Freshwater Availability for Agriculture in Sundarbans. Variability due to changes in the summer monsoon under current and climate change conditions

Abstract

The India–UK Water Centre (IUKWC) funded a Pump Priming Project (PPP) titled: “The influence of the monsoon on freshwater availability for agriculture in the Sundarbans region of West Bengal, India, under current and climate change conditions” between June and September 2019. This Knowledge Exchange brief was developed from the outputs of the activities conducted during this study: i) investigating the variability of the Indian Summer Monsoon (ISM) and the ensuing freshwater availability for agriculture in the Sundarbans region through the collection and analysis of climatic data and outputs from Global Climate Models (GCMs); and ii) understanding how changes in water resource availability are affecting livelihoods and discussing issues related to adaptation to those changes through meetings with farmers, NGOs and local government officials engaged in water resource management. The research results were communicated through a workshop with agricultural, water and climate scientists, NGOs and government stakeholders working in the Sundarbans region, where the team gained feedback, and shared knowledge and ideas for future research. This Brief was prepared by Professor Lalu Das, Principal Investigator (PI) and India Project Lead, and Professor Gautam Saha, both from Bidhan Chandra Krishi Viswavidyalaya (BCKV) in India, and Dr Alexandre Gagnon, UK Project Lead, and Dr Indrani Roy from Liverpool John Moores University (LJMU) in the UK