CHENNAI: A group of agricultural scientists, panchayat leaders and non-governmental organisations has come up with a proposal to empower local communities to deal with the adverse effects of climate change.
The proposal recommends the appointment of two ‘climate managers’ in every village, who will be trained in responding to specific challenges caused by the climate change. A draft of the proposal will be circulated among the Chief Ministers of various States in the next two months, and the group hopes that it will eventually evolve into a first-of-its-kind State-specific Climate Change Act.
“While we are developing a national-level plan for addressing emissions, the greatest impact [of the climate change] will ultimately be at a local level. Droughts or floods will affect local communities the most,” agricultural scientist M.S. Swaminathan said.
Food security
The draft seeks to enhance the capacities of local elected bodies such as panchayats and nagarpalikas to address the challenges to food security. The proposal calls for one man and one woman from either the panchayat or the gram sabha to undergo training as climate managers, so that they will know how to react to different climatic conditions besides training members of their community. It also recommends the setting up of banks for seeds, food, water and fodder to improve food security.
It envisages the setting up of different ‘codes’ for drought, flood and good or normal conditions, along with descriptions of the action that should be taken to best utilise a particular weather condition.
With increasing food prices and a good monsoon likely this year, Dr. Swaminathan said, it was crucial that people at the local level were aware of what weather to expect so that they could maximise production.
