Addressing the potential impact of climate change will require increased attention on improving the ability to adapt to a changing climate scenario while simultaneously addressing current developmental issues. Some action on this account has been seen in the national and state level and is reflected in the respective National Action Plan on Climate Change (NAPCC) and the Madhya Pradesh State Action Plan on Climate Change (MPSAPCC), respectively.

While the MPSAPCC and other related initiatives at the state and national level directly address the issue of climate change in relation to continued development and advancement, the situation at the ground level appears to be far different. Extensive fieldwork and consultations in the Bundelkhand districts of MP reveal that scheme implementation and resource allocation at the local level is not efficiently distributed and that long-term planning, which is essential to address climate change, is absent. This deficiency is driven by a variety of factors, including a lack of climate change related information and communication capacity at the district and community level, insufficient scheme and policy outreach, and top-down budget allocation processes that do not necessarily reflect the needs on the ground.

The long-term risks posed by climate change to the development of the Bundelkhand region necessitate long-term development planning in order to effectively respond to potential impacts. Currently, a framework is in place to allow planning to occur in a decentralised manner where information and plan formation flows from the ground level to the state. This framework develops perspective plans for district planning for five years and the focus on climate adaptation are not highlighted in these plans.

However, as stated by the Manual for Integrated District Planning, the process is a vertical one with line departments working in isolation with little or no participation from the people and a high degree of reliance on the District Commissioner / Magistrate to tie these plans together. Currently, the primary focus in the process is on capacity building of district planning committees to ensure that this level of planning is participatory. Cross-sectoral planning is required for adaptation to climate change, and district level planners, especially at the gram panchayat level, have a critical role to play on how adaptation can be integrated into their priorities. Focus group discussions with the village farmers and gram panchayat heads in different villages in Bundelkhand revealed that little is done in the way of planning for rainwater harvesting at their level. Water conservation practices are still inadequate and need to be adopted in the long-term planning in order to save communities in water scarce conditions.

Synergy between adoption of robust adaptation options and the inhibitions of these options in the policy dialogue can significantly contribute to dealing with the uncertainties of climate change. The government departments are making efforts to incorporate the recommendations from the grass root level. The information from the Gram Panchayat flows down to the block level. It then reaches to the district level and to State Planning Board, respectively. If implemented correctly, the bottom-up approach will revolutionise the planning process in the region.

However, there is an urgent need to use an integrated approach so as to enable a convergence between government departments (e.g., Agricultural and Irrigation Departments) and planning agencies (e.g., District Planning Commission) and across their various governmental levels (e.g., village, district, and state, national). The National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) employs rural individuals in non-agricultural activities. While work provided by the NREGS can include natural resource management of common lands, a significant effect of the programme in Bundelkhand is the reduced availability of farm labour which can impact the food security of the region. If the labour takes advantage of NREGA and food subsidies and shrinks from other work, labour costs can go up steeply for rural employment on farm and in industries which are, as it is, not that competitive. These examples show that without proper convergence between policy making departments, contradictory schemes can cause sub-optimal outcomes.

Addressing these current problems while simultaneously addressing climate change concerns requires strengthening the planning and implementation at all levels (village, district, state and national) of the government system in order to ensure efficient allocation of funds and communication of development policies. This will further require identification of different stages in the policy development and implementation process to integrate potential intervention and revise the -existing strategies using the climate change lens. Finally, to complete the process and ensure effective implementation, these interventions at various levels of planning process need to be effectively translated on the ground. q

1 Kothawala, D. R, Munot, A. A. and Krishna Kumar, K. (2010), Surface Air Temperature Variability over India during 1901-2007 and its association with ENSO, Climate Research, 42(2). 89-104.

2 Satpathy et al., 2011.