of forest fires, and the shifting altitudes of horticulture. At the same time, the region is also grappling with unplanned urbanisation, unscientific infrastructure development, and a heavy onslaught of tourism. All of these are causing loss of biodiversity at an alarming scale coupled with livelihood distress and frequent displacements of communities. Mountain communities, however, have always had a rich tradition and history of managing natural resources sustainably and coping with natural disasters. These traditions have been enshrined in their songs, folklore, and practices of food production, water management, construction methods, energy, and lifestyles. In the current times of rapid change, many questions arise; Can the lens of their traditional knowledge be used by local communities to comprehend the instability in their lives and livelihoods brought upon by the changing climate? Can this knowledge help find adaptation solutions to rebuild resilience? Can climate science benefit from the traditional knowledge? Can policy strategies and state actions in these regions be informed better if climate science and tradition come together? It was these and many other concerns that led to the design and development of a unique online tool for climate communication by community-radio reporters in Uttarakhand. Designed by Development Alternatives, Jalvayu Pitatra is an online training portal for radio reporters. It addresses the need for two-way information and communication between science and community through trained radio reporters. Challenges of travel logistics in the mountain regions and the need for iterative learning are responded to through an innovative online portal that was designed in 2015. Community Radios
Based on intensive dialogues with climate scientists and communication experts, the Jalvayu Pitara responds to the need for adaptation solutions informed by good science but is grounded in local realities and contexts through communication for change lens. The community radio is seen as an effective media, which is embedded in local realities and managed locally. It has the potential of regularly updatable information delivery and the capability to develop messages that resonates with the culture and tradition of the place and in a language that the community can understand and learn. Being a two-way communication mode, it also includes a strong feedback mechanism and can link local concerns with practical doable solutions. Enhanced capacity of information delivery channels such as community radios was envisaged to support building climate-resilient communities. Jalvayu Pitara As mentioned earlier, Jalvayu Pitara is an online, self-learning, interactive e-toolkit in Hindi for community radios of the Himalayan region. It builds the capacities of community reporters regarding effective grassroots climate change communication. With this skill, community reporters, who are community members themselves, can initiate a dialogue on climate change amongst communities and help them in making sense of the bewildering changes that they are experiencing and relate it to their lives and help them be better prepared. Reporters are also enabled to document traditional songs, folklore, and lifestyle practices that had helped communities mark the annual calendars such as the appearance of insects and birds and flora for marking sowing and harvesting periods. Community reporters are further trained to facilitate knowledge exchange discussions across a range of stakeholders, and design and develop radio programmes related to climate change for broadcast.
The toolkit is modular and can be expanded to include different topics. It is also designed to serve as a repository of local knowledge. The content of the toolkit is divided into three modules. Module 1 ‘Climate Change – An Introduction’ provides an understanding of the science of climate change, its causes and impact, and its relation with disasters, adaptation, and mitigation. Module 2 ‘Climate Change in Himalayan Region’ covers climate change science, cause, impact (livelihood and community, especially its impact on women), and adaptation and mitigation options in the context of the Himalayan region. Module 3 ‘Role of Community Radio’ incorporates the role of community radio in climate change communication, climate change journalism, engagement of stakeholders, feedback, and development of radio programmes on climate change. The interactive toolkit offers an interesting learning experience through exercises and games and includes different formats of audio, visual, and text media. Self-assessment by learners and an offline mode enable access in areas where internet network connectivity is sporadic. A pool of regional climate-related songs and stories is at a nascent stage but is expected to expand through inputs from learners themselves.
Support from the UNESCO made it possible to
develop the toolkit in 2017. The toolkit was awarded as the winner of
the ICT for Mountain Development Award 2017 by ICIMOD. Going forward,
the potential of such a toolkit can be expanded exponentially by using
it in different mountain locations and adapting it to other ecosystems
such as semi-arid and coastal zones. It can also become a very useful
tool for grassroots civil society organisations and a source of local
content for school children.
Zeenat Niazi |
Community radios, over the years, have
proved to be effective platforms for bringing scientists, communities,
policymakers, and implementers together to discuss and find local
solutions for complex problems. Radios can bridge the chasm between
languages and knowledge systems that inhibit communication between
diverse stakeholders. Through innovative formats of communication and
information exchange, new knowledge can be developed that responds to
the needs of the locale while placing it firmly within a global
discourse. Linked with access to or delivery of services to support
solutions, community radio platforms have demonstrated transformative
changes by building community resilience to climate change and natural
disasters as well as by enabling communities to chart more sustainable
lifestyles and pathways of development (also read
