Climate change adaptation
Past Work :
The Ganga basin is considered to be the food basket of India. Climate change and unsustainable farming practices are threatening its ecosystem health and the livelihoods of riparian communities, mainly farmers. Changes in rainfall patterns have increased vulnerability in their everyday life. The Living Ganga Programme carried out an extensive vulnerability assessment in Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh to understand the exposure, sensitivity and adaptive capacity of the people and ecosystem to climate change.
The exercise involved stakeholders extensively to assess the threat and recommend the best action for increasing adaptive capacities. In Uttar Pradesh, 2010 onwards, 650 farmers in eight villages have taken part in the effort to develop a package of practices that can be deployed on larger scale later. The farmers, along with other partner organizations, demonstrated strategies to enhance sustainable agriculture, water use management, efficient irrigation and wetland restoration under the Living Ganga Programme. One of the challenges was to improve the productive capacity of the farming land. The emphasis here was on rebuilding soil health by promoting integrated pest and disease management, micro-nutrient management, efficient water use in terms of quantity and number of irrigation and energy efficiency in groundwater pumping. Crop diversification and short duration crop varieties were also promoted.
Progressing under Rivers for Life
The information and knowledge generated from the research (action and academic) as well as from the experiences gathered from the demonstration projects during the LGP programme, will be used to develop a package of practices (PoPs) on best management practices that conserve inputs like water, chemicals and contribute to global emission reductions (by consumption of comparatively less electricity and fuel). These demonstrations, in partnership with other NGOs, will be carried out in collaboration with relevant government departments, agencies/institutes. The information generated from the above studies and pilot demonstrations will be effectively used for policy advocacy.
The Ganga basin is considered to be the food basket of India. Climate change and unsustainable farming practices are threatening its ecosystem health and the livelihoods of riparian communities, mainly farmers. Changes in rainfall patterns have increased vulnerability in their everyday life. The Living Ganga Programme carried out an extensive vulnerability assessment in Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh to understand the exposure, sensitivity and adaptive capacity of the people and ecosystem to climate change.
The exercise involved stakeholders extensively to assess the threat and recommend the best action for increasing adaptive capacities. In Uttar Pradesh, 2010 onwards, 650 farmers in eight villages have taken part in the effort to develop a package of practices that can be deployed on larger scale later. The farmers, along with other partner organizations, demonstrated strategies to enhance sustainable agriculture, water use management, efficient irrigation and wetland restoration under the Living Ganga Programme. One of the challenges was to improve the productive capacity of the farming land. The emphasis here was on rebuilding soil health by promoting integrated pest and disease management, micro-nutrient management, efficient water use in terms of quantity and number of irrigation and energy efficiency in groundwater pumping. Crop diversification and short duration crop varieties were also promoted.
Progressing under Rivers for Life
The information and knowledge generated from the research (action and academic) as well as from the experiences gathered from the demonstration projects during the LGP programme, will be used to develop a package of practices (PoPs) on best management practices that conserve inputs like water, chemicals and contribute to global emission reductions (by consumption of comparatively less electricity and fuel). These demonstrations, in partnership with other NGOs, will be carried out in collaboration with relevant government departments, agencies/institutes. The information generated from the above studies and pilot demonstrations will be effectively used for policy advocacy.
