1. Rural Communities adapting to Climate Change Opportunities for ICTs Rural Communities adapting to Climate Change

2. Climate Change – A Reality

3. Additional adaptation measures would be required to reduce the adverse impacts of projected climate change and variability, regardless of the scale of mitigation taken in the next 2-3 decades. Source IPCC Adaptation is necessary

4. Create Awareness & share Knowledge Assess Impacts & Vulnerabilit y Capture local coping strategies & traditional knowledge Develop Adaptation responses & strategy Build Capacities Adaptation Process

5. Planned anticipatory adaptation has the potential to reduce vulnerability and realize opportunities associated with climate change Adaptation Planned and anticipatory Autonomous and reactive Source: IPCC TAR Need for proactive approach

6. Source NATCOMM, Survey of India 2001, Times of India. India Portal India Population of over a billion people Nearly 65% in rural India- over 700 million Nearly 40% is illiterate Nearly 56% of rural households still un- electrified Nearly 26% of the population lives below the poverty line Over 7000 km of coastline

7. Key climate sensitive sectors Agriculture Water Health

8. Agriculture vital to India’s development – Provides food to over 1 billion people, contributes significantly to the GDP – Source of livelihood to many Nearly 2/3 rd of land under agriculture still rainfed Water-scarcity Over-stressed natural resources Lack of primary health facilities High level of illiteracy and poverty Key challenges in India

9. Poor & Rural communities Unaware about the looming threat which Climate Change imposes Low adaptive capacities Direct dependence on climate sensitive sectors and natural resources for livelihood and sustenance Especially vulnerable to climate change

10. Agriculture Impacts Decreased crop yield Irrigation demands Cropping pattern Pests and diseases Malnutrition Food security Prices Adaptation Erosion control Development of early warning system, tolerant/resistant crops Conservation & management of soil and water Diversification & intensification of food & plantation crops Source IPCC

11. Water Impacts Stress on existing water resources Reservoirs and wells would be affected- increase in salinity Reduced water supplies would place additional stress on people, agriculture, and the environment Adaptation Integrated Water resource management Water re-use Desalination Irrigation Efficiency Source IPCC

12. Health Impacts Increased deaths, disease and injury due to heat waves, floods, storms and droughts Adaptation Disease surveillance and control systems Access to better health facilities Emergency relief systems Source IPCC

13. Integrated natural resource management Early warning models Surveillance system Disaster response and relief systems Decision Support Systems (DSS) Knowledge and information networks Capacity building tools Advisory services Awareness creation and communication Opportunities for ICTs

14. Options for last mile connectivity Mobile/ portable devices Smart mobile telecentres Smart cards Low cost technologies and rugged solutions Energy efficient equipment Alternate sources of energy

15. India’s National Action Plan on Climate Change Two out of 8 missions Mission for Sustainable Agriculture Mission on Strategic Knowledge on Climate Change Role of ICTs Extensive use of GIS and remote-sensing methodologies for the mapping of vulnerable regions and pest and disease hot spots Developing regional databases of soil, weather, agricultural practice, land-use patterns, and water resources Low-cost high-performance computing facility to generate climate projections through sophisticated climate models run for longer time periods and at a high spatial scale

16. Rural Communities Multi-Stakeholder Involvement- PPP Model Impact and Vulnerability Assessment Coping Measures ICT Backbone Internet Radio Mobile Television Satellite Telephone Integrated approach Resource Centres Telecentres

17. Pilot projects I. Develop Information Sharing System (ISS) to Enhance Coping Capacities of Farming Communities in Dealing with Climate Variability and Climate Change in drought prone region in Northern India Provide real-time agro advisory services Facilitate rapid exchange and sharing of information among various stakeholders including farming communities, agriculture scientists and agri- extension workers

18. Agriculture Council Local bodies Research Institutes Met Department TERI Agriculture Knowledge Centre Farming Community Climatic Info Cropping Pattern Soil Condition Pest and Disease Ground water status

19. Pilot projects

20. II. Use of existing telecom infrastructure in rural areas for installing automatic weather stations to capture weather parameters such as temperature, rainfall and humidity. Provide more accurate agro advisory Feed into regional level climate modelling for impact assessment studies Help in designing weather related insurance products

21. Long way to go… Reach the bottom of the pyramid Develop coping measures for the rural poor Build capacities among the vulnerable communities Create an information and knowledge exchange for wider awareness

22. It is time to act… and fast It is not time to think…

23. "A technological society has two choices: First it can wait until catastrophic failures expose systemic deficiencies, distortion and self- deceptions. Secondly, a culture can provide social checks and balances to correct for systemic distortion prior to catastrophic failures"