Climate Change

As the Bonn climate talks have come to a close we would like to bid farewell to frequent long blog posts and continue to facilitate a knowledge dialogue with our negotiators and key officials who have a direct stake in the process to forming our Bonn of contention for 10-14th August when all climate leaders would be meeting again. [caption id="" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Dr.Shyam Saran at the press conference"][/caption] For India, since only a very limited population has its outreach in the internet world, we plan to get the word out through vernacular media into different and remote regions of India. Considering India has around 20 official languages and over 100 different dialects, we pay respect to our rich diversity by approaching outreach through radio and local language newspapers along with blogging. On 12th of June, Mr Shyam Saran was extremely unhappy with the pace at which the negotiations were proceeding, as he said so in the press conference he held at the UNFCCC negotiations. Through the various meetings at Bonn and some post Bonn meetings with some high level officials involved associated with the delegations, the following main points came through:

Forwarded to the Portal by Ewoud Kok, UNESCO-IHE ==== The UNESCO-IHE Partnership Research Fund announces an interdisciplinary post-doctoral research programme to investigate the many challenges of adapting to climate change from different water related perspectives.

December this year in Copenhagen the countries of the world are going to sign a treaty that will change our life as we know it. Their commitments today will affect our quality of life tomorrow.

The research study was published in Down to Earth in March 2009 issue. The study describes how climate change is leading to a rising trend of short but intense spells of rainfall, which is making usable water scarce in India.

Forwarded to the Portal by: Josh Paglia, SIWI

The UNDP Water Governance Facility (WGF) at the Stockholm International Water Institute (SIWI) is a unique initiative that supports developing countries in their efforts to strengthen water governance and reduce poverty through policy support and advisory services. The latest newsletter from the Water Governance Facility provides updates on activities initiated & much more.

Some highlights are: WGF in Action: From the World Water Forum

At the 5th World Water Forum, 15-22 March, Istanbul, WGF participated in several events. At the seminar Beyond Water Bribes: How to build a corruption-resistant water sector Dr. HÃ¥kan Tropp gave a key note presentation Corruption: The Missing Link in Water Governance. WGF also co-authored parts of the World Water Development Report, 2009: Water in a Changing World, and attended its launch 16 March.

Guest Post by: Ranjan Panda

Sambalpur 27.5.2009

What 'Water Initiatives Orissa (WIO)' had found out three years ago have been substantiated now by a World Bank report, titled 'Climate Change Impacts in Drought and Flood Affected Areas: Case Studies in India'. The World Bank report , which took Orissa as a case study of flooding in a climate change scenarios - has referred to projections that 'temperatures, precipitation, and flooding are likely to increase, with adverse impacts on crop yields and farm incomes. Among the more substantial effects is a spatial shift in the pattern of rainfall towards the already flood-prone coastal areas'. Three years ago the WIO had found out significant increase in average annual rainfall in coastal districts like Baleswar and Puri. Now the World Bank report has projected 23 per cent increase in annual mean rainfall in that region.

Climate change is a significant change in temperature, wind patterns and precipitation that occurs over a long period of time. Some of these changes occur in cycles over decades, hundreds, thousands and millions of years; some could be random occurrences.

This report on the Effect of Climate Change on Water Resources, prepared by the Central Water Commission and the National Institute of Hydrology, under the guidance of the Ministry of Water Resources in 2008, is one of the first official reports made available by the Government of India, of a reliable quantitative assessment based on field data, of the likely effect of climate change on the availability of water resources, i.e. on the glaciers and snow melt, on rainfall and their effect on run off into the river system and their contribution to ground water.

Forwarded to the Portal by: Birke Otto

Image and Content Courtesy: Water Integrity Network 

The Water Integrity Network is seeking information on initiatives addressing corruption related to water and climate change for the Water Integrity Case Information Sheet series.

Case studies should address questions such as 

What obstacles are rendering water-related climate change adaptation strategies inadequate or inequitable?; What types of initiatives have been put in place to avoid or address climate-related water integrity issues (regulation, policy, monitoring, advocacy, project design, etc.)?; How do local, national, and international groups and organisations tackle such problems?; and What other special problems is climate change implicating for water integrity?

The deadline is 1 June 2009.

Water Initiatives Orissa(WIO) and the Indian River Network (IRN) organsied the Odisha River Conference during 18 - 20 April 2009 at Sambalpur, Odisha. Attended by about 75 participants which included activists, environmentalists, journalists, academicians, researchers and civil society representatives from across the country, the Conference has just concluded with a "Sambalpur Declaration" that calls for saving the rivers from the current fate of high rate of degradation and giving communities their traditional rights over the rivers, among other strong resolutions.