Ms. Omana T.K. in her opening remarks spoke on the contrasting experiences of Wayanad in the 1980’s and the recent times. This workshop is a platform to bring together the interveners, players and the communities in exploring and understanding the linkage between lives, livelihoods and environment of the region.

PAC and RASTA are undertaking a study to understand the link between environment, livelihoods and governance in the Wayanad region. This study primarily aims at understanding the environment vulnerability of the livelihoods in Wayanad and explores the impact of environmental changes on the livelihoods. A better protected and a more cared-for environment would result in more secure livelihoods.

Public Affairs Centre comes with a 15 year history of promoting good governance in India and abroad, with its flagship Citizen Report Card being used on numerous occasions by government agencies to receive citizen feedback to improve the quality of public service delivery. RASTA has been in Wayanad for the last two decades working to protect environment and in particular enabling local institutions conserve and preserve natural resources of the region.

R Suresh, Director of Public Affairs Centre emphasized the need to combine people’s wisdom with technical knowledge to inform the formulation of innovative policies that would directly change people’s lives for the better. In Kerala, and Wayanad in particular, the confluence of informed citizenry, technical experts and powerful people’s organizations increased the chances of locating critical policy reforms that would arrest environmental decline and improve policy processes.

Other speakers during the Inaugural session included Mr. Gafoor, Vice President Panamaram Block Panchayat, Ms. Kunhayisha, President of Kaniyambetta Gram Panchayat, Ms. Girija, Ward Member and other intellectuals and practitioners.

Click to view slideshow.

The region once completely forested and devoid of significant human presence, has experienced rapid population growth and development since independence, with the population of the district doubling between 1970 and 2000. As a result of unregulated growth and unsustainable practices, the ecology of the region has been significantly affected over the last few decades. The effect of ecological degradation on local lives and livelihoods is becoming increasingly evident over the past decade. Under the influence of global climate change, the existing vulnerabilities of the region are likely to become worse and the climate risks are likely to become larger.

In this regard PAC and RASTA are undertaking a study to understand the link between environment, livelihoods and governance in the Wayanad region. This study primarily aims at understanding the environment vulnerability of the livelihoods in Wayanad and explores the impact of environmental changes on the livelihoods.

This workshop is a beginning of a series of dialogues between the interveners, players and the communities to bring them together in exploring and understanding the linkage between lives, livelihoods and environment of the region.

]]> http://greengovernance.wordpress.com/2011/11/10/pac-and-rasta-to-organize-a-workshop-on-lives-livelihoods-and-environment-of-wayanad/feed/ 0 greengovernance http://greengovernance.wordpress.com/2011/08/18/understanding-bangalore-climate-1/ http://greengovernance.wordpress.com/2011/08/18/understanding-bangalore-climate-1/#comments Thu, 18 Aug 2011 03:45:18 +0000 Pavan Srinath http://greengovernance.wordpress.com/?p=467 Continue reading →]]> This past week, Bangalore received copious amounts of rainfall on consecutive nights.  A heavy spell of rainfall with 76 mm of precipitation was recorded in the city starting on August 15th night. There was more rain on the following day, with Bangalore receiving another 38 mm of precipitation.  (You can take a look at the data yourself here.)

On average, Bangalore receives only 137 mm of rainfall in August, which means that with the two days of rainfall, Bangalore has already exceeded the month’s quota of expected rainfall! (with 144mm). 

What does this mean? Do we truly have a freak set of rainfall set on our hands? Or can this be normal even when it doesn’t agree with the average numbers? This post aims to make sense of rainfall and variability in Bangalore. 

Understanding the Basic Climate Profile

Let’s start by trying to understand the basic rainfall profile of Bangalore. On average, Bangalore receives 970 mm of rainfall in a year.

The graph above shows the average monthly rainfall distribution for Bangalore city. (source). One can notice two “peaks” in rainfall received, a large peak around September: the primary monsoon season; and a secondary peak in May: which represents Bangalore’s summer showers.

Average rainfall doesn’t tell us much!

Now all this is fine and factually quite accurate, but averages and monthly “expected” rainfall values tell a very incomplete story. The Indian Met Department loves to talk about “expected” rainfall quantities and  whether the actual rainfall received was in deficit or excess. Read any of their daily, weekly or monthly reports meant for direct government/news agency/public consumption, and the story is the same.

The devil, as it happens, is in climate variability. Every year, in all parts of India, there is natural and inevitable deviation from the average rainfall quantities. Some months are higher, some lower, heavy showers happen in the first week of a month in one year, the last week in another. It is only when you see a weather event that goes beyond the expected range of variation that it becomes an “extreme” weather event.

Let’s explore this with the rainfall in Bangalore from last week: just how special was such a high rainfall event? To understand that, we first need to understand how monthly rainfall varies naturally year on year.

Getting Data for Analysis

Unfortunately, the Indian Met Department does not release historical time-series rainfall datasets for individual stations, even if they are important ones like Bangalore. The closest substitute one can find are gridded data sets. Gridded data sets are built by taking station data, running computations and calculating the numbers for equal, square blocks of land. These are really useful for complex climate modeling exercises, but with care, they can be used as well.

The Research Institute for Humanity and Nature, Japan have developed an excellent gridded database of 50 years of daily rainfall covering all of South Asia, called APHRODITE. (It’s available for free download, but bewarned: file sizes are huge and you need programming skills to extract data out of it). I decided to use a grid box from this for analyzing Bangalore’s climate.

Below is a map of Bangalore showing the location of the Bangalore city weather station, the APHRODITE grid box chosen and outlines of the Bangalore urban and rural districts. (Hat-Tip to @zenrainman for help in locating the Bangalore weather station.) Click here for an interactive map.

So what do the numbers say?

Before we can blindly trust all the results that this new source of data tells us, we need to check if the numbers match up to what we already know. Below is a graph of the monthly average rainfall values. APHRODITE provides data from 1951-2007, and below is the average of the first 30 years.

On comparison with the previous graph, the overall pattern of monthly rainfall seems unchanged, however: the rainfall amounts that APHRODITE gives us seem to be almost uniformly around ~70% of values obtained by the IMD. Thus, the average rainfall in August here is about 97mm instead of 130mm. This is likely because APHRODITE data is “built” by processing rainfall numbers from several stations and not just Bangalore City, and hence will be a bit different. Let’s continue working with this, shall we?

Let’s take a look at how rainfall in August has been varying, over the past 50 years.

The graph above shows the amount of rainfall every August, from 1951 onwards, till 2007. The black horizontal line roughly indicates the average. But take a look at the variation! August, 1998 received a whopping 274.3 mm of rainfall, whereas the August of 1984 received a mere 24.3mm, not even 10% of the former. This is the extent of variation that exists naturally cannot get captured with a simple average value!

So you have to wonder. Is 2011 August truly poised to get more rainfall than any of the other years here? Remember, the gridded data seems to underestimate rainfall levels: that means that the rainfall extremes could be much higher!

Now that we have a better understanding on monthly rainfall in August, heavy rainfall events in the month deserve a closer examination. How much rain can the city handle? How often do our streets get flooded?

More in Part 2: One-day-rainfalls and extreme events. Will be up soon.

Did you like the above analysis? Do you wish to understand the climate of your own city or town better, and are you looking for data? Coming soon, KnowYourClimate.org!

If you wish to take a look at the data sets that we have used in this post, do drop us an email at greengovernance@pacindia.org

Do you want to know how climate change might affect your city, or your state? Are you tired of listening to opinions and reports and want to know what the data says? Know Your Climate aims to help you find out!

Know Your Climate is an effort at demystifying climate science and providing people in India with sound information on their local climate, and help people analyse and understand the subtleties involved.

At a time when most people profess strong opinions on climate change, when you have everyone from denialists to fear-mongers looming large, we firmly believe that it is essential to take a step back and understand your local climate a little better first.

We have been working on this for the better part of the summer and hope to launch the beta website soon! Do stay tuned for further updates.

Traditionally policy makers perceived environmental issues to be outside the ambit of governance and largely neglected green issues. However, in the recent times new areas of conflict surrounding environmental concerns are emerging within the ambit of governance. For instance, livelihood issues are coming in direct conflict with developmental projects like dams, industries, infrastructure projects and nuclear power plants.

In this backdrop, Public Affairs Centre, Bangalore, India initiated the process of developing a Green Manifesto for Tamil Nadu. In collaboration with Earth Smiles, Chennai and People’s Action for Development (PAD), Tuticorin, it organized a round table in March, 2011. The participants decided to come together under the banner of ‘People’s Coalition for Green Tamil Nadu’ (PCGTN) to take these initiative forward and as an outcome of this a green manifesto was drafted and released simultaneously in various parts of the state, including Chennai, Ramanathapuram, Thoothukudi, Dindigul and other districts.

We also have had an opportunity to circulate and share the Green Manifestos with the political parties/representatives in our working area. This exercise has certainly given all of us an opportunity to reach out to various sections of society in sensitizing them on environmental issues and mobilising a demand for better environmental governance.

During our last consultation in Chennai, all the members had expressed the need to organise a follow-up meeting to share our initial experiences and then plan for the future of PCGTN. With the recent completion of elections and the government in place this is the right time to reflect and plan forward. In this regard, we are organizing the follow-up meeting on 24th May at Tiruchy. Mr. Oswald Quintal, State Convener, Kudumbam LEISA Network has kindly agreed to host and support in organizing the meeting.

LEISA “Low External Input Sustainable Agriculture” is a network of 82 NGOs (Non-governmental organisation) along with about 2,000 small farmers in Tamil Nadu. The network has existed since 1990 and advocates for the use of traditional knowledge, a more economical use of natural resources and the “low external input” methods without pesticides in a more sustainable agriculture.

The main focus of this meeting is to share our experiences in advocating for inclusion of green manifesto, arrive at an action plan for post election monitoring and to plan for a systematic approach in strengthening the coalition to ensure its sustainability.

The meeting is being organized at the TMSSS Empowerment Centre, (Opp. Jenny Plaza), Tiruchirapali.

As a participant of the round table, Holistic Approach for People’s Empowerement (HOPE), Puducherry spearheaded a similar exercise in Puducherry and drafted a Green Manifesto for Puducherry and released it on 2^nd April, 2011, to great success.

The Union Territory of Puducherry is located on the east coast about 162 kms south of Chennai (Madras) on the Coromandel Coast of the Bay of Bengal. Puducherry comprises of four coastal regions viz- Puducherry, Karaikal, Mahe and Yanam. Puducherry and Karaikal are situated on the East Coast in Tamil Nadu, Yanam in Andhra Pradesh and Mahe on the West Coast in Kerala.

Environmental and ‘green’ issues rarely make a dent in political discourse in India. In the past one decade, India has been witnessing unprecedented rates of growth and economic development. This has often been achieved at the cost of environmental degradation, large scale pollution and a complete disregard to our country’s depleting natural resources.

Located in a fragile eco-zone, Puducherry has been a facing a number of environmental issues which threaten the lives and livelihoods of the common people. Issues ranging from coastal pollution, over-exploitation of ground water, release of effluents to water bodies, beach erosion to name a few of them.

Realizing the graveness of the situation and with an urge to bring a change, a group of individuals & institutions under the banner of Puducherry Environment Council (PUDENCO) felt that it is high time in India that a green agenda is paid due importance in elections. With the legislative assembly elections due in mid April, it was an opportunity to initiate and develop a Green Manifesto for Puducherry.

Green Manifesto being released by Ms. Sunita Narain, Director General of Centre for Science and Environment

The Green Manifesto was released by Ms. Sunita Narain, Director General of Centre for Science and Environment, New Delhi on April 2^nd, 2011.

The Manifesto was also handed over to Shri. V. Narayanasamy, Minister of State, Parliamentary Affairs, Prime Minister’s Office, Personal, Public Grievances and Pension on 5th April 2011.

Green Manifesto being handed over to Shri. V. Narayanasamy, Minister of State, Parliamentary Affairs, Prime Ministers Office, Personal, Public Grievances and Pension

It is also being disseminated among the political parties and general public at large.

To read the manifesto please click below:

Green Manifesto – Puducherry 2011 Tamil

The launch took place simultaneously in various parts of the state, including Chennai, Ramanathapuram, Thoothukudi, Dindigul and other districts.

Please find below the English and Tamil versions of the Green Manifesto and of the March 17th press release.

Green Manifesto – Peoples Coalition for Green Tamil Nadu – English
Green Manifesto – Peoples Coalition for Green Tamil Nadu – Tamil

Green Manifesto – Press Release – English
Green Manifesto – Press Release – Tamil

Pictures

For more information, please contact green governance (at) pacindia (dot) org.

The attendees reached consensus on the need and the objective of a ‘Green Manifesto’ and split into groups to develop key recommendations and policy directives on a set of sectors where green initiatives were understood to be critical. The attendees also decided to come together under the banner of ‘People’s Coalition for Green Tamil Nadu’, to take this initiative forward.

The organising committee is coordinating the effort of drafting a manifesto and intends to launch a public release of the same in the coming week.

Pictures from the event are attached below.

Participants at the round table

Snapshots from the day

Snapshots from the day

The organising team, consisting of people from PAC, PAD and Earth Smiles.

The participants of the round table hailed from over ten locations across Tamil Nadu.

In this context, it is very significant for the political parties to include green issues in their manifestos. An election manifesto is a document of policies, promises and an expression of commitments made by a political party. Political parties that come to power are held accountable to the people  largely through their manifestos. In this context, a group of like-minded organisations strongly feel that it is high time in India that a green agenda is paid due importance in elections.

The southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu is going for legislative assembly elections in April of 2011. Environmental Governance and Citizen Action Support Groups of PAC in collaboration with Earth Smiles, Chennai and People’s Action for Development (PAD), Vembar, Tuticorin, and with the support of ANSA-SAR are organising a one day round table consultation on developing a Green Manifesto for Tamil Nadu. The initiative will be carried forward through networking of civil society organisations by carrying out advocacy for green issues among communities, political parties and policy makers at the state level.

The round table will take place at 9am on Friday, March 11th, 2011 at the Earth Smiles office in Chennai. Please find below the invitation and the programme schedule.

Invitation Letter
Programme Schedule
Directions to the venue:

View Larger Map

50 million ‘environmental refugees’ by 2020, experts say

AFP, Feb 22, 2011, 06.16am IST

WASHINGTON: Fifty million “environmental refugees” will flood into the global north by 2020, fleeing food shortages sparked by climate change, experts warned at a major science conference that ended here Monday.

“In 2020, the UN has projected that we will have 50 million environmental refugees,” University of California, Los Angeles professor Cristina Tirado said at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).

“When people are not living in sustainable conditions, they migrate,” she continued, outlining with the other speakers how climate change is impacting both food security and food safety, or the amount of food available and the healthfulness of that food.

Southern Europe is already seeing a sharp increase in what has long been a slow but steady flow of migrants from Africa, many of whom risk their lives to cross the Strait of Gibraltar into Spain from Morocco or sail in makeshift vessels to Italy from Libya and Tunisia.

The flow recently grew to a flood after a month of protests in Tunisia, set off by food shortages and widespread unemployment and poverty, brought down the government of longtime ruler Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, said Michigan State University professor Ewen Todd, who predicted there will be more of the same.

“What we saw in Tunisia — a change in government and suddenly there are a whole lot of people going to Italy — this is going to be the pattern,” Todd told AFP.

“Already, Africans are going in small droves up to Spain, Germany and wherever from different countries in the Mediterranean region, but we’re going to see many, many more trying to go north when food stress comes in. And it was food shortages that put the people of Tunisia and Egyptover the top.

“In many Middle Eastern and North African countries,” he continued, “you have a cocktail of politics, religion and other things, but often it’s just poor people saying ‘I’ve got to survive, I’ve got to eat, I’ve got to feed my family’ that ignites things.”

Environmental refugees were described in 2001 by Norman Myers of Oxford University as “a new phenomenon” created by climate change.

“These are people who can no longer gain a secure livelihood in their homelands because of drought, soil erosion, desertification, deforestation and other environmental problems, together with the associated problems of population pressures and profound poverty,” Myers wrote in a journal of Britain’s Royal Society in 2001.

“In their desperation, these people feel they have no alternative but to seek sanctuary elsewhere, however hazardous the attempt.”

Monday’s panel cited ways in which climate change has impacted food security and safety.

Warmer winters allow pests that carry plant diseases to survive over the cold months and attack crops in the spring, soil physicist Ray Knighton of the US department of agriculture said.

Increased rainfall — another result of climate change — when coupled with more fungal pathogens can “dramatically impact crop yield and quality,” said Knighton, adding that greenhouse gases and atmospheric pollutants have changed plant structures and reduced crops’ defenses to pests and pathogens.

Tirado noted that floods caused by heavy precipitation can spread diseases carried in animal waste into the human food chain.

The World Health Organization has estimated that 2.2 million deaths in developing countries are caused each year by food and water-borne diseases, said Sandra Hoffmann of the US department of agriculture.

And yet, the global economic crisis has pushed climate change “down in priority” on governments’ to-do lists, said Todd.

“If you’re suffering economically, climate change is not going to be the first thing you fund.

“Any action you take will be costly, be it in terms of prestige, economics, less oil… I think it’s going to take a real crisis to get world opinion to change,” he added.

Read more: 50 million ‘environmental refugees’ by 2020, experts say – The Times of Indiahttp://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/environment/developmental-issues/50-million-environmental-refugees-by-2020-experts-say/articleshow/7544408.cms#ixzz1FFZ8uDNP