Need for Transformative Adaptation in South Asia

South Asia region is one of the most vulnerable to climate induced hazards and risks.  A recent ADB publication predicts that the region is at risk of losing up to 8.8% GDP due to climate change by the end of the century. Climate change directly or indirectly affects all sectors of economy and livelihoods of nations and communities requiring adaptation, mitigation and disaster risk reduction measures so as to reduce and manage increasing risks and stresses.  It is therefore logical that all of the South Asian countries have placed adaptation issues on high priority – many already mainstreaming and integrating climate change risks in their socio-economic development policies, plans and programs. Synergy is also gradually developing among sustainable development, environmental conservation and climate change adaptation including disaster risk reduction. Developing capacity of the closely interwoven socio-agro-ecological systems that prevail in South Asia seem to be the running thread among these three important pillars of human development and nature conservation. Recognizing that climate change is one of the newest drivers of change, this paper describes why the current state of scattered, fragmented and micro scale adaptation work in the region need to scale up and scale-out for building a resilient and prosperous South Asia. Multiple approaches are adopted and practiced to design and implement adaptation programs. Participatory visioning and planning of adaptation goal and action is an accepted practice in South Asia countries that are reflected in most of the community-based and ecosystem based adaptation (CBA and EbA) work being undertaken by governmental, non-governmental and community based agencies. However, these local plans are confined to limited budget, geography, population and scope often aimed at reducing the direct and urgent impacts. Given that climate change impacts are not limited to any administrative, ecological and political boundaries as well as it has slow onset process, there is a need to upscale (vertically to policies and programmes) as well as out-scale (horizontally) to larger areas, population and landscape to make adaptation sustainable and resilient to deal with increasing frequency and severity of climate induced risks and hazards. For a tangible and sustained adaptation impact, emphasis need to be laid on identifying innovative ideas and practices that contribute towards improved ecosystem and social services, help make infrastructures more climate resilient, and human development more sustainable.  This way, we can achieve adaptation at scale which can also help achieve transformative adaptation. In fact, scaled-up and scale-out and transformative adaptation work underpin sustainable development and biodiversity conservation that can help South Asian countries achieve both Sustainable Development Goals and Aichi Biodiversity Targets.KEYWORDS: Vulnerable communities, adaptation, disaster risk reduction, transformative adaptation, diverse of change, sustainable development

Localizing SDGs in India using Nature based Solutions (NbS)

A report on the South Asia level workshop on ‘Ecosystem Management, Nature Based Solutions and SDGs: Perspectives from South Asia’ jointly organized by CSIR-National Environmental Engineering Research Institute, IUCN Commission on Ecosystems Management and Leaders for Nature programme by IUCN, India Office at India Habitat Centre, New Delhi on 4 December 2017

EFFECT OF TILLAGE, RESIDUE AND NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT ON SOIL qualities AND YIELD PARAMETERS OF RICE

A field experiment was conducted at Rampur, Nepal to see the effect of tillage, residue and nutrient management practices on soil properties and grain yield of rice. Three factors each with two levels i.e. tillage (with or without), residue (with or without) and nutrient management (recommended dose (RD) with 100:60:30 NPK kg ha-1 and farmer’s doses (FD) with 5Mt ha-1 of FYM + 50:23:0 NPK kg ha-1. Thus, altogether eight treatment combinations were evaluated under strip-split plot design with three replications. Higher soil organic matter was recorded in residue kept (5.73%) than the residue removed plots. Exchangeable potassium was found higher in no tillage (110.52 kg ha-1) than the conventional tillage (76.77 kg ha-1). Number of effective tillers was higher in no tillage; residue kept and recommended doses of fertilizer. Grain yield was significantly higher in no tillage with 3.66 Mt and residue kept with 3.72 Mt ha-1 compared to conventional tillage with 2.28 Mt and residue removed plots having 2.22 Mt ha-1. RD produced significantly higher grain yield of 4.53 Mt ha-1 than FD with 1.41 Mt ha-1. Therefore, untilled direct seeded rice with residue and recommend does of nutrients seem promising in Terai region of Nepal

Large anomalous Hall effect in single crystals of the kagome Weyl ferromagnet Fe3_3Sn

The material class of kagome metals has rapidly grown and has been established as a field to explore the interplay between electronic topology and magnetism. In this work, we report a combined theoretical and experimental study of the anomalous Hall effect of the ferromagnetic kagome metal Fe$_3$Sn. The compound orders magnetically at 725 K and presents an easy-plane anisotropy. Hall measurements in single crystals below room temperature yield an anomalous Hall conductivity $\sigma_{xy}\sim500\,(\Omega\textrm{cm})^{-1}$, which is found to depend weakly on temperature. This value is in good agreement with the band-intrinsic contribution obtained by density-functional calculations. Our calculations also yield the correct magnetic anisotropy energy and predict the existence of Weyl nodes near the Fermi energy.Comment: 9 pages and 9 figures including supplemen

Working with Indigenous, local and scientific knowledge in assessments of nature and nature's linkages with people

Working with indigenous and local knowledge (ILK) is vital for inclusive assessments of nature and nature's linkages with people. Indigenous peoples' concepts about what constitutes sustainability, for example, differ markedly from dominant sustainability discourses. The Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystems Services (IPBES) is promoting dialogue across different knowledge systems globally. In 2017, member states of IPBES adopted an ILK Approach including: procedures for assessments of nature and nature's linkages with people; a participatory mechanism; and institutional arrangements for including indigenous peoples and local communities. We present this Approach and analyse how it supports ILK in IPBES assessments through: respecting rights; supporting care and mutuality; strengthening communities and their knowledge systems; and supporting knowledge exchange. Customary institutions that ensure the integrity of ILK, effective empowering dialogues, and shared governance are among critical capacities that enable inclusion of diverse conceptualizations of sustainability in assessments

Need for Transformative Adaptation in South Asia

South Asia region is one of the most vulnerable to climate induced hazards and risks.  A recent ADB publication predicts that the region is at risk of losing up to 8.8% GDP due to climate change by the end of the century. Climate change directly or indirectly affects all sectors of economy and livelihoods of nations and communities requiring adaptation, mitigation and disaster risk reduction measures so as to reduce and manage increasing risks and stresses.  It is therefore logical that all of the South Asian countries have placed adaptation issues on high priority – many already mainstreaming and integrating climate change risks in their socio-economic development policies, plans and programs. Synergy is also gradually developing among sustainable development, environmental conservation and climate change adaptation including disaster risk reduction. Developing capacity of the closely interwoven socio-agro-ecological systems that prevail in South Asia seem to be the running thread among these three important pillars of human development and nature conservation. Recognizing that climate change is one of the newest drivers of change, this paper describes why the current state of scattered, fragmented and micro scale adaptation work in the region need to scale up and scale-out for building a resilient and prosperous South Asia. Multiple approaches are adopted and practiced to design and implement adaptation programs. Participatory visioning and planning of adaptation goal and action is an accepted practice in South Asia countries that are reflected in most of the community-based and ecosystem based adaptation (CBA and EbA) work being undertaken by governmental, non-governmental and community based agencies. However, these local plans are confined to limited budget, geography, population and scope often aimed at reducing the direct and urgent impacts. Given that climate change impacts are not limited to any administrative, ecological and political boundaries as well as it has slow onset process, there is a need to upscale (vertically to policies and programmes) as well as out-scale (horizontally) to larger areas, population and landscape to make adaptation sustainable and resilient to deal with increasing frequency and severity of climate induced risks and hazards. For a tangible and sustained adaptation impact, emphasis need to be laid on identifying innovative ideas and practices that contribute towards improved ecosystem and social services, help make infrastructures more climate resilient, and human development more sustainable.  This way, we can achieve adaptation at scale which can also help achieve transformative adaptation. In fact, scaled-up and scale-out and transformative adaptation work underpin sustainable development and biodiversity conservation that can help South Asian countries achieve both Sustainable Development Goals and Aichi Biodiversity Targets.KEYWORDS: Vulnerable communities, adaptation, disaster risk reduction, transformative adaptation, diverse of change, sustainable development

Food System and Water–Energy–Biodiversity Nexus in Nepal: A Review

Water, energy, and biodiversity are essential components for building a sustainable food system in a developing country like Nepal. Green Revolution technologies and the package of practices largely ignored the role of ecosystem services, leaving a large population of small farmers’ food- and nutrition-insecure. Biodiversity, especially, agrobiodiversity is in decline and this vital cross-cutting element is less discussed and interlinked in nexus literature. The interlinking food system with water–energy–biodiversity nexus, therefore, is essential to achieve a resilient food system. It ensures the vital structures and functions of the ecosystem on which it is dependent are well protected in the face of increasing socio-economic and climatic stress. This paper reviews the food system of Nepal through the lens of the food–water–energy–biodiversity (FWEB) nexus to develop a more robust food system framework. From this approach, food system foresight can benefit from different nature-based solutions such as agro-ecosystem-based adaptation and mitigation and climate-resilient agro-ecological production system. We found that the FWEB nexus-based approach is more relevant in the context of Nepal where food and nutrition insecurity prevails among almost half of the population. Improvement in the food system requires the building of synergy and complementary among the components of FWEB nexus. Hence, we proposed a modified framework of food system foresight for developing resilience in a food system, which can be achieved with an integrated and resilient nexus that gives more emphasis to agro-ecological system-based solutions to make the food system more climate resilient. This framework can be useful in addressing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) numbers 1, 2, 3, 6, 13, and 15 and can also be used as a tool for food system planning based on a broader nexus

Medicinal and Aromatic Plants Programme in Asia (MAPPA); Final Technical Report

The project supported pilot projects through action research, building local capacities and capabilities. It shared information through networking to develop locally suitable practices including certified organic and quality production, and locally adaptable practices in sustainably managing medicinal and aromatic plant (MAP) resources, helping support policy makers as well. Rural poor and marginalised groups in this region depend on medicinal and aromatic plants for primary health care. Adaptive management approaches enhanced capacities of local communities through community-based institutions like district-level Federation of Community Forestry Users, Nepal (FECOFUN), Forest Protection Committees (FPC), Self Help Groups (SHGs) and local NGOs