Interview: ‘The National Framework for Climate Services will help Farmers and Labourforce in Rural India’

Lavasa (Pune), Maharashtra

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) is leading a massive exercise of preparing India’s first ever National Framework For Climate Services. The framework, which is being developed with support of various stakeholders, will ensure exchange of information on climate change-related issues and help the citizens in being better informed and prepared for inadvertent events.

It will focus on five primary sectors — agriculture, energy, disaster management, health and water — and is expected to benefit farmers who frequently face losses due to an adversely changing climate.

Recently a national workshop of stakeholders was organised at Lavasa, Pune, to kick start preparations for the national framework.

In an interview with Gaon Connection, KS Hosalikar, Head, Climate Research and Services, IMD Pune, explains how rural India is expected to benefit from this National Framework of Climate Services.

Here are excerpts from the interview:

Q1: What is the National Framework of Climate Services?

The India Meteorology Department regularly updates the concerned departments of various ministries about information pertaining to weather and a changing change. This National Framework of Climate Change will be a step further in that direction and it will increase our capacity in imparting information around climate change which can help us prepare better to address challenges being faced due to climate change.

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We felt the need to have a broad framework for the exchange of climate-related information. The five key areas of agriculture, energy, disaster management, health and water will be in focus in this framework.

We are having a workshop in Pune which involves the participation of experts, policymakers and government representatives to discuss what all can be included in this framework. It is not a scientific workshop but a policy-driven workshop which is acting as a bridge between various stakeholders.

Q2: How are farmers expected to benefit from this framework?

Farmers are extremely vital for India’s development and most of the farmers in the country are small and marginal farmers. These cultivators have small land holdings and the consequences of an adversely changing climate affects such farmers the most.

In a changing climate, we are regularly witnessing that excessive rainfall is happening in a single day. Recently, Telangana recorded 600 millimetres of rainfall in a single day while Odisha also recorded 400 mm of rainfall in a day. Such heavy rainfall followed by dry spells have a devastating effect on the farmers’ crops.

In such cases, the cultivators need to be informed at least five-six days in advance about such disasters. At present, such critical information is not disseminated to the farmers in a way that it should be done.

Also, this has to happen in the local languages. The framework will also involve private sector, media organisations, research organisations in reaching out to the farmers in the country.

And this information will not only be put out on television, mobile apps, or websites. We want the farmers in the field to get this information who have no means to sustain such technologies.

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Q3: What about the rest of rural India, how are they supposed to benefit from this framework?

It is not just farmers, even daily wage labourers in the urban areas have an increased health risk due to chronic heat waves. Also women in Indian households have an increased risk of facing heat stress. If the outside temperature is 37 degree Celsius then the temperature inside the kitchen will easily be 40 degrees. I can only imagine how millions of women cook chapatis in such working conditions.

The national framework will help such people in their preparedness for such extreme weather events.

We are working on providing information that is more relatable and more granular which can be used to alleviate the stress on rural residents and urban labourers. The national framework is aimed at reaching people in the last mile.

Also, issues related to water, health, environment are pertinent in rural India. The new framework will prepare a method to address these challenges in an adversely changing climate.

Q4: Sikkim recently faced terrible floods due to a glacial outburst. Can the National Framework on Climate Change help people prepare for such disasters?

The chances that such disasters will only increase are multifold. Not only will their frequency increase but also their intensity. Even the World Meteorological Organisation has warned about it.

We want to develop an early warning system that can help in forecasting the disasters and providing enough time to save human lives.

Early warning systems for cyclones are there but the warnings are seldom shared with other departments or agencies. The national framework will help in the coordination of other agencies like NDMA . It will help in ensuring mass evacuation in situations like Sikkim floods.

The example of such a change comes from Uttarakhand. I was there in the Himalayan state a few days ago. The Chief Minister there told me that it is because of the work of the weather department that the casualties have reduced in the disasters.

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He told me that this year also there were incidents like landslides but efficient planning and early warnings helped in reducing the loss of lives.

Also, Odisha, which witnesses cyclones frequently, is now acclaimed for its disaster response. In the super cyclone of 1999, almost 10,000 lives were lost but in 2013, in a similar cyclone, 45-50 lives were lost.

We need our infrastructure in a certain geography to be climate resilient. Roads, bridges, and dams will have to factor in the dangers lurking in the vicinity.

The framework will go a step further and ensure that disasters are far better managed by sharing of information and close-knit coordination between various agencies.