Since 2018, Kerala state has been experiencing climate shocks of severe magnitude impacting millions of people’s lives and livelihoods. Kerala’s 17% of the land is vulnerable to landslides, and for the districts in the high-land areas, this reckons to an average of 50%. Kerala state, sandwiched between the Arabian Sea and the Western Ghats, is a global Climate Hotspot with dense human population.
Carbon Neutral development with Net-zero targets by 2040, and achieving the17 SDGs by 2030 are the two high-priority goals of India. However, the policies and plans that help to tread the pathway for sustainable development locally are often framed without an informed role of Local Self Governments or adequate participation of local community families who are often most vulnerable to climate disasters.
A paradigm shift in climate vulnerability management is the need of the hour from a “much-said, but poorly-acted” state to a “well-said and well-acted” one. This project, which is supported by Keidanren Nature Conservation Fund, Japan ) and implemented with the guidance of the International Partnership of Satoyama Initiative is towards this direction.
Project Plan of Action
The project is in a three-year time frame, with integrated actions in three Work Packages (WPs).
- WP1 (Year 1) includes the collection and collation of data along with mapping ofthe climate vulnerabilities, coupled with the documentation of best practices in Ecosystem-based Adaptation (EbA) in the region.
- WP2 (Year 2) focus will be on the development of a Mobile Application (EbAApp) synthesizing location-specific data on Agriculture, forestry, and related land uses, transportation, energy, and waste management.
- WP3 (Year 3) will focus on strengthening multi-stakeholder platforms and building partnerships for carbon-neutral actions. Local communities, Local Self Governments, policymakers, and practitioners will be brought in for promoting EbA methods and for nature-based solutions.
The Project Implementation Site- Pozhuthana GramaPanchayth, Wayanad
The project will be implemented in Pozhuthana GramaPanchayath (GP), one of the most climate-vulnerable GPs in the Wayanad district. Studies show the area is highly prone to landslides and floods and the most vulnerable are the smallholder farmers and the resource-poor tribal communities. The total land area is 5019 ha, and the population is 16,229 with Scheduled Tribe 2207 and Scheduled Caste community members 689. The Panchayath is predominantly, a plantation crop-dominated (tea and coffee) hill area with profusely grown spice crops. Unless the land use of this area is ecologically responsible with the landscape terrain’s physical and biological features, and the community development is socially and culturally equitable, the future food and agriculture production scenario will be more disastrous.
Expected Outputs & Outcomes
Work Package 1
Case studies on the best practices of Ecosystem-based Adaptation (EbA)
Promotion of methods and tools that help soil productivity improvement and water-use efficiency through soil organic carbon storage and with a consortium of suitable microbial inputs as well as micro-weather information and drip irrigation technologies
Work Package 2
A suitable and scalable Mobile App that provides the necessary information, data, and methods of intervention for carbon-neutral development, viz., enhancement of biodiversity, improvement of soil fertility, and increasing efficiency of water and energy uses.
Work Package 3
A well-trained group of youth as trainers in Carbon Neutral Development interventions in the areas of agriculture and allied sectors, energy, and transportation
A nature-based intervention module that will focus on the methods and tools to improve degraded or abandoned production landscapes, in particular the mountain ecosystems, edges of coffee, tea, and rubber plantations, etc.
Project Updates
World Meteorological Day Observed
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Building Climate Resilient Production Landscape in Wayanad:
MSSRF – KNCF Joint Project Launched
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Project Partners
PozhuthanaGramaPanchayath and Vythiri Block Panchayath are other major partners that plays critical role in the project.
The Departments of GIS and Information Technology of Kannur University, Kerala
The Tropical Institute of Ecological Sciences (TIES), Ecological Research Campus, K.K Road,Velloor P.O 686 501, Kottayam, Kerala, India