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Climate Change is Happening and It is Here to Stay C limate change is an issue of growing concern and has moved from the sidelines to the centre-stage of discussions on global development. There is increasing evidence of countries grappling with a wide range of impacts, many of which are unpredictable causing disproportionate damage and pushing back development gains by decades. Serious questions are now being raised regarding the business as usual development paradigm and has forced governments, corporations and civil society organisations to look at the interdependencies of sectors and initiatives to bring social, environmental and economic issues regarding climate change to the forefront.India is one of the most vulnerable countries in the world with a high-dependence on climate sensitive economic sectors such as agriculture, fisheries, livestock and forestry. Climate change and its variability have the potential to compound the existing growth problems of the country and negate the hard won development gains while increasing the pressure on scarce resources. Consequences of climate change threaten to affect food security, water security and energy access, all of which are crucial for lifting our marginalised out of extreme poverty. Even within India, the poorest are especially vulnerable to weather variability and projected climate change impacts. |
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Mainstreaming Climate Change Adaptation into Development Planning of India • Key Sectors Affected by Climate Change: Agriculture, Infrastructure, Forests, Fisheries, Biodiversity, Water, Tourism, Human Health• 1.2 billion people live in areas vulnerable to hazards such as floods, cyclones and droughts• 700 million people living in rural areas are dependent on climate-sensitive sectors like agriculture, forests, fisheries and natural resources such as water, fodder, and biodiversity for their livelihoods• 1.7 % of GDP loss predicted, if the annual mean temperature rises by 1 degree Celsius compared to pre-industrialisation level• US $7 billion loss in agriculture in India by 2030 due to decrease in seasonal mean rainfall and an increase in mean and extreme precipitation during monsoon• 1m rise in sea levels will displace more than 7 million people; destroy more than 5000sq.km. Of land and 4000 km. of roadsReferences: |
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It is clear that technology, investments, policy and regulations alone will not be able to provide the solution. A multi-stakeholder engagement of all concerned parties on a sustained basis starting at the community, regional, sub-national and national levels is required to arrive at a consensus on the principles, content and metrics of what needs to be done and who should do what. Enlisting the active cooperation of local groups, communities, local institutions and stakeholders, building up their capacities and empowering them as active participants in decision making processes are crucial for efficient and effective response measures. This is because the effects of climate change are experienced locally by communities and therefore local institutions and stakeholders are best suited to address them. Mainstreaming Climate Change: An Effective Way to Achieve Climate Resilient Development Adaptation to climate change is a multi-faceted,
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Climate Change:
Straight on the Development Platter Development Alternatives in association with India Water Partnership and Global Water Partnership has launched the ‘Water and Climate Resilience Programme’ (WACREP) in the Datia district of Madhya Pradesh for mainstreaming climate change concerns in development planning. The objective of this action research initiative is to integrate climate adaptive planning in sub national decision making processes. It has identified detailed climate change vulnerabilities in the district and has developed climate responsive plans for integration in the district development plans. In order to do so, it has conducted detailed assessments to understand current district planning processes, sectoral plans, resource allocations and convergence mechanisms in the Datia district. These assessments have been conducted using different participatory tools, resource mapping exercises, stakeholder consultations and sub-national dialogues (to engage communities, PRIs and district officials) on climate change and development planning from a climate change lens. Based on the gaps identified in the assessment study, this initiative has developed a simplified guidance tool – an adaptation guide to build the capacities of village and district level decision makers on integrating climate change adaptation in district development planning. It has also engaged sub-national decision makers in identifying adaptation strategies and has developed climate responsive adaptation plans based on it. Identifying locale specific adaptation strategies for food and water security at the district level, this initiative has been effective in integrating climate change thinking into local planning processes. |
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Mainstreaming Climate Change: Transition to a Resilient Future Climate responsive development aims to promote adaptation solutions and strategies that work to build resilience to current and future climate variability and mitigate risks while promoting greener low impact development action. This requires transformations in political, economic and socio-technical systems which contribute to enhanced climate responses. These transformations can be influenced through changes in political processes, policies, development planning processes and delivery mechanisms. Climate responsive planning principles need to be identified that will help guide development planning in the future. Climate smart development planning will need to integrate across horizontal and vertical institutional levels of planning, working across departments (agriculture, water resources, rural development) and vertical bureaucratic levels (national, state, district, block, village). It also necessitates a transformation in our technological and communication systems which will provide the essential tools for mainstreaming climate change concerns. And most importantly, it may need to redefine metrics of development, bringing in indicators related to climate risks and resilience into metrics of measurement. All these critical factors will define the fate of climate compatible development and resilience capacity of our country in the coming years. q Harshita Bisht
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process involving numerous actors collaboratively working to change
societal practices and behaviours in order to minimise climate-related
risks and take advantage of emerging opportunities. A widely accepted
means of preparing for climate change is to mainstream adaptation into
development planning processes. Mainstreaming climate change adaptation
involves systematically assessing and incorporating information and
measures related to climate risks and vulnerabilities into development
policies, plans, institutions, programmes and projects (OECD, 2009; SPC
& GTZ, 2010). It means building a culture in which consideration of
potential climate risks and strategies for addressing these risks is
embedded into everyday decision-making. Multifold impacts of climate
change, evident sectoral overlaps and analogous co-benefits of response
indicate that climate resilience and development planning have to be
seen in tandem. This approach allows climate concerns to be
simultaneously addressed through multiple avenues focusing on resilience
and simultaneous move to low carbon planning; leveraging existing
technical, human and financial resources; enhancing capacities to
identify trade-offs between adaptation needs and other priorities; and
greater cost-effectiveness. The decentralised bottom-up process defined
for development planning in India provides a robust frame and platform
for mainstreaming climate concerns into village and district plans and
for synergising with state and national level sustainable development
agendas.