The project “Climate change impacts on river basins in semi-arid areas in India: Mitigation and adaptation measures to address current and future challenges, was formally inaugurated by the The Indian Minister of State for Defence and Member of Parliament from the Godavari basin, Shri. M.M. Pallam Raju. He expressed his concern that the country is very vulnerable to climate change, given the vast majority of the population still being rural based and dependant on livelihoods closely linked to farming. He also stresseed the need for more accurate estimates and monitoring of the real-life conditions, given the obvious knowledge gaps and future unknown implications. His main advice to the scientists was to approach the problem in an integrated manner, predict realistic scenarios and provide adaptation measures that can be adapted by farmers and other primary stakeholders, in addition to the co-operation with the government agencies who can come up with effective management strategies.
Dr. Viviek Kumar, Dr. Udaya Sekhar Nagothu, Shri. M.M. Pallam Raju and Dr. A.K Gosain at the Climawater workshop
Dr. Udaya Sekhar Nagothu, Project Coordinator and Senior Researcher, Bioforsk, Norway, in his welcome address emphasized the need to develop local specific adaptation measures in joint cooperation with the stakeholders in the project. The project will be implemented jointly by the Indian Institute for Technology, Delhi (IITD) and The Norwegian Institute for Agricultural and Environmental Research (BIOFORSK), Norway, with financial support from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Norway.
Dr Vivek Kumar, Senior Advisor, The Royal Norwegian Embassy, New Delhi, briefed about the Norwegian Government’s policy on Climate Change and the Indo-Norwegian collaboration in general. Dr.A.K. Gosain (IIT, New Delhi) presented an overview of the CLIMAWATER project, its main objectives and expected outcomes.
Senior scientists from several organizations including, Dr.Per Stålnacke (on Integrated Water Resource Management), Dr.Johannes Deelstra, Bioforsk, (on Water Use Efficiency) Dr. David Barton, Norwegian Institute for Nature Research, (on Water Pricing), Dr.Sandhya Rao, IIT, Delhi, Dr.K.Palanisami, International Water Management Institute, Hyderabad, Dr.Geethalakshmi, Tamilnadu Agriculture University, Coimbatore, and Dr.Raji Reddy, Senior Agronomist, Agricultural University, Hyderabad spoke on the occasion. The workshop ended with a lively panel discussion comprising of stakeholders from the State Irrigation Department and scientists from the Agricultural University, who expressed their concerns about climate change and the direction which CLIMAWATER should take.
The workshop and the meetings with key stakeholders presented a unique opportunity to introduce the project, establish working contacts with the stakeholders, seek their feedback and suggestions on CLIMAWATER, and the direction the project should take to address the climate impacts and it problems in the Godavari river basin. Stakeholders views are important to understand the reality and their expectations from projects like CLIMAWATER. Both Bioforsk and IIT, New Delhi felt it was a useful attempt to hold the workshop. The team also visited the study area prior to the workshop, which provided a good insight into the conditions and farmers views on the impacts of climate change.