In ecologically fragile and rain fed regions of India, local climatic variations, frequent droughts and unsustainable natural resource exploitation have resulted in significantly reducing the availability of water, food, fodder, bio-fuels and fibres for household consumption, livelihoods and economic production. Women, in particularly, have had to bear the brunt of these adverse impacts. Climate change further compounds the problem - the temporal and spatial variability of the monsoons is expected to increase across regions. The anticipated overall long term impact will increase the vulnerability of ecosystems thus adversely affecting water resources, food production, bio-fuels and biomass supplies for dependent communities, especially the poor.
Since 1993, the Watershed Organisation Trust (WOTR), an NGO, has been in the forefront of mobilizing vulnerable communities in semi arid and rainfed regions to help themselves out of poverty by harvesting rainwater wherever it falls and regenerating the ecosystems they live in along watershed lines.
However, in recent years, due to observed local meteorological variations and extreme events, WOTR decided to introduce, within the overall framework of ecosystems management, specific interventions designed to mitigate weather induced risks, reduce vulnerability and build up the adaptive capacities of the community, while improving the quality of life, especially of the poor, in a sustainable manner.
This presentation will share the experiences and learnings of a large scale adaptation project [involving over 52,000 people in 63 villages across 36,500 ha (365 sq.kms)] which includes agro-meteorology based sustainable agriculture, “precision farming” pilots that seek to optimise land and water productive, weather based agricultural advisory generation, community based water budgeting for crop planning, biodiversity conservation, hydrogeology, rural energy systems and establishing climate smart livelihoods that benefit and grow the local economy.
This is a multi-stakeholder venture involving national research institutions, government agencies (national and international), local governance institutions, civil society and community based organisations.
- Crispino Lobo, Co-Founder, Watershed Organization Trust (WOTR), India
