Climate and Weather
The 18th Stratospheric Processes and their Role in Climate Scientific Steering Group meeting, SPARC, Feb 2011, Pune
Posted on 07 Jan, 2011 02:20 PM
Organizer: Stratospheric Processes and their Role in Climate (SPARC)
Venue: Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM), Pune, India
Water-Focused Adaptation to Climate Change - Online Courses
Posted on 06 Jan, 2011 03:06 PMContent and Image Courtesy: The Center for Sustainable Development
CSDi is announcing the January launch of a module of four online field courses on Adaptation to Climate Change. These courses begin by introducing basic climate change concepts, and develop as participants identify local community vulnerabilities, investigate appropriate solutions, develop full projects, launch and manage them.
Benchmarking local government performance on rural sanitation in Himachal Pradesh - A learning note by WSP
Posted on 06 Jan, 2011 06:43 AMThis document deals with benchmarking local government performance on rural sanitation in Himachal Pradesh. To strengthen outcome-focused management of the rural sanitation sector in India, the Water and Sanitation Program’s (WSP) Global Scaling Up Sanitation Project, in partnership with the Government of Himachal Pradesh, developed a five-step process to monitor and benchmark performance on a monthly basis across all twelve districts in the state. Applied at the local government (district) level, this process has proven to be an effective approach, one that can improve reporting, monitoring, and performance.
Climate change: Vulnerability and adaptation experiences from Rajasthan and Andhra Pradesh – A report by SDC
Posted on 05 Jan, 2011 06:44 PM
This document discusses the process oriented programme of Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) on Vulnerability Assessment (V&A) and Enhancing Adaptive Capacity to Climate Change initiated in the semi-arid regions of India. The aims of this programme include strengthening the resilience of local communities to conditions of unfavourable weather, like adverse alterations in temperature and precipitation leading to the more frequent occurrence of drought and to use the experiences for policy development for climate change adaptation measures at various levels.
Over 60 per cent of the cultivated area in India is rainfed & unfavorable and uncertain rainfall patterns will seriously affect the food, drinking water and livelihood security of millions of children, women and men. Since the initiation of this project, the emphasis on proactive research on adaptation mechanisms has increased at the national level.
The present decade may mark the beginning of a new climate era, characterized by extreme and often unpredictable weather conditions and rise in sea levels. The greatest casualty of climate change will be food, water and livelihood security.
National Conference on Climate Change and Sustainable Development, WOTR, Feb 2011
Posted on 04 Jan, 2011 11:22 AM
Organizer: Watershed Organisation Trust (WOTR)
Venue: Watershed Organisation Trust (WOTR)
Description:
WOTR has been in the forefront of mobilizing vulnerable communities in semi arid and resource fragile regions to help themselves out of poverty by harvesting rainwater and regenerating the ecosystems they live in along watershed lines.
Droplets: e-Newsletter from Everything About Water - December 2010
Posted on 29 Dec, 2010 10:56 AMArticle and Image Courtesy: Everything About Water
The December edition of Droplets e-newsletter published by the Everything About Water had the following highlights:
Blueprint for farm growth
Posted on 28 Dec, 2010 03:12 PM
Since the start of the 11th Five Year Plan, the growth rate in agriculture has virtually remained stagnant. A scene at a paddy field in the outskirts of Hyderabad.
High altitude wetland protected areas in western Arunachal Pradesh - Identification and demarcation using GIS
Posted on 27 Dec, 2010 11:15 PMGuest Post by Shashank Srinivasan
High altitude wetlands in the Indian Himalayas are crucial to the water security of downstream communities. They buffer the flow of glacial meltwater to sustain river flow in the dry season, ensuring that human settlements have access to water when they need it most.
High altitude wetlands are also reservoirs of biodiversity and contribute local livelihood opportunities. Identifying these wetlands and demarcating areas for their protection is thus crucial to any wetland management plan.
In this poster, a method of using topographic data obtained by remote sensing techniques, to identify the catchment areas of these wetlands has been described.
The author suggests that the protection of these catchment areas will ensure the survival of these wetlands, as well as of the communities that depend on them.
Guidelines for water safety plans for rural water supply systems by the Sulabh International Academy of Environmental Sanitation
Posted on 27 Dec, 2010 07:20 PMThis document by the Sulabh International Academy of Environmental Sanitation presents the guidelines for water safety plans for rural water supply systems. The revised National Rural Drinking Water Programme (NRDWP) Guidelines 2009-2012 issued by Rajiv Gandhi National Drinking Water Mission, Department of Drinking Water and Sanitation has shifted the focus from source development and installation of water supply system for providing drinking water supply to rural household to focus on development of village security plan.
Mitigating climate change through organic agriculture - Keynote address at the Third Organic Farming Association of India Convention, held at Anand, Gujarat (2010)
Posted on 25 Dec, 2010 10:43 PMGreen Revolution (GR) technologies, supported by official policies, and fuelled by agro-chemicals, machinery and irrigation, are well known to have improved agricultural production and productivity. While these technologies greatly helped developing countries to address their food-security and food-sovereignty needs, farmers using these technologies have had to depend on external inputs.