Your search found 15 records
1 Vermeulen, S. J.; Aggarwal, Pramod; Ainslie, A.; Angelone, C.; Campbell, B. M.; Challinor, A. J.; Hansen, J. W.; Ingram, J. S. I.; Jarvis, A.; Kristjanson, P.; Lau, C.; Nelson, G. C.; Thornton, P. K.; Wollenberg, E. 2012. Options for support to agriculture and food security under climate change. Environmental Science and Policy, 15(1):136-144. [doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envsci.2011.09.003]
Climate change ; Risks ; Food security ; Adaptation ; Agricultural production ; Greenhouse gases ; Policy
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: e-copy only Record No: H044598)
(0.38 MB)
Agriculture and food security are key sectors for intervention under climate change. Agricultural production is highly vulnerable even to 2C (low-end) predictions for global mean temperatures in 2100, with major implications for rural poverty and for both rural and urban food security. Agriculture also presents untapped opportunities for mitigation, given the large land area under crops and rangeland, and the additional mitigation potential of aquaculture. This paper presents a summary of current knowledge on options to support farmers, particularly smallholder farmers, in achieving food security through agriculture under climate change. Actions towards adaptation fall into two broad overlapping areas: (1) accelerated adaptation to progressive climate change over decadal time scales, for example integrated packages of technology, agronomy and policy options for farmers and food systems, and (2) better management of agricultural risks associated with increasing climate variability and extreme events, for example improved climate information services and safety nets. Maximization of agriculture’s mitigation potential will require investments in technological innovation and agricultural intensification linked to increased efficiency of inputs, and creation of incentives and monitoring systems that are inclusive of smallholder farmers. Food systems faced with climate change need urgent, broad-based action in spite of uncertainties.
2 Kumar, S. N.; Aggarwal, Pramod; Rani, S.; Jain, S.; Saxena, R.; Chauhan, N. 2011. Impact of climate change on crop productivity in Western Ghats, coastal and northeastern regions of India. Current Science, 101(3):332-341.
Climate change ; Crop production ; Impact assessment ; Simulation models ; Coastal area ; Irrigated farming ; Rainfed farming ; Irrigated rice ; Potatoes ; Maize ; Wheat ; Mustard ; Sorghum / India / Western Ghats
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: e-copy only Record No: H044599)
(8.86 MB) (8.86MB)
Assessment on impact of climate change on major crops in ecologically sensitive areas, viz. the Western Ghats (WG), coastal districts and northeastern (NE) states of India, using InfoCrop simulation model, projected varying impacts depending on location, climate, projected climate scenario, type of crop and its management. Irrigated rice and potato in the NE region, rice in the eastern coastal region and coconut in the WG are likely to gain. Irrigated maize, wheat and mustard in the NE and coastal regions, and rice, sorghum and maize in the WG may lose. Adaptation strategies such as change in variety and altered agronomy can, however, offset the impacts of climate change.
3 Varshney, R. K.; Bansal, K. C.; Aggarwal, Pramod; Datta, S. K.; Craufurd, P. Q. 2011. Agricultural biotechnology for crop improvement in a variable climate: hope or hype?. Review. Trends in Plant Science, 16(7):363-371. [doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tplants.2011.03.004]
Agriculture ; Biotechnology ; Crop improvement ; Crop production ; Food production ; Climate change ; Genetic engineering ; Breeding ; Water use
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: e-copy only Record No: H044600)
(0.50 MB)
Developing crops that are better adapted to abiotic stresses is important for food production in many parts of the world today. Anticipated changes in climate and its variability, particularly extreme temperatures and changes in rainfall, are expected to make crop improvement even more crucial for food production. Here, we review two key biotechnology approaches, molecular breeding and genetic engineering, and their integration with conventional breeding to develop crops that are more tolerant of abiotic stresses. In addition to a multidisciplinary approach, we also examine some constraints that need to be overcome to realize the full potential of agricultural biotechnology for sustainable crop production to meet the demands of a projected world population of nine billion in 2050.
4 Vermeulen, S. J.; Aggarwal, Pramod; Ainslie, A.; Angelone, C.; Campbell, B. M.; Challinor, A. J.; Hansen, J. W.; Ingram, J. S. I.; Jarvis, A.; Kristjanson, P.; Lau, C.; Nelson, G. C.; Thornton, P. K.; Wollenberg, E. 2010. Agriculture, food security and climate change: outlook for knowledge, tools and action. Background paper prepared for The Hague Conference on Agriculture, Food Security and Climate Change, 31 October - 5 November 2010. Copenhagen, Denmark: CGIAR-ESSP Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS). 16p.
Agriculture ; Food security ; Climate change ; Risks ; Models ; Greenhouse gases ; Policy ; Smallholders
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: e-copy only Record No: H044643)
http://ccafs.cgiar.org/sites/default/files/pdf/ccafs_report_3-low-res_final.pdf
https://vlibrary.iwmi.org/pdf/H044643.pdf
https://vlibrary.iwmi.org/pdf/H044643.pdf
(0.37 MB) (378.60KB)
Agriculture and food security are key sectors for intervention under climate change. Agricultural production is highly vulnerable even to 2C (low-end) predictions for global mean temperatures in 2100, with major implications for rural poverty and for both rural and urban food security. Agriculture also presents untapped opportunities for mitigation, given the large land area under crops and rangeland, and the additional mitigation potential of aquaculture. This paper presents a summary of current scientific knowledge on the impacts of climate change on farming and food systems, and on the implications for adaptation and mitigation. Many of the trends and impacts are highly uncertain at a range of spatial and temporal scales; we need significant advances in predicting how climate variability and change will affect future food security. Despite these uncertainties, it is clear that the magnitude and rate of projected changes will require adaptation. Actions towards adaptation fall into two broad overlapping areas: (1) better management of agricultural risks associated with increasing climate variability and extreme events, for example improved climate information services and safety nets, and (2) accelerated adaptation to progressive climate change over decadal time scales, for example integrated packages of technology, agronomy and policy options for farmers and food systems.Maximization of agriculture’s mitigation potential will require, among others, investments in technological innovation and agricultural intensification linked to increased efficiency of inputs, and creation of incentives and monitoring systems that are inclusive of smallholder farmers. The challenges posed by climate change to agriculture and food security require a holistic and strategic approach to linking knowledge with action. Key elements of this are greater interactions between decision-makers and researchers in all sectors, greater collaboration among climate, agriculture and food security communities, and consideration of interdependencies across whole food systems and landscapes. Food systems faced with climate change need urgent action in spite of uncertainties.
5 Amarnath, Giriraj; Ameer, Mohamed; Aggarwal, Pramod; Smakhtin, Vladimir. 2012. Detecting spatio-temporal changes in the extent of seasonal and annual flooding in South Asia using multi-resolution satellite data. In Civco, D. L.; Ehlers, M.; Habib, S.; Maltese, A.; Messinger, D.; Michel, U.; Nikolakopoulos, K. G.; Schulz, K. (Eds.). Earth resources and environmental remote sensing/GIS applications III: proceedings of the International Society for Optics and Photonics (SPIE), Vol.8538, Amsterdam, Netherland, 1-6 July 2012. Bellingham, WA, USA: International Society for Optics and Photonics (SPIE). 11p. [doi: https://doi.org/10.1117/12.974653]
GIS ; Remote sensing ; Flooding ; Mapping ; Satellite surveys ; Indicators ; Statistical methods ; Time series analysis / South Asia
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: e-copy only Record No: H045437)
(1.73 MB)
This paper presents algorithm for flood inundation mapping to understand seasonal and annual changes in the flood extent and in the context of emergency response. Time-series profiles of Land Surface Water Index (LSWI), Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI), Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) and Normalized Difference Snow Index (NDSI) are obtained from MOD09 8-day composite time-series data (resolution 500m; time period: 2000-2011). The proposed algorithm was applied for MODIS data to produce time-series inundation maps for the ten annual flood season over the period from 2000 to 2011. The flood product has three classes as flood, mixed and long-term water bodies. The MODIS flood products were validated via comparison with ALOS AVINIR / PALSAR and Landsat TM using the flood fraction comparison method. Compared with the ALOS satellite data sets at a grid size of 10km the obtained RMSE range from 5.5 to 15 km2 and the determination coefficients range from 0.72 to 0.97. The spatial characteristics of the estimated early, peak and late and duration of inundation cycle were also determined for the period from 2000 to 2011. There are clear contracts in the distribution of the estimated flood duration of inundation cycles between large-scale floods (2008-2010) and medium and small-scale floods (2002 and 2004). Examples on the analysis of spatial extent and temporal pattern of flood-inundated areas are of prime importance for the mitigation of floods. The generic approach can be used to quantify the damage caused by floods, since floods have been increasing each year resulting in the loss of lives, property and agricultural production.
6 Prathapar, Sanmugam; Sharma, Bharat; Aggarwal, Pramod. 2012. Hydro, hydrogeological constraints to managed aquifer recharge in the Indo Gangetic Plains. IWMI-Tata Water Policy Research Highlight, 40. 5p.
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: e-copy only Record No: H045487)
(305.5KB)
7 Amarnath, Giriraj; Ameer, Mohamed; Aggarwal, Pramod; Smakhtin, Vladimir. 2012. An algorithm for rapid flood inundation mapping from optical data using reflectance differencing technique [Abstract only]. In de Silva, R. P.; Kumar, N.; Mehmood, H. (Eds.). GIT4NDM - reduce exposure to reduce risk: proceedings of the 4th International Conference on Geo-information Technology for Natural Disaster Management (GIT4NDM), Colombo, Sri Lanka, 7-8 November 2012. Pathumthani, Thailand: Geoinformatics Intenational. pp.19.
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: e-copy only Record No: H045697)
(0.13 MB)
8 Vermeulen, S.; Zougmore, R.; Wollenberg, E.; Thornton, P.; Nelson, G.; Kristjanson, P.; Kinyangi, J.; Jarvis, A.; Hansen, J.; Challinor, A.; Campbell, B.; Aggarwal, Pramod. 2012. Climate change, agriculture and food security: a global partnership to link research and action for low-income agricultural producers and consumers. Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability, 4(1):128-133. [doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cosust.2011.12.004]
Climate change ; Food security ; Agricultural production ; Consumers ; Low income groups ; Research programmes
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: e-copy only Record No: H045818)
(0.50 MB)
To achieve food security for many in low-income and middle income countries for whom this is already a challenge, especially with the additional complications of climate change, will require early investment to support smallholder farming systems and the associated food systems that supply poor consumers. We need both local and global policy-linked research to accelerate sharing of lessons on institutions, practices and technologies for adaptation and mitigation. This strategy paper brie y outlines how the Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS) of the Consortium of International Agricultural Research Centres (CGIAR) is working across research disciplines, organisational mandates, and spatial and temporal levels to assist immediate and longer-term policy actions.
9 Misselhorn, A.; Aggarwal, Pramod; Ericksen, P.; Gregory, P.; Ingram, J.; Wiebe, K. 2012. A vision for attaining food security. Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability, 4(1):7-17. [doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cosust.2012.01.008]
Food security ; Food production ; Climate change ; Urbanization ; Economic aspects ; Population growth
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: e-copy only Record No: H045842)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1877343512000097
https://vlibrary.iwmi.org/pdf/H045842.pdf
https://vlibrary.iwmi.org/pdf/H045842.pdf
(0.63 MB) (681KB)
Food is fundamental to human wellbeing and development. Increased food production remains a cornerstone strategy in the effort to alleviate global food insecurity. But despite the fact that global food production over the past half century has kept ahead of demand, today around one billion people do not have enough to eat, and a further billion lack adequate nutrition. Food insecurity is facing mounting supply-side and demand-side pressures; key among these are climate change, urbanisation, globalisation, population increases, disease, as well as a number of other factors that are changing patterns of food consumption. Many of the challenges to equitable food access are concentrated in developing countries where environmental pressures – including climate change, population growth and other socio-economic issues – are concentrated. Together these factors impede people's access to sufficient, nutritious food; chiefly through affecting livelihoods, income and food prices. Food security and human development go hand in hand, and their outcomes are co-determined to a significant degree. The challenge of food security is multi-scalar and cross-sector in nature. Addressing it will require the work of diverse actors to bring sustained improvements inhuman development and to reduce pressure on the environment. Unless there is investment in future food systems that are similarly cross-level, cross-scale and cross-sector, sustained improvements in human wellbeing together with reduced environmental risks and scarcities will not be achieved. This paper reviews current thinking, and outlines these challenges. It suggests that essential elements in a successfully adaptive and proactive food system include: learning – through connectivity between scales to local experience and technologies – high levels of interaction between diverse actors and sectors ranging from primary producers to retailers and consumers, and use of frontier technologies.
10 Vincent, K.; Cull, T.; Kapoor, A.; Aggarwal, Pramod; Bhatta, Gopal Datt; Lau, C.; Kristjanson, P.; Phartiyal, P.; Parvin, G.; Bisht, S.; Nilormee, S. 2013. Gender, climate change, agriculture and food security: a CCAFS Training-of-Trainers (TOT) manual to prepare South Asian rural women to adapt to climate change. Copenhagen, Denmark: CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS) 126p.
Gender ; Women ; Farmers ; Climate change ; Adaptation ; Food security ; Agriculture ; Training materials ; Manuals ; Learning ; Greenhouse effect ; Environmental effects ; Research projects ; Hydrological cycle / South Asia / India / Nepal / Bangladesh / Bihar / Indo-Gangetic Plains
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: e-copy only Record No: H046067)
http://cgspace.cgiar.org//bitstream/handle/10568/33344/TOTManual.pdf?sequence=1
https://vlibrary.iwmi.org/pdf/H046067.pdf
https://vlibrary.iwmi.org/pdf/H046067.pdf
(2.06 MB) (2.06MB)
11 Amarnath, Giriraj; Rajah, Ameer; Alahacoon, Niranga; Inada, Yoshiaki; Inoue, R.; Aggarwal, Pramod. 2014. Potential of satellite data in catastrophic flood risk mapping and assessment: case studies from Asia and Africa. In Stal, M.; Sigrist, D.; Ammann, W. (Eds.). Proceedings of the 5th International Disaster and Risk Conference on Integrative Risk Management - The Role of Science, Technology and Practice, Davos, Switzerland, 24 - 28 August 2014. Extended Abstracts. Davos, Switzerland: Global Risk Forum GRF Davos. pp.52-55. pp.52-55.
Natural disasters ; Flooding ; Risk assessment ; Mapping ; Satellite imagery ; Case studies / Asia / Africa / Sri Lanka
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: e-copy only Record No: H046630)
(1.02 MB)
Over last decades, we have witnessed an upward global trend in natural disaster occurrence. Hydrological and meteorological disasters are the main contributors to this pattern. In 2011, hydrological disaster, such as floods and wet mass movements, represented 52% of the overall disaster reported, causing 139.8 million victims and more than U.S. $70 billion in damages. Remote sensing from space plays an important role in flood mapping and flood risk assessment. Satellite images acquired in both optical and microwave range of electro-magnetic emissions are utilized for solving many problems related to flood risk management. This paper presents two different research activities (1) flood detection algorithm which uses vegetation and water indices (NDVI, EVI, LSWI, DVEL) at a spatial resolution of 500m and time period 2000 – 2013 using MODIS Terra/Aqua and JAXA PALSAR satellite to spatially and temporally quantify flood inundation extent at a continental scale in South Asia, Southeast Asia and Nigeria in the context of emergency response and (2) blending satellite data and RADAR (Rapid Agriculture Disaster Assessment Routine) tool for rapid flood damage assessment in agriculture with a case study in Sri Lanka. The results of the present study will provide valuable information to flood policy makers and flood disaster researchers.
12 Ortiz, R.; Jarvis, A.; Fox, P.; Aggarwal, Pramod; Campbell, B. M. 2014. Plant genetic engineering, climate change and food security. 27p. (CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS) Working Paper 72)
Plant genetics ; Climate change ; Adaptation ; Food security ; Emission reduction ; Agriculture ; Drought ; Salinity ; Heat ; Public health ; Human nutrition ; Crops ; Environmental effects ; Farming systems ; Living standards
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: e-copy only Record No: H046809)
https://cgspace.cgiar.org/bitstream/handle/10568/41934/CCAFS%20WP%2072.pdf?sequence=1
https://vlibrary.iwmi.org/pdf/H046809.pdf
https://vlibrary.iwmi.org/pdf/H046809.pdf
(1.58 MB) (1.58 MB)
This paper explores whether crop genetic engineering can contribute to addressing food security, as well as enhancing human nutrition and farming under a changing climate. The review is based on peer-refereed literature, using results to determine the potential of this gene technology. It also provides a brief summary of issues surrounding this genetic enhancement approach to plant breeding, and the impacts on farming, livelihoods, and the environment achieved so far. The genetic engineering pipeline looks promising, particularly for adapting more nutritious, input-efficient crops in the development of the world’s farming systems.
13 Venkatasubramanian, K.; Tall, A.; Hansen, J.; Aggarwal, Pramod. 2014. Assessment of India’s integrated agrometeorological advisory service from a farmer perspective. Copenhagen, Denmark: CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS). 65p. (CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS) Working Paper 54)
Agrometeorology ; Agriculture ; Farmer participation ; Advisory services ; Assessment ; Gender ; Women's participation ; Climate change ; Stakeholders ; Non governmental organizations / India / Andhra Pradesh / Himachal Pradesh / Punjab / West Bengal / Tamil Nadu / Gujarat
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: e-copy only Record No: H046810)
https://cgspace.cgiar.org/bitstream/handle/10568/43733/CCAFS%20WP%2054.pdf?sequence=2
https://vlibrary.iwmi.org/pdf/H046810.pdf
https://vlibrary.iwmi.org/pdf/H046810.pdf
(2.89 MB) (2.89 MB)
This report summarizes the results of the CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS) commissioned evaluation of India’s Integrated Agro-meteorological Advisory Service (AAS). Conducted June-July of 2012, this assessment was a joint endeavour of CCAFS, the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics, and the India Meteorological Department (IMD). The assessment sought to offer transferable lessons that can guide investment in climate/agro-meteorological advisory services elsewhere in the world. Researchers conducted focus groups and individual interviews with 132 male and female farmers in eighteen villages across six states about how they receive and use AAS advisories, perceived gaps, and suggestions for improvement. The assessment uncovered the key role of diverse communications approaches. In villages where many communications channels were used to disseminate AAS information, such as SMS and voice messaging, meetings and trainings with agricultural extension officers, local knowledge centers, farmers clubs, and announcements over the microphone in villages, awareness and use of AAS advisories was higher. Farmers noted that trainings and discussions with agricultural extension officers at the village level were their preferred form of receiving information. However, ensuring wide representation in discussions is critical. In villages where women were fully ngaged in receiving and disseminating AAS information, use and potential benefit from the program were maximized. Women overall had lower awareness of AAS than men do, indicating the importance of targeting women and information that responds to the demands of women in communications efforts. The establishment of specific trainings and discussions on AAS for women farmers in the villages was recommended by farmers, as were trainings and interactions with scientists that all farmers can attend. Membership in women’s or farmers groups may be a positive factor in increasing awareness of AAS information, and extension services targeting existing local groups could be a strategy for increasing the impact of AAS information.
14 Aggarwal, Pramod. 2015. Climate-smart agriculture in South Asia: opportunities and constraints in scaling out [Abstract only] In Centre de cooperation Internationale en Recherche Agronomique pour le Developpement (CIRAD). 3rd Global Science Conference on Climate-Smart Agriculture, Montpellier, France, 16-18 March 2015. Parallel session L1 regional dimensions. Paris, France: Centre de cooperation Internationale en Recherche Agronomique pour le Developpement (CIRAD). pp.36-37.
Climate change ; Adaptation ; Sustainable agriculture ; Crop production ; Food production ; Irrigation ; Farmers / South Asia
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: e-copy only Record No: H046929)
http://csa2015.cirad.fr/var/csa2015/storage/fckeditor/file/L1%20Regional%20Dimensions(1).pdf
https://vlibrary.iwmi.org/pdf/H046929.pdf
https://vlibrary.iwmi.org/pdf/H046929.pdf
South Asia comes across as amongst the most vulnerable regions to climate change in the Inter-government Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)’s Fifth Assessment Report released a year ago, and in other similar reports. Climate change in the region is manifested by depleting glaciers, increasing coastal erosion, frequent heat waves, rising sea level, frequent floods and droughts and varying rainfall patterns. It is now evident that South Asia’s climate is already changing and the impacts are already being felt. As a largely agrarian economy, this vulnerability is compounded by the fact that more than 700 million people’s livelihoods depend on agriculture directly influenced by changes in climate. Although South Asia has seen robust economic growth, with the GDP averaging about 6 percent over the past 20 years, the region is still home to 1/4th of the world’s hungry and 40% of the world’s malnourished children and women. As populations continue to rise and the demand for food grows, the question is: how will this increase in demand be met and where will all this food be grown? With stiff competition for land from the non-farm sector, expanding farmlands is not an option. Climate change will further exacerbate the existing pressures on land and water resources. If the second Sustainable Development Goal of ending poverty, achieving food security and promoting sustainable agriculture is to be realised, climate change adaptation and mitigation technologies, practices, services and policies will need to be implemented in earnest. Many recent studies show a probability of 10-40 percent loss in crop production by 2070-2100 on account of rising temperatures and decrease in irrigation water, unless steps are initiated now to increase our adaptive capacity. For example, even with the benefits of carbon fertilization (which could anyway be negatively affected by increase in surface ozone concentration) India stands to lose nearly 4-5 tonnes of wheat with every rise in temperature of 1 degree Celsius. This estimate could be even higher when decrease in irrigation is factored in. Wheat losses could be significant even in the short term, while losses for other crops are uncertain and estimated to be relatively smaller, particularly so for monsoon crops. Similarly, there are studies to show that livestock and fish productivity could also decline. Climate change does offer some opportunities as well. One adaptive measure is to identify regions that would become conducive for certain crops in the changed climate. For example, farmers in the upper regions of Himachal Pradesh in India have taken to growing apples because temperatures in the lower regions became too warm for its growth. The shift in cultivation brought new opportunities and high incomes for these farmers while their counterparts in the south switched to cultivating vegetables. It is clear that per hectare cultivation of food needs to drastically increase to meet growing food demands. While this is a challenge, the existing large crop yield gaps in the region suggest there is potential to increase crop production per hectare even in the face of increasing climatic risks. For this to happen, investments in land and water management, infrastructure, and research accompanied by enabling policies, sustained regional cooperation and robust institutions is crucial. Increased production variability could perhaps be the most significant impact of global impact change in Asian countries. Short-term changes in weather extremes, which are still not very predictable in most countries of the region, pose huge challenges. Some recent examples are the drought in 2014, the floods in Pakistan in 2010, floods in India, Nepal and Bangladesh in 2007 and the heat-stress experiences in India in 2004 which resulted in fluctuating yields, food price volatility and threatened food security and incomes. Such volatility is despite the vast irrigation network in the region, especially in the Indo-Gangetic plains. During last few decades, excessive groundwater extraction has resulted in widespread decline in water table and water quality degradation. To ensure future food security in climate change scenarios, investment in managing and stabilizing the existing irrigated potential while exploring options to expand this potential is the need of the hour. Several technological, institutional and policy interventions have been proposed that can help us adapt to climate change as well as to current and future weather variability. These include simple adaptation practices such as changes in planting dates and crop varieties. Additional strategies that have been proposed include: the deployment of adverse climate tolerant genotypes and diversified land use systems, the use of solar irrigation, assisting farmers in coping with current climatic risks through providing weather linked value-added advisory services and crop/weather insurance, and improved land and water use management and policies. Agriculture in South Asia contributes between 15-20 percent to total greenhouse gas emissions. These are primarily from enteric fermentation in ruminant animals, rice paddy cultivation, and nitrous oxide from manures and fertilizers application to soils. What is interesting to note is that most of the proposed adaptation options, if implemented scientifically, come with large mitigation co-benefits. CCAFS is scaling out the Climate-Smart Villages (CSVs) model in several countries, including in South Asia, to promote climate-smart agriculture (CSA). Climate Smart Villages are sites where a portfolio of the most appropriate technological and institutional interventions, determined by the local community, are implemented to increase food production, enhance adaptive capacity and reduce emissions. Interventions are bespoke to each village but the concept lends itself to be applied in any region under the right circumstances. Initial results suggest a large potential to maximise synergies among different interventions in order to scale out CSA. Much work needs to be done to expand the evidence base of CSVs with regard to targeting the approach in different agro-climates, the costs: benefit analysis in terms of investment and returns, and the institutional and policy changes that are needed to promote CSA. In the South Asia region, problems of widespread poverty, poor governance, weak institutions, and human capital limit agricultural growth today. These problems can also reduce the potential of adaptation strategies. It is critical to simultaneously address these political and socio-economic constraints if the full potential of CSA is to be realised for farmers and the region as a whole.
15 Bird, Jeremy; Roy, Srabani; Shah, Tushaar; Aggarwal, Pramod; Smakhtin, Vladimir; Amarnath, Giriraj; Amarasinghe, Upali A.; Pavelic, Paul; McCornick, Peter. 2016. Adapting to climate variability and change in India. In Biswas, A. K.; Tortajada, C. (Eds.). Water security, climate change and sustainable development. Gateway East: Singapore. pp.41-63. (Water Resources Development and Management)
Climate change adaptation ; Rain ; Farmers ; Water management ; Water security ; Water storage ; Groundwater recharge ; Aquifers ; Surface water ; Flooding ; Drought ; Irrigation ; Food security ; River basins ; Irrigation systems ; Solar energy ; Pumps / Asia / India
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: e-copy only Record No: H047360)
(0.87 MB)
Responding to rainfall variability has always been one of the most critical risks facing farmers. It is also an integral part of the job of water managers, whether it be designing interventions for flood management, improving the reliability of water supply for irrigation or advising on priorities during drought conditions. The conventional tools and approaches employed are no longer sufficient to manage the increasing uncertainty and incidence of extreme climate events, and the consequent effects these have on human vulnerability and food security. To be effective, the technological advances need to be matched with physical, institutional and management innovations that transcend sectors, and place adaptation and responsiveness to variability at the centre of the approach. This chapter examines a number of these challenges and possible solutions at a range of scales, from ‘climate-smart villages’ to national policy, with a focus on Asia and India, in particular.
Powered by DB/Text WebPublisher, from
