Climate Action in India-Challenges and Ways Forward in Agriculture

Climate variability and climate extremes have impacts on agricultural production systems. India is a primarily agricultural economy, climate change would have a strong effect on much of the population's livelihoods dependent directly on agriculture to feed a growing population and ensuring future; food and nutritional security becomes a challenging task in a changing climate. The paper describes in the context of India, Changes in temperature and precipitation trends, Emission of Green House Gases, Impact of Climate Change on Crop Production, soil and water resources, adaptation and mitigation through Climate Action in India. Initiatives on Climate action in the context of National Action Plan on Climate change and specifically National Mission for Sustainable Agriculture through Indian Agriculture Research Institute, Indian Council on Agriculture Research, Agricultural Universities through various programmes and Panchayati Raj Institutions at grassroot level are being undertaken to recognise the region undergoing significant climate change, to establish methodologies for evaluating the effect of climate change on agricultural production and to recommend effective steps to reduce the impact of climate change by building resilient agro-ecosystems using climate information through climate-smart agriculture with defined institutional architecture to sustain the focus and integrate activities into ongoing schemes and programs related to sustainable agriculture practices. Technical solutions with community mobilisation will help cope with climate fluctuations. Similarly organising knowledge sharing festivals and meet for all stakeholders help in wider adaptation and mitigation reducing the impact of climate change and weather variability. Climate action is visible in policy decisions, research programmes, capacity building and technology application.

Author(s): Asha Gupta

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