Parliamentarians urged to keep the climate, change the system

Consultation with Policymakers on Climate Change and the SDGs
11th March 2015, Delhi

In a Consultation organized with Members of Parliament, civil society urged them to have strong and principled positions in the climate change and SDGs negations, two critical global treaties that will be negotiated this year. The meeting was organized by Beyond Copenhagen Collective at Constitution Club in Delhi. Six Members of Parliament including Anil Madhav Dave, Abhishek Singh, Chandulal Sahu, Ravindra Kumar Pandey, Anupam Hazra, and Lakhan Lal Sahu participated in the Consultation.

Chandrshekhar Sahu, former Minister, Govt of Chhattisgarh opening the discussion said that the need for this dialogue arises out of lack of parliamentary oversight on the issues, and the effort is to create a regular channel of dialogue with the Parliamentarians. He highlighted the importance of shared understanding and partnership among the stakeholders in facing impacts of climate change and moving towards a low carbon development pathway.

Ajay Jha from Beyond Copenhagen said that while India has provided leadership to developing countries in these discussions, there is a lot of preparation that needs to be done to represent the interests of poor in the climate and SDGs negotiation. He referred to the lack of equity and justice in the international negotiations on climate change and SDGs, and explained that the irony is that even entire atmospheric space is given to the developing countries, they would not be able to take the development at par with the developed countries. In the formulation of the SDGs, he added that in view of lack of means of implementation and global cooperation SDGs will witness the same fate as the MDGs. He lamented on the lack of ambition of developed countries in both the processes. However, he emphasized that people are more concerned on lack of progress and debate on these issues nationally. While he referred to lack of progress in the NAPCC and SAPCCs, he said there is no discussion at all on the SDGs. He suggested that high importance and long lasting impacts of these policies in all countries of the world merits national and parliamentary debates. He underlined that while there is a need to have strong position in the SDGs negotiation, there is also a need to adapt these goals nationally and ensure time bound, meaningful and effective progress on these nationalized goals on sustainable development. He also invited people to bring related issues of local concerns that might have significant bearing on these omnibus issues.
Om Thanvi, editor, Jansatta said that two communities of the society who can make difference Parliamentarians and media persons are neither aware nor interested in the nuances therefore, there is these issues lack visibility in the public space. He suggested that there should be a continuous dialogue on these new and evolving disciplines with the policymakers and the public.

Soumya Dutta, from BJVJ said that while in the national policy space there is need for recognition of climate change and proactive actions, in the international negotiation, India needs to increase its physical and intellectual engagement. He also added that in recent negotiations, India has been isolated and seen as a dialogue breaker, while the reality is that country’s per capita emission is still very low compared to other countries and blame should have fallen more on the developed countries. He added that non recognition of adverse impacts of climate change and related disasters in national policy space leads to poor preparation and poorer results both at home as well as in international foras.

Ranja Sengupta from TWN, said that while India has pitched strongly in favor of poverty and hunger eradication, sustainable consumption and production patterns, enhanced means of implementation in the SDGs negotiations, it need to be careful that goals and targets are not reduced, which will have disastrous effect in view of the enormity of the challenges that we are facing today. She also added that India has expressed reservation on sexual and reproductive rights, on which we expect more progress nationally.

Pradeep Sharma from Krishak Biradari, shared how the state action plans are made without stakeholders consultation, and have minimal impact on sectoral policies. He said that people in states are questioning the purpose of the Plans. He also shared a citizen led initiative to do climate resilient planning in 100 villages of Chhattisgarh.
Ajita Tiwary from INECC, referred to power and sponge iron projects in Chhattisgarh and their impact on environmental degradation. She added that India needs more preparation for the INDCs that India has to be submit by July this year and the need for a national consensus on INDCs.

Sandhya Jain, senior columnist, attracted attention towards the plight of forest dwellers and the forests and the urgency to ensure these communities voices in the policymaking.

Sh Anil Madhav Dave, said that the discussion around these issues have largely focused on the the impacts and probable impacts rather than solutions. He added that since Copenhagen it is clear that a global equitable solution on climate change is not politically feasible. Therefore, we should have more emphasis on national action. He explained that India has a culture and a social spiritual motivation towards environment, which gives an advantage to India as compared to other countries, and therefore, its all the more important that India should provide leadership on these issues. He assured all possible help in expanding this dialogue.

Mr. Abhishek Singh agreed that there is a need for more understanding among policymakers on these issues, and said that government is willing to listen to good suggestions in the spirit of cooperation. He welcomed the initiative and offered all possible help in ensuring that constructive suggestions reach the right audience.

Mr. Chandu Lal Sahu, emphasized the need for more direct engagement with grassroots communities on issues of poverty, and development including environmental conservation and engagement of youth on these issues.

Mr. Ravindra Kumar Pandey, (BJP, MP from Jharkhand) said the country needs energy to take development to all villages, and this might have some environmental costs. However, he also emphasized that in the changed circumstances, sustainability is a bigger concern than it was earlier, therefore we need to strike a balance between developmental needs and environmental conservation.

Mr. Lakhan Lal welcomed the initiative and assured all help in strengthening the dialogue.

Mr. Anupam Hazra (TMC) said that we need to strengthen direct democracy and decentralized planning, which will make policies and programmes more oriented to local needs and responses and enhance climate resilience of the communities. However, he added that India must play a more proactive and engaged role in the international forums, as expectations from India in global cooperation has increased significantly in recent years. 

Vijay Pratap, (SADED) underlined the need for an institutional arrangement for sustained dialogue with all stakeholders including the communities who have almost no climate footprint, and urged the parliamentarians to work towards creating such a forum.

Sharad Joshi (CECOEDECON) said that we need to engage with the policymakers across political spectrum on critical issues without any preconceived notions and we must make sure that we present a collective position in coordinated manner rather than working in isolated spaces.

Justice (Retd.) P C Jain delivered the vote of thanks. He underlined that India must enhance engagement on climate change and sustainable development, as these are global issues and require global solutions. However, he added that at the same time we should not lose sight of the fact that there is a greater need for progress in national policy space as India is highly vulnerable and poor people and women are facing disproportionately adverse impacts.

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Chhattisgarh State Consultation on Nationalizing Sustainable Development Goals

21-22 February 2015, Raipur

More than 200 farmers and elected representatives of the local bodies participated in the Consultation on Nationalizing Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) at Raipur organized by Chhattisgarh Krishak Biradari in collaboration with Beyond Copenhagen, Oxfam and Department of Irrigation, Government of Chhattisgarh. The Consultation also witnessed the participation of Sh Ajay Chandrakar, Mister Rural Development & Panchayati Raj, Parliamentary Affairs, Tourism, Sh Amar Aggrawal, Minister Urban Administration, Sh Chandrashekhar Sahu, former Minister & MP, Sh SC Behar, former Chief Secretary, Madhya Pradesh, Dr. Rajlakshmi, Sr. Scientist from MSSRF, Sh Anand Sharma, Convener, Chhattisgarh Krishak Biradari.

The Consultation discussed the SDGs proposal of the Open Working Group. While it reflected on the proposal, it found it unambitious and incapable of providing sustainable and inclusive development. Lack of centrality of food security and sustainable agriculture, failure to acknowledge water as human rights, lack of focus on inequality, lack of emphasis on gender equality, and inadequate support to end food wastage, fossil fuel subsidy and subsidy to export oriented agriculture, prominence to the role of multinational corporations and big business without meaningful regulation, failure to see development from human rights perspective and inadequate global partnership and resources, were seen as main stumbling blocks in the success of the SDGs. The Consultation also reflected on the orientation of development in the country and the state. Lack of decentralized planning and role of people in the planning, unabated degradation and exploitation of the natural resources, inadequate support to farmers and agriculture, lack of dignity in agriculture, feminization of agriculture etc. were voiced as the main concerns.

The main outcome of the Consultation was to undertake climate change resilient planning in 100 villages/blocks by the participants and organizers with the support of the elected representatives of the local bodies (Municipal Bodies and Gram Panchayats) and state government.

Click Here to download complete report.

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Workshop on Climate Change and Agriculture

A two-day workshop titled “Climate Change and agriculture” was organized by CECODECON & PAIRVI in association with Madhyanchal Forum on 10th & 11th February 2015 in Indore. The workshop was attended by a range of stakeholders like farmers, agriculture experts, farmer leaders, water policy experts, NGOs as well as other civil society members from various districts in MP.

Day 1:
The workshop was started by Alok Vyas from CECODECON to introduce the participants about the objectives of the workshop and the background of climate change and its impacts on agriculture.

Mr. Arun DK, an agri-scientist provided some mitigation strategies for farmers to cope with climate change like:

• Keeping plot sizes small and bordered with shrubs will help retain water in the fields
• Shrubs around the fields will also provide biomass to the land and help in increasing the carbon content in the soils
• Adopting organic agricultural methods
• Sprinkling seeds in the soil and letting them grow

After lunch, Mr. Tapan Kumbhkar began an interactive session with the farmers. Farmers raised her concerns on how the soil quality has worsened over the years, and has become hard due to excessive use of chemical fertilizers. Farmers blamed the government for increased promotions of hybrid seeds which has made them dependent on the market for seeds for next year. He shared some recommendations on good agricultural practices which would help the farmers in climate change adaptation like:

• Intercropping Toor with Jowar will prevent pests in the fields
• Traditional cotton varieties when grown in intercropping with moth (Vigna aconitifolia) will prevent new weeds to arise in the fields and will also increase the nutrient profile of the soil
• Traditional seeds should be adopted again by the farmers since traditional varieties could be changed by the farmers with regular seed exchanges (fasal chakra) which have now declined due to huge promotion of hybrids by the government and large-scale adoption of these by the farmers.

Mr. Narendra Kumar Tambe, an agronomist, discussed the impacts of not only climate change but also the impacts of changed agricultural practices on farmers. He discussed the problems of new pests and diseases the farmers are currently facing. He also mentioned some adaptation responses farmers could adopt in the face of climate change:

• Instead of just soybean, farmers should also start growing more cereals or maize intercropped with either moong, urad or cowpea to improve the soil quality
• Soybean should be intercropped with sesame (til), maize or jowar
• Crop rotation should be in a pattern that a cereal is grown after pulses or cereals after oilseeds
• Soybean oil can be replaced with sunflower oil and cultivating sunflower would prove to be more profitable since it is drought resistant and endures lower pest attacks

His suggestion to the government was that chemical fertilizers should be banned and organic farming should be promoted. He recommends the government to get “land to lab” so that agri-scientists would start studying traditional varieties and high yielding varieties more deeply and make the farmers accept them rather than hybrid varieties.

Day 2:
Dr. W.R. Deshpande described the theory and practices of organic farming.. He gave some very useful adaptation responses for farmers to deal with low yields due to climate change:

• If organic carbon of the soil is increased to more than 3% (currently it is <0.5% in MP), the soil will absorb 1300 litres of water per acre per day
• Keep more distances between seeds while sowing them. This will give more tillers (an average of 40-45 tillers per plant). This will save cost, since less seeds are being used, save water and retain more nutrients in the soil.
• Intercropping cereal or oilseeds with pulses will help retain the nitrogen quality of the soil
• Mulching and pruning the extra biomass that go above the main crop can help in weed management.

FARMER PERCEPTIONS:
A. Observed changes in climate
In the group discussions, farmers reported increased intensity of summers and decreased intensity of winters. Time of winters has also reduced. Previously winters used to arrive by November, but now they arrive by mid-December. Rainfall pattern was also observed to have changed quite drastically. They also reported increased frequency of hailstorms.

B. Observed Impacts of climate change
1. On livelihoods
Due to poor availability of water, women have to travel farther distances to fetch water which has increased the workload for women. In some households, men go to fetch water when water availability is not nearer, thus increasing the workload for men as well. Previously, houses were made from straw or mud, but now due to increased frequency of hailstorms, houses are being made with bricks and cement.

2. On agriculture
Soil has become harder to till due to hotter summers. Also, there is a decrease in soil organisms due to which nutrient quality of soil has decreased leading to low yields of crops. Changes in rainfall patterns have shifted the cropping patterns. Kharif crops used to be sown by June but now due to indefinite time of monsoons, sowing has shifted to end July and yield has considerably reduced. Heavy rainfall during rabi season has led to failing of rabi crops as well like wheat. Effects of climate change are prominent on the yield of the crops. This year farmers faced either low yields or their crops completely failed, majorly due to shifted rainfall pattern.

3. On diseases, pests & weeds
New pests and diseases have surfaced and the attack of pests has no definite time.

4. On livestock
Farmers used to rear various kinds of livestock previously, but now only cattle are being reared for milk production. Decrease in pasture lands and lack of availability of water has made it difficult for farmers to sustain livestock. Milk production in cattle has also decreased due to lack of availability of nutrient-rich food for them.

C. Adaptation responses of the farmers
During the group discussions, there were varied responses as to how farmers are adapting to the challenges presented by climate change. Though many farmers practiced no adaptation practices, some farmers had innovative methods of dealing with climate change. Some farmers shifted to organic fertilizers and traditional seeds, while some bought new kinds of hybrid seeds of soybean which would grow in just 45 days thus saving their rabi season and getting some yield from kharif season as well which has shifted due to delayed monsoons. Some farmers relied on groundwater (handpumps & tubewells) for irrigation due to lack of rains.

D. Expectations from the government
Farmers expect the government to do something about the soil quality so that they could have increased yields. They also want traditional seeds revived and more seed banks to be set-up. Government blocks sell seeds of low quality and even the quantity is not enough. Famers want good quality and sufficient amount of seeds to be available in the block office so that they aren’t dependent on the market for seeds. To cope with lack of water, farmers want the wells to be recharged, new stop dams to be installed and ponds to be deepened for easy availability of water for irrigation. Some farmers wanted newer varieties of hybrid seeds made available to them and expect subsidy on seeds and fertilizers from the government. Farmers also want insurance for their crops as well as livestock. Farmers also want to remove the middlemen from the agriculture scenario.

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