June 9, 2009 (Tuesday)

INAUGURAL SESSION:

The Inaugural Session commenced with a welcome address by Prof. Surjit Singh, Director, Institute of Development Studies, Jaipur. He also highlighted the main issues to be discussed in the conference. Prof. S Mahendra Dev, Chairman, CACP, New Delhi, delivered the inaugural address. He said that the issue of climate change is very significant and needs to be taken seriously. There has been serious threat to agricultural land, air, water, forests and marine resources.

The chief guest of the conference, Dr. Nesim Tunkuya, UNFPA Representative to India and Bhutan, highlighted the need to address issues beyond climate that are encompassed in the environment. Climate is one important element in the environment. Three facts are important: one is interdependent of the system; second, the rising population and its influence on the system and then finally, there is need for collective effort to do some thing about it right now.

The chairperson of the inaugural session, Prof. Hari Mohan Mathur, said climate change is an issue, which affects rich, poor, small and big countries but it is the poor countries, which bear the brunt. The continued sea levels will soon submerge the countries like Maldives; as well as some parts of Bangladesh.The monsoon pattern will be disturbed thereby impacting the poor people lives.

Dr. Reena Marwah, Secretary General, AAS, New Delhi, delineated the activities under taken by the Association of Asia Scholars and also discussed the problems associated with the climate change and its influence on various issues like gender, economy, livelihoods and food security. She hoped that the conference would find various means to tackle the dangerous repercussions of climate change especially concerning the South Asian region. 

Dr. S. Mohanakumar, Institute of Development Studies, Jaipur thanked the speakers of the inaugural session and said that the unregulated capitalism was the main cause behind many harms and the climate change is one amongst them.

FIRST TECHNICAL SESSION:

Five papers were presented in the first technical session: (I) Water, Climate Change and Economic Policies: A Global Perspective on Water by Dr. Sanjay Pahuja, World Bank. (II) Sources of Climate Change: Its Impact and Mitigation Issues in Nepal by Maharjan Keshavlall, Japan. (III) De-mystifying Climate Change: Policy Implications for Agricultural and Rural Development for Drought Adaptation in Semi-arid India by A.J. James (iv) Dwindling Forest Resources and Livelihood among Tribal Communities in Gujarat: Policy Implications in the Context of Climate Change by Amita Shah and Sajitha OG (V) The issues of future socio-economic scenarios with and without climate change with particular reference to agriculture and economic policy instruments for adaptation by Purnamita Desgupta .

The first paper of the conference by Dr. Sanjay Pahuja dealt with the declining rainfall, changing patterns of monsoon and its implications for water resource management and economy all over the world. The paper highlighted the key runoffs in the giant snowcaps of Himalayas, temperature increases and its adverse affect on the agriculture in India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh as well. Taking examples of excellent water managements from California, southeastern Australia, mexico, Egypt Iraq, central Asia and the north China plains, his paper called for the Financially sustainable water services, environmentally sustainable management of the resources, managing water through better monitoring of outcomes and suggested the need to develop new approaches that comprehensively monitor balance as means of managing variations water supply proportions as water supplies get scarcer and the demand for water become greater.

The second paper outlined the sources of climate change and its impact and mitigation issues in Nepal. Demonstrating the once negligible GHG in Nepal and present increasing trends, the paper elucidated some of the mitigation and adoption programs in order to minimize GHG and the risks of climate change at different levels. SRI and organic farming in the agriculture practices were recommended hasten mitigation measures Nepal.

The third paper highlighted the ways and means of adjusting to the implications of climate change. Coping with drought is not new for India. The record shows the severe famines of the 18th and 19th centuries the recent drought in 2003-04 affected around 20 million people in rural areas of India. But the current situation is worse than in pre-independence India as there are no stores of grain or fodder in villages any more. So in this context, restoring natural systems of soil fertility, biomass production and water harvesting, building buffer of food, fodder and water, encourage community programmes Andhra Pradesh drought adaptation initiative (APDAI) which addresses the adaptation problem in rural areas of Mahaboobnager and Anantapur, needs to be under taken.

Fourth paper articulated the intrinsic relationship between the depleting forest resources and the increasing burden on the livelihood of the Tribal communities in Gujarat state. High burden of poverty and multiple deprivations was recorded among the tribal population. Tribal workers are particularly concentrated in agriculture activities rather than in household industry or in other non -agriculture work hence the first effect will be on them. Evolution of the comprehensive mechanisms to conserve the forest, more integrating plans with forest management not with standing the legal, institutional and financial constraints are some of the suggestions made for the policy makers.

The fifth paper highlighted the future socio economic scenario issues with reference to agriculture and economic policy. Reports like IPCC 2007 brings into focus the Climate change and how these are likely to evolve under various sets of adaptations. Energy security is an imperative that affects and will hold the key to her future economic growth.

Alternative strategies for the future economic growth, strategies for moving to a low carbon growth path are some of the key suggestions made in the paper.

Prof. S Mahendra Dev chaired the session. In his concluding remarks he pointed out aspects of the vulnerability of the agricultural sector to climate change ; on which the livelihoods of the poor were crucially linked.

SPECIAL SESSION:

The special session focused on climate change and its impact on Health and Gender.

The session had four papers. (I) Changing climate and its repercussions for health: some International perceptions by Surjit Singh and Mohan Kumar (ii) (iii) climate change in south Asia: gender and health concern by varsha joshi (IV). Mainstreaming gender in climate change discourse by Surjit Singh.

Prof. Amita Shah from the Gujarat Institute of Development Studies, Ahmedabad Chaired the session.

The first paper elucidated the adverse affects of climate change on health. Increasing frequencies of heat waves, rising temperature and variable precipitation will decrease the food production. So the lack of availability of the traditional food stocks forces the food habits. The El Nino phenomenon provides an analogue for understanding Climate change on infectious diseases.

The paper presented the evidence on how the climate change has mixed effects on diseases like malaria, diarrhoeal, and Dengue etc and recommended that establishing baseline relationship between weather and health, evaluating adaptation options, proper estimation of co-incidental and costs of mitigation and adaptation, short range climate forecasts, monitoring interpretation of evidence, training and quality assurance, quality control, awareness of health consequences as some perceptions help reduce health troubles in the wake of climate change.

The second paper "Impact of excessive rain on and speared of chikkungunia among tapping labours in Kerala" by Mohan Kumara and James Jacob briefly explained how the spread of communicable chikkungunia fever affected the poor working labours. It also highlighted that the impact of the excessive rain increased the speed and the velocity of the disease, which created havoc amongst the poor tapping communities.

The third paper which exclusively dealt with the climate changes impacts in south Asia highlighted its main repercussions on gender and health in Pakistan, India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. Climate change impacts on men and woman are differential because of different social and physical natures. When it comes to Climatic impacts, women are the most vulnerable. For example woman accounted for 90 percent of the 140,000 people killed in the 1991 cyclone in Bangladesh. Women in south Asian context are generally expected to care for the sick, particularly in times of disaster and environmental stress.

The fourth, which also the last paper of the special session outlined the gender mainstreaming in climate change discourse. Although climate change impacts will affects all countries, its impact is differently distributed among different regions, generations, age, classes, income groups and the poor (of which 70% are women). The paper by taking the agriculture sector as an example demonstrated that changes in agriculture production have had considerable effects on the situation of women given their crucial role. Women are more vulnerable to disasters, water and other resources shortages as they are largely responsible for water collection in their communities.

Thus, the paper highlighted the need for successful adaptations policies and measures within both developed and developing countries.

TECHNICAL SESSION II:

The second technical session had eight papers and all of them are Indian centric in their research focus. The broad theme of the session was climate change in the Indian context. Prof.K.L Maharjan chaired this session. S Ramanathan was the discussant.        

The first paper presented by Pradosh Kiran Nath, IIT Karagpur, dealt on "the impact of climate change on Indian economy". India has 600 million rural people and majority of them are in climate sensitive sectors and their livelihood comes from agriculture, which is dangerously subjected to the climate change. The paper reveals that atmospheric surface temperature has enhanced by about 1.1degree during winter and Monsoon months respectively. In such an extreme and volatile conditions faced by farmers the government schemes like kisan credit card scheme introduced in 1998/99, Insurance scheme introduced in 1999/2000, pilot scheme on seed crop insurance launched 1999/2000 has enhanced the coping capacity farmers to face the adverse affects of climate change.

The paper "Statistics on climate change: An analysis of Indian scenario" presented by S. Suresh Kumar dealt with the changing scenario in the climate through the quantitative evidence. The GHGs in the atmosphere have risen phenomenally from 280 ppm in 1750 to 379 ppm in 2005. The paper articulated that he available data on CO2 since 1970 indicated that the annual emission recorded an increase from 21 to 38 gigatons, and it amount to rate of growth temperature increase is a 100-year linear trend of 0.74 degree.

The paper showed that because of climate change production in India will be reduced between 10 and 40 percent in the coming days.

Gyaneshwar Singh presented a paper on "Diverse farming system with integrated approach: Key options for improving livelihood and food security" which reviewed various options in order to establish smooth livelihood and uninterrupted food security. Creating value options, easy accessibility of credit and better price and marketing facilities for the farmers etc are recommended apart from the known policy options.

The paper presented by Mrutyunjay Swain and Mamata Swain on "Climate change, Drought risk and vulnerability in western Orissa, India" reviewed the vulnerability levels in western Orissa of India. In Bolangir district of Orissa where 85% were counted as main workers were adversely affected by droughts of different intensities in seventeen out of last forty years i.e. 1962-63 to 2002-2003. The increasing frequency occurrence of these major factors behind the raising level of drought in region is because of climate change. The paper prescribes for policy like expansion of irrigation facility, credit to farmers etc.

The paper by Manu N.Sulakarni "Going Green at what cost: The case of Jetropa and food insecurity," examined some of the recent evolutions in jetropa and food related issues. Jatropha has been identified by the Indian govt as its bio-diesel bearing plant and with the help of it government planned to increase bio-fuel production by 20% by 2017. Paper also touched upon the provisions of functioning of the regulated market segment covered by the Kyoto protocol. Economically sustainable development practices, and in trading, environmental related measures were recommended.

U. Kalpagam presented a paper on "The global Trading of carbon emissions and India", which examined the features of the global carbon market. It also highlighted the infrastructure for global trading of carbon credits and put forth the economic arguments that carbon markets afford opportunities to India for both in terms of contributing to reduction of Green House gases (GHG) by adopting environmentally friendly and sustainable practices and raping the benefits from trading.

Narpat Singh Rathore's paper on "Impact of Global Warming on Himalayan Glaciers and its impact on India" reminded the dangerous impacts India will face in the wake of Himalyan Glacier melt down due to climate change. Due to Global warming the rate of retreat in the Himalayan glaciers in the last three decades is more than three times. During the earlier 200 years or so the glacier retreated by only 2 kms but now its alarmingly fast.

The discussant reviewed the papers presented and added that many international agreements were signed to deal with the problem. Montreal Protocol, Kyoto protocol etc were some of them but the solutions were not added. Hence he called for the national level combative plans for the effective implementation of the provisions.

TECHNICAL SESSION III:

In the third technical sessions four papers were presented. The theme of the session was "climate change: Natural resources and livelihoods." Prof. Prem Vaishistha chaired the session.

The first paper of the session "Shrinking resources: a need to awake" by Dr.Beena Narayan analyzed with the help case study under taken during the research. Environment is complex interdependent systems and there is a greater need to understand the interaction between ecosystems and human behaviour. The main Reason why policy fails to coordinate with others because they are self interested. So there is lack of awareness towards the environmental issues and need to change that.

R.Y Mahore's paper, which dealt on "climate change and development," elucidated the historical initiations taken to mitigate climate change effects. Commission on climate change and development was launched in December 2007 by the Swedish government. Enhancing sustainable development and mitigating climate change are the only ways to the development. Paper prescribes that by risk financing, livelihood preservation through National disaster management can help the development endure in developing countries.

A paper on "climate change and smallholder and Subsistence agriculture; approach of community based adaptation" by Manju singh called for the Smallholder agriculture. In Developing countries Principle source of income is mainly family labor. A vital approach to climate change threat is to poor but by community- based adaptation can be avoided. The paper demonstrated the winning example of community based adaptation Tarun Bharat Singh (TBS) programme of Rajasthan. It has shown the rejuvenation of traditional water harvesting structure on a wide scale.

The Paper by Shital Lodhia on "climate change threats on the coastal livelihood of Gujarat: need for regional planning" spelled out the failure of the one policy all across the nation and called for the regional planning. Integration of the regional framework for the coastal development, long term regional land use planning, establish a healthy partnership among states local body and non governmental organizations to improve the ecological productivity and biodiversity of the coastal region are some of the prescriptions made in the presentation.

Dr. Purnima Dasgupta was the discussant. She reviewed the papers presented and added that the understanding of perceptions and positions of different countries on natural resources and livelihoods makes it easier to explore possibilities of effective action.

TECHNICAL SESSION IV:

The theme of the session was climate change and vulnerability and adaptation. Prof S.L. Bapna chaired the session. Prof R.K.Sharma was the discussant of the session.

The first paper of the session "Global climate change and impact on Indian economy" by Swami Prakash srivastava, examined the overall global efforts towards climate change and its impact on Indian economy. The paper called for the Denmark's example which taxes the industrial emission of carbon and return to reduce emissions. It also called for the equal emphasis on reducing reliance on fossil fuels. Revenue to industry through subsidies, research and investment in alternative energy source burning fuel, carbon capture technologies and other environment innovations are other strategies to be followed. The paper highlighted the Strategies adapted for sustainable development in the drought-affected areas of Andhra Pradesh.

Sibananda Senapati and Vijay Gupta in their paper "Adaptation strategy: an alternative vision of climate change policy for developing countries" called for the new ways of adaptation. Adaptation types have been differentiated according to numerous attributes. Commonly used distinctions are purposefulness and timing, autonomous adaptation, planned adaptation, reactive adaptation etc were supported in the paper.

Shiasta Ahmad's paper on "Climate change and health hazards" showed that there was a great link between deterioration of the environment and health. Taking the example from Ethiopia the paper revealed that the children born during the drought periods continue to suffer severe health handicaps throughout their lives. So it was concluded that the healthy life depends on healthy environment.

Prof. R. K. Sharma critically reviewed the papers and said that the climate change is a reality in today's world and needs to be addressed with multi- pronged strategy. In India, he explained already many studies are being taken up to rightly assess the exact impact of climate change but none of them are identical in conclusions. So he emphasized the fact that we have to see the motives behind such studies and then review the impact of climate change.

PANEL DISCUSSION:

The theme for the panel discussion was "Climate Change: Futuristic Concerns" Prof. V.S. Vyas, professor emeritus, IDS chaired the session. In his thought provoking and illuminating address, Prof. Vyas reminded the audience that there was growing awareness on the climate change. But he said climate change issue is still an unexplored issue but we need to let the debate roll. For that, he told that so far only scientists have had their inputs and the need of the hour is to provide inputs from the social science point of view. He has called for the multi disciplinary, multi sectroal approaches into the study of climate change.

Prof. S.L. Bapna analyzed the present climatic conditions and said that humans are endowed with enough resources, which is enough for the present and future generations if used properly.

Dr. Reena Marwah, Secretary General, Association of Asia Scholars, New Delhi summarized the salient themes deliberated upon in the conference on climate change and called for urgent, viable and innovative approaches to find the solutions for the climate change and its repercussions. In her opinion, international cooperation was crucial for the development of adaptation and mitigation strategies for climate change. The conference with the vote of thanks to the chair and the participants .

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