Natural Resource Management:
Combating Climate Change Impacts


 India has approximately 2.5% land area (Krishna, IV Murali, et al., 2017) whilst having lost 30% of the quality of land to degradation through soil erosion, depletion of wetlands, over cultivation as well as deforestation among other factors (Business Standard, 2019). These issues are not only having direct effects ranging from decrease in productivity of land to water scarcity, among others but also distressing the entire ecosystem holistically. Being one of the 17 mega-biodiversity hubs of the world, India has now become increasingly exposed to rapid loss of wild flora and fauna that is further alleviating poverty (Times of India, 2020). Out of the world’s total GDP of $86 trillion, about $44 trillion of GDP (being more than half of the total) is highly dependent on nature. Construction, Food and Beverages and Agriculture being the largest sectors generate close to $8 trillion of gross value added globally, all being majorly nature dependent and also without which the human economy would collapse. So, even a little imbalance in the ecosystem services - that enable communities to recover from disasters - can not only increase the chance of negatively affecting the global GDP but also exacerbate the effects of climate crisis in developing nations such as India.

With years of impending doom, developing countries have been trying but failing to curb the effects of climate change. It started with the implementation of acts related to environment, forest, air and water years ago in each country including India. More international treaties were signed after the onset of United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in 1992. Legislations such as Joint Forest Management, Forest Rights Act, National Water Policy, Biological Diversity Rules and Environment Impact Assessment notifications among others came into existence in India thereby strengthening the legislative structure. Yet, not all components were being fully addressed. India, like many other nations forgot an important component - land quality. Realising the adversities of soil erosion, finally in the year 2001 the National Action Programme for Combating Desertification (NAPCD) was prepared in India to address the problem of land degradation and for taking appropriate action in remediating it after the international treaty United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) was signed. However, as the major focus remained on other international treaties addressing biodiversity, genetic resources, wetlands, etc; the issue of land degradation still remained neglected. Only in the year 2019, India pledged towards rehabilitation of at least 26 m Ha of degraded wasteland, forest and agricultural land (covering 10 m Ha each) as its Land Degradation Neutrality (LDN) target during United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) COP 14 at New Delhi to halt the process of land desertification and its consequences. Although the target still remains under review, yet it paves a way for proper planning and implementation of land remediation initiatives and evaluation of best adaptation options that can be locally utilised (Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, 2012).

In response to the climate crisis situations with respect to biodiversity, land, water, air as well as energy among other resources, monitoring and evaluation for proper management of natural resources has started to attract a lot of attention. Along with management and sustainable use of resources, effective governance has now become the need of the hour especially in terms of reducing the negative impacts on livelihoods of people mainly the poor. Development Alternatives (DA) has been facilitating this kind of conservation and management of land and water resources for over 30 years in a participatory way with the communities of the drought prone and climate sensitive Bundelkhand region of Central India. Some of the key activities that DA has undertaken are land remediation for better agricultural productivity, development of water harvesting structures such as check dams and small watersheds, encouragement to farmers for diversifying subsistence agriculture with farming- poultry- livestock management and formation of self-help groups leading to high reclamation of land as well as soil fertility and moisture management of the area. Over 200 small check-dams have been constructed in the Bundelkhand region along with the implementation of integrated watershed development in about 28,000 hectares of large tracts of land improving water security and land quality. The implementation of the WADI model based on carrying out of sustainable agri-horti practices by farmers providing cereals, pulses, vegetables and fruits in the selected districts of Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh have also been one of the major successful programmes in restoring the nutrient status of the land as well as acting as carbon sinks. Throughout the course of 30 years, DA has been able to support a network of over 10,000 farmers over 250 villages whilst significantly improving the environmental health of the area. DA has also been pioneering in capacity development of the local communities in resilient farming practices focusing on restoring the ecological balance and enhancing biodiversity through the promotion of agro-forestry, farm forestry, multi-tier cropping systems, organic farming and solar based irrigation which enables the enhancement of the socio economic conditions of vulnerable populations. Currently, Development Alternatives is evaluating the economic value of the above mentioned remediation activities through the lenses of Natural Capital and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in Bundelkhand using Invest model in comparison to the adjacent areas having no access to such interventions. The potential of land remediation initiatives as a beneficial and cost effective measure for combating desertification will be evaluated through this study. Providing the economic value of the entire ecosystem and its services, the initiative will also evaluate the changes in SDG indicator values possibly becoming the model of other land remediation activities taking place across the country through more initiatives. This will help to achieve India’s target for Land Degradation Neutrality (LDN) in the near future and will provide a thrust for sustainable management of natural resources as well. ■
 

References

Srishti Manna
smanna@devalt.org

Gitika Goswami
ggoswami@devalt.org

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