New Delhi, Sep 27 (PTI) At a time when world leaders and other stakeholders are gathered at the New York Climate Week, India’s vulnerable farming communities are expecting increased climate finance amid recognition of the disproportionate impact of the changing climate on their lives even when they are not responsible for it.
Even when the country received 917.8 mm rainfall against the normal of 857.5 mm as of Friday, the plains of northwest India, large parts of the Indo-Gangetic plains, and almost half of northeast India have received deficit rainfall, according to the India Meteorological Department (IMD) data.
Not just the lack of rainfall, it is the excessive heat, majorly across the northeast that had heatwave conditions till earlier this week, that is putting the kharif crop in danger for many farmers.
On one hand, New York is hosting Climate Week NYC from September 22 to 29, an annual event that promotes climate action, on the other, the UN General Assembly took up the issue on several fronts, including raising trillions of dollars to aid poorer countries suffering the most from climate change.
Asserting that India has the potential to modernise its economy and increase prosperity while securing both people’s health and the climate, Hisham Mundol, Chief Adviser with the Environmental Defence Fund (EDF) in India, a non-profit, that works with local organisations for bringing out sustainable livelihood in the agriculture, live stocks and fisheries sector, made clear what the vulnerable communities are expecting.
“India’s vulnerable communities hope that there is adequate recognition of the fact that they are disproportionately impacted by climate change but are not responsible for it. Therefore, countries and industries that have been responsible for rising temperatures and other climatic and environmental disruptions should provide judicious funding to enable resilience, adaptation and building,” Mundol said.
According to the 2021 study by National Institute of Disaster Management, between 1995 and 2020, India experienced 1,058 climate-related events, including floods, cyclones, droughts, cold waves, and heatwaves.
On September 22, world leaders at the United Nations adopted a ‘Pact for the Future’ that includes a Declaration on Future Generations.
According to the UN, this Pact aims to ensure that international institutions can deliver in the face of a world that has changed dramatically since those institutions were created.
Among the stakeholders from India attending the Climate Week events is Nidhi Pant, co-founder of Science For Society – S4S Technologies and a Women Climate Collective (WCC) alumni, who works at the intersection of agriculture, gender, energy access and financial inclusion.
Pant’s S4S Technologies works with farmers across Maharashtra, especially those from Marathwada where almost 30-40 per cent households are headed by women who are the primary breadwinners after the death of their husbands, including by suicide.
Explaining the benefits of attending big-ticket events such as the New York Climate Week, Pant said, she and her team are looking forward to action points for climate adaptation for making “farmers climate resilient and help them increase their income for preventing them from going back to poverty”.
That will include some agricultural practices that have worked across the world and can be adapted in India, Pant told PTI before departing to the US, adding, one of best practices that Indian farmers, especially the vulnerable women farmers, can benefit from is a weather advisory.
Weather advisory is part of the Early Warning for All (EW4All) that the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) has envisaged for every earth citizen by 2027.
A WMO release earlier this week said that the opening days of the 79th session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) highlighted the need for global action to address climate change and the growing impact of extreme weather events.
Pant’s organisation helps women farmers with processing of cosmetically damaged produce, for example, the onions which have two of the three layers peeled off or the tomatoes with spots. “Almost 10-20 per cent of produce is cosmetically damaged. The reasons can be many, from excess heat to some infection to anything,” Pant said.
S4S Technologies converts farm losses and wastes to value-added products for the Food and Beverages industry with the help of women farmers and sustainable tech, which the founders claim has resulted in “increasing household income for farmers, prevention of food waste and reduced CO2 emissions.” For organisations such as the EDF or for that matter Pant’s — she showcases her women entrepreneurs’ work — the New York Climate Week offers a great opportunity to meet various stakeholders such as funders, policymakers and experts etc.
“The idea is to tell them what challenges we face and what kind of support we need. What can be done (input side) for making these women’s work more climate resilient by tapping into more high-value markets,” said Pant, who has won the Women Transforming India Awards by NITI Aayog & the UN among others.
India Climate Collaborative (ICC), a first of its kind effort by the Indian industry giants aiming to build a climate ecosystem in the country to harness the potential of climate philanthropy, hosted a breakfast meeting at the New York Climate Week on September 26.
“Kicked off #ClimateWeekNYC by hosting the India Climate Collaborative and our climate advisory council for a discussion on how collaboration can drive meaningful, sustainable climate action on the ground and explore opportunities for advancing action across India #UNGAxRF,” posted Liz Yee, EVP programmes at the Rockefeller Foundation, on her social media.
The discussions focused on the need for sub-national climate action in India, and the existing gaps.
Meanwhile, for the EDF, the Climate Week events mean an opportunity to enhance adaptation measures or mitigation exercises in India.
“There should be greater private sector action, particularly in the livestock sector and accelerated forest protection financing using credible verification methods,” Said EDF’s Mundol, whose colleagues are at the New York Climate Week. PTI NPK NB NB
This report is auto-generated from PTI news service. ThePrint holds no responsibility for its content.