Back to Basics: Project Description and Ecosystem-based Adaptation

OK, time to get serious and talk about some research. My next couple of posts will describe some research-related site visits I've done in the last few months.  To get everyone on the same page, I thought I would start with some background on what exactly it is that I'm doing here in India. For those of you who are just here for the pictures, I won't be offended if you skip ahead to the next post.

My original Fulbright proposal was to research adaptation to climate change in the particular context of India. I'm interested in both the high-level policy perspective (as in what institutional players are involved, where the money is coming from, etc), as well as the grass-roots perspective (what does an on-the-ground adaptation project look like?). For those of you new to this field (as I was before coming here), the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) defines adaptation as the “adjustment in natural or human systems in response to actual or expected climatic stimuli or their effects, which moderates harm or exploits beneficial opportunities”.  Adaptation has frequently been overshadowed by greenhouse gas mitigation in international climate change agreements.  While mitigation strives to reduce the emissions of greenhouse gases, the cause of climate change, adaptation acknowledges the critical importance of preparing and planning for the inevitable impacts of climate change even while trying to stop it.  Even if all greenhouse gas emissions were to stop tomorrow, the carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide and fluorinated gases already in the atmosphere from human activity would continue to cause climate impacts for centuries to come. 

Adaptation is an issue of immediate relevance for both developing and developed countries, as sea level rise, changing temperature and precipitation patterns, and associated impacts on habitat and biodiversity will affect every nation on the planet.  However, because the best adaptation to climate change is to be rich, poorer segments of the population in developing countries will suffer the worst impacts.  It is a particularly cruel irony that these poor and natural resource-dependent people who had no role in creating the problem will suffer the worst impacts. The few existing international funding sources available for adaptation assistance recognize only the poorest nations. India does not fall into this category and thus, climate change adaptation projects undertaken in India must primarily be organized and funded internally. 

Adaptation to climate change can take many forms and can occur at the individual, community, or government level.  Everything from buying an air-conditioning unit to planting drought-resistant crops to designing infrastructure projects to withstand extreme weather can constitute adaptation.  My project focuses on a specific subset of adaptation known as ecosystem-based adaptation. This type of adaptation acknowledges the connection between ecosystem health and human health and well-being.  Ecosystem-based adaption helps human communities adapt to climate change by generating economic opportunity, building resilience in natural systems, and mitigating the harmful impacts of climate change. Rural, resource-dependent communities most at risk from climate change will be the primary beneficiaries of ecosystem adaptation projects.    

Since coming to Delhi in November 2010, I've been working with the Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) on two of their ecosystem-based adaptation projects. I've also been pursuing a few independent projects of my own. My next few posts will describe some of these projects and case studies in different parts of the country.