Reducing climate vulnerability

It is a matter of concern that of the eight states in India which are found to be highly vulnerable to climate change three states-Assam, Mizoram and Arunachal Pradesh - are from the Northeast region. The revelation made in an official report "Climate Vulnerability Assessment for Adaptation Planning in India Using a Common Framework," released by the Department of Science and Technology, Government of India, is a walk-up call to these states to act fast to reduce the vulnerability. The report reveals that major drivers for climate vulnerability in Assam are extremely low coverage of crop insurance, prevalence of rainfed agriculture, lack of forest area per 1,000 rural population, and low number of healthcare workers. In Mizoram, high yield-variability of food grains, extremely low coverage of crop insurance, prevalence of rainfed agriculture, high incidence of vector-borne diseases are the major drivers, besides other drivers such as high share of income from natural resources (agriculture and allied services), low road density, and lack of railway network of climate vulnerability in the state. The report has listed high proportion of natural resource-based income, extremely low coverage of crop insurance, lack of implementation of MGNREGA, low road density, and lack of rail network as major drivers for Arunachal Pradesh and high proportion of Below Poverty Line population and prevalence of rainfed agriculture are other drivers that have added to it climate vulnerability. Things are no better in other states in the region. The report has listed three other states from the region – Manipur, Tripura, and Meghalaya - in the second category of ten states with "relatively moderately vulnerable states." The vulnerability index of these states ranges from 0.50-0.58 against the vulnerability index range of 0.58-0.67 of the highly vulnerable states. The report prepared by the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Mandi and IIT, Guwahati in collaboration with the Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru has also revealed a worrying picture of 90 per cent of districts in Assam having "high level of climate vulnerability." Ironically, Assam has the highest number of 24 of the 100 most vulnerable districts in the country. The vulnerability profiles of the states and the districts are critical inputs for the states to incorporate necessary changes in respective state climate action plan for building resilience against climate change impact. The drivers of vulnerability show that the states need to focus more on social sector development besides expediting infrastructure and connectivity projects to build resilience of the communities. Reducing dependence on rain-fed agriculture requires modern irrigation support to the farmers. Adequate crop insurance will reduce vulnerability of the farmers on account of crop damage under climate change impact often manifested in the form erratic, unseasonal and unpredictable rainfall, or drought condition. As majority of the farmers are marginal, improvement of their economic condition is critical to building overall climate change resistance of the state. Prioritizing solar-powered pumps used to irrigate farmlands in Assam can reduce dependency of the farmers on diesel or electricity which pushes the input cost and become factors of farming activities turning non-remunerative. The issue of water resource of a particular area and sustainability of the irrigation technology used will be crucial to decide the area-specific strategies. Crop insurance is vital shield against damage or failure due to natural disaster and needs to be prioritized in policies and programmes aimed at welfare of farm families. The low number of health workers as one of the drivers of climate vulnerability in Assam has implications in all disaster situation. The COVID-19 infected patients overwhelming the health systems in the state in the first wave and pushing it on the verge of being overwhelmed in the current wave speak volume about the vulnerability. Lessons from pandemic situation can help understand such gaps and improving the health infrastructure as well as medical human resource to help all vulnerable communities cope with all disaster situations including those caused by climate change and global warming. Prevailing pandemic situation has shown adding additional beds, which are needed to cater to surging number of COVID-19 positive cases requiring hospitalisation, beyond certain capacity in different states is not immediately possible as number of doctors, nurses and other health workers are limited. Building resilience against COVID-19 or any other pandemic, therefore, requires multiple strategies which are more preventive in nature such as immunization, health awareness apart from capacity addition to health systems for treatment of affected people. Unfortunately, result-oriented action plans are often overshadowed by political rhetoric and delayed by bureaucratic red tape. Sensitising the state parliamentarian, legislators, other elected representatives, bureaucrats, communities on the vulnerability of climate change can help prioritise the subject for public policy discourse. Northeast region being a biodiversity hotspot of the globe, reducing climate change vulnerability of the states in the region is not just a state or national priority but also a global priority.