The meeting held on 22nd November, 2012 at the Institute for Human Development, New Delhi was followed by a discussion which included comments and suggestions of the experts and participants. The meeting was chaired by Prof. S R Hashim, President, India Water Partnership who was accompanied by Dr. Akhilesh Gupta, Adviser & Head, Climate Change Programme, Department of Science & Technology, Government of India and Dr. A D Mohile, Former Chairman, International Commission for Irrigation and Drainage & Central Water Commission as the main panelists. 

Consultation meeting on "Climate change adaptation in water management for food security"

Image: India Water Partnership

Dr. Veena Khanduri, Executive Secretary, India Water Partnership in her welcome note thanked the experts and participants who had sent in their comments and suggestion for finalization of the research paper which was to be submitted to the Asia Pacific Adaptation Network (APAN). While providing the background to the consultation she noted that the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), in partnership with key United Nations and other international organizations facilitated the formation of Global Adaptation Network (GAN), in response to the recognition of the need for relevant and usable knowledge as a prerequisite for successful climate change adaptation efforts.

The APAN was launched in 2009 as the first regional network under GAN. The network aims at building capacity, facilitating policy, planning, access to finances and actions, and knowledge dissemination in climate change adaptation. IWP along with the other Country Water Partnerships is working with APAN on climate change adaptation issues since 2011, Dr. Khanduri stated.

Presentation by Dr. Kumar

Image: India Water Partnership

Key Presentation 

Dr. Kumar in his presentation outlined the scope of the research paper. According to him it helped identify and review recent policy developments in relation to climate change adaptation in India, with special reference to water sector including an examination of the climate change adaptation policy already developed. The major issues in relation to climate change adaptation in India with reference to water sector were – (a) Ability to meet food production demands (b) Ensuring adequate water availability for agriculture (c) Mitigation of food scarcity related socio-economic impacts and (d) Increasing awareness and communities for climate change adaptation.

There was also the need to examine scientific/technological innovation in relation to aspects such as forecasting, decision support systems, information sharing and dissemination, infrastructure design techniques/options and water saving technologies. He noted that community empowerment and awareness creation on climate change adaptation with special reference to vulnerable groups for poverty and resilience/risk management also needed to be reviewed. The paper also sought to addressing issues like vulnerability, contingency plans and management challenges.

Dr. Kumar noted that internalizing climate change adaptation was an integral component in the development agenda of water institutions. He highlighted the importance of capacity building on climate change adaptation in the water sector.

The methodology adopted for the research study comprised of secondary review and the time involved was two months. The key point that needed to be discussed was “what is being done in India and what needs to be further done?” he noted.

Dr. Kumar noted that agriculture is still the backbone of the Indian economy. Nearly fifty five percent of the population survives on climate sensitive agriculture with 70 per cent dependence for livelihood. Agriculture sector is the key driving force for gas emission and land use effects cause climate change. It is a significant user of land and fossil fuel particularly in activities like rice production and livestock raising. The use of fossil fuel, land use and agriculture are the key source of climate change. This has serious implications in India on its water supply, food production, livelihood and biodiversity.

Dr. Kumar noted that India’s food demand would be 276 million tonnes by 2021 against current production of 230 million tonnes. Out of 329 million hectares of geographical area, 174 million hectares or 53 per cent is suffering from serious degradation. 144 million hectares are degraded through ravines, salinity, wind erosion, waterlogging, flooding etc. Another 30 million hectare is getting degraded due to haphazard grazing. It is also estimated that there will be reduction of wheat production in future by 4-5 million tonnes due to increase in temperature by 1 degree. Foodgrain production have gone up from 56 million tonnes in 1967 to 240 million tonnes in 2007-8 but declined to 210 million tonnes in 2011 raising concern for food security.

As regards water, Dr. Kumar stated that the per capita availability of water has fallen by 70 per cent since 1950. Water supply per capita in 2002 was 1902 cubic meters and is now expected to decline to 1401 cubic meter by 2025. The average per capita availability of water estimated to be 1600 cubic meters per year is expected to decline by 1000 cubic meters by 2050 as per current population projections.

The major areas that are going to be affected by climate change are I) water, II) food III) industry, society and settlement IV) health V) spices and natural resources. Climate Change Adaptation and Disaster Risk Reduction needs to be implemented through the policies of other sectors, in particular, those of agriculture, water resources, health, land use, environment, finance and planning.

Climate change will affect disaster risks in two ways: i) through the likely increase in weather and climate hazards and ii) through increases in the vulnerability of communities to natural hazards, particularly through ecosystem degradation, reductions in water and food availability, and changes in livelihoods.

In India, the combined pressure of urbanization, economic development and industrialization would only be intensified by the risk of climate change. Adaptation and mitigation should be considered jointly since climate proofing and vulnerability reduction goes hand in hand to reduce vulnerability to natural disasters. Climate change is one of the main driving forces of change for water resources management, together with demographic, economic, environmental, social and technological forces. If solutions are created in isolation major challenges that these driving forces create may become self-defeating.

The paper gave a good review of the policy framework which includes the National Action Plan for Climate Change, National Water Policy, National Forest Policy and the National Environment Policy.

The paper gave a grim picture of the risk that climate change poses for food security in India as well as on employment, income and environmental sustainability. Evidence was provided for the major mismatch between water supply and water demand for agriculture in India. Some regions, e,g. Eastern India, is abundant in both surface water and groundwater but remains agriculturally backward. In many parts ground water is the only source of irrigation but it is over exploited and is affected by frequent drought.

There is a need for improvement in agriculture through modifying cropping patterns and introducing drought-resistant varieties of crops. Management of range land with improvement of grazing lands, improved grazing patterns, introduction of feed and protection of shrubs and trees needs to be looked into. Dr. Kumar also noted that there was a need for development of water resource system with improved irrigation, development of improved storage facilities, protection of surface water from evaporation, and introduction of drip irrigation system. Animal husbandry activities could also help in mitigation with the use of improved and scientific methods, increasing outputs without destroying the eco-system.

The outcomes of climate change were highlighted by Dr. Kumar and he stressed the need for greater integration in research, specific programmes and better infrastructure.  He also discussed the areas where status quo continues like in unemployment, lack of early warning systems, high migration, high dropout rates in school and high incidence of droughts.

Dr. Kumar noted that there is a national as well as international consensus that the impetus on hydropower and bio-fuel generation might have adverse affects on freshwater ecosystems which might decrease the ecosystem resilience of the affected regions to climate change.

Dr. Kumar also talked about the need to have more gender sensitive interventions with specific gender budgeting approach for addressing the vulnerabilities.

Discussion

After the presentation, the Chairman invited the house to give their comments on the paper. Mr. Akhilesh Gupta, Secretary, University Grant Commission, Govt. of India (former Head, Climate Change Programme Division of Department of Science & Technology, Government of India) emphasized the link between mitigation and energy efficiency, the need for mainstreaming climate change into the development focus. The budgetary allocation for climate change adaptation went up from 1 per cent of GDP in the ninth plan to 4 per cent of GDP in the 12^th plan. The five priority areas of the five years plan are water, agriculture, health, environment and disaster management.

He also mentioned that 1 per cent of the GDP is lost every year to natural calamities. He also mentioned the tremendous extent of diversity in India and the need for fine tuning policies to suit regional variations. He stressed the need for creating monsoon resilient communities for food security, developing drought resilient wheat and rice varieties. Issues like climate change adaptation cannot be tackled by government alone, but civil society needs to support official efforts.

Shri A D Mohile, former Chairman, Central Water Commission, specifically focusing on the research paper, expressed the need for cross checking some of the statistics provided. He contested the statement that there is no further scope for irrigation; in fact there is a very large scope particularly in Eastern and North Eastern India. Prior to the National Water Policy there was a National Water Mission which had six sub- group reports, which contain wealth of information. This information needs to be included in the paper. The challenges faced by the water sector are growing population, economic development and urbanization.

Mr. A D Mohile stated that while the fact of rising temperature is a proven fact, the effect of climate change on hydrology and agriculture is still nebulous. He also did not support the idea that we can depend on international markets to meet our food security needs.

Another participant, Mr. R K Khanna, former Chief Engineer, Central Water Commission expressed doubt about the statement that 144 million ha of land is water logged. He also lamented the fact that the National Water Policy is only advisory and has no legal binding. Empowered mechanisms are needed for the water sector. He also posed the question about what GWP-India is going to do for the water sector in the future. Reacting to this, Dr Veena Khanduri requested all the participants to send a one page note on what GWP-India should do from now on.

A participant from NIDM drew attention to the fact that 20 per cent of food grains are lost in post harvest handling. Access to food is as important as production of food. Subsistence farmers are not the real intense users of water, but large farmers and industry.

Ms. Suruchi Badhwal, Assistant Director, Earth Science and Climate Change Division of TERI said that there is a need to focus on the demand side in the water chain. She stressed the need for creation of water grids – creating reservoirs and linking them. Water use efficiency is crucial.

Dr. S K Bandyopadhyaya, Principal Scientist, Climate Change Adaptation from ICAR said that there is no linkage of crop system/ soil system with water and agriculture management. There is a need to focus on early warning system for drought. The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has to be plugged into the system very tightly. We have to go agro-climatic/ agro-eco zone wise. What are the adaptive technologies available? What is the adoption rate? The amalgamation is not understood. People do not understand adaptive technologies well.

The entire water distribution network beyond the distributary level has collapsed in our canal systems, according to Dr. Bandopadhyaya. The losses from the distributary to farmers field is very high and stands at about 60-70 per cent. There is a need to put water efficient technologies to push water to the tail end of the canal systems.  He also stressed that efficient water use can significantly reduce Green House Gas (GHG) emission.

Mr. Anand Kumar, NIDM stressed that implementation is the key issue. Ground water development in the eastern region is only 20 per cent compared to 70 per cent nationally. Backward states lag behind in ground water usage. As regards interlinking of rivers he said that it is nothing new as Chennai has been receiving waters from the Krishna since long.

Ms. Abha Mishra of UNDP stressed the problems relating to excess water. She said that the report needed to stress on micro analysis and more light on the linkage between risk management and risk transfer. Also, fodder security is as important as food security, she said.

Dr. Joseph Viruthiyel pointed that North East Climate Change adaptation programme is one of the biggest funded adaptation programme that aims to develop climate resilient communities through grass roots level land and livelihoods planning. Governance issue did not receive much place in the report; at least the paper must highlight the cases where good governance has worked.

The Chairman, in his concluding remarks laid stress on water use efficiency, creating alternative food habits, alternate cropping patterns, federal ownership of water, food buffers, networking within south Asian countries for food security (food mobility), non sanitary living conditions (50 per cent of malnutrition is due to poor hygiene and sanitation, rather than non availability of food.