Draft report of the seminar held on 16th May, 2015 at Jadavpur University

From Tarun Debnath's Desk---

Let me convey my sincerest thanks to SEED friends. I think this is a good basic document to finalise the seminar report.

Though I am volunteering to edit it, I request all to add / suggest in this and share with me / others for necessary changes.  Once we finalise these we will share with others - our target is to do this by end of this week end.

Thanks,

Tarun Debnath

Sir,

I am hereby sending the draft report of the seminar held on 16th May, 2015 at Jadavpur University. 

I have marked few words in yellow as I have confusion regarding them. Please advice the necessary changes required so that I can improve it.

Best Regards,

Rituporna Nath

SEED

SEED (Society for Socio-Economic & Ecological Development)

Registered Office: 17 / 1, Naktala Road, Kolkata – 700 047, West Bengal, India

Website: - www.seedin.org

The Proceedings of the Seminar on “ Climate Change and Sustainable Livelihood”

Organized by: 

Self Help Group Promotional Forum,  

Centre for Distributed Computing, Department of Computer Science and Engineering, Jadavpur University and Birla Institute of Technology, Mesra, Kolkata

IISW&BM, All India Harijan Sevak Sangh (founded by Gandhiji in 1932), Howrah Chamber of Commerce, Lok Kalyan Parishad, SPADE, SEED – Kolkata, BRWAS- Magrahat, BCC- Bagnan, CVGBK- Namkhana, BTS- Kultali, CDHI- Jalpaiguri, RDA- Midnapur, Samikshan- Haldia, PUPA- Sagar, EcoYes Technologies- STEP, IIT Kharagpur.

Venue: Jadavpur University

Date: 16th May, 2015

Duration: 1 day

Self Help Group Promotional Forum (SHGPF) along with other Community Based organizations and institutions organized a seminar on “Climate Change and Sustainable Livelihood” at Jadavpur University, Kolkata on 16th May, 2015.  The seminar was attended by participants from various sections of the society including various Community Based organizations, Environmentalists, Journalists, Government Officials, Scientists and students of schools, colleges and universities. 

The objective of the seminar was to inform and share the ideas of the experts on the issue of Greenhouse gas emission and climate change adaptation programmes. It also aimed to explore policy, research and operational issues for short and long term perspectives, especially the areas where livelihood of poor people are affected.

Professor Chandan Mazumder of Jadavpur University formally welcomed all the dignitaries and participants from different fields. He said Climate Change is not a problem of any particular country. He said being a Computer Science Professional, I am not directly related to the Climate Change Adaptation related activities but I know about various technological support and software required to calculate the various effects of climate change. He added that all of us are directly or indirectly being affected by the changes in global climate so he was hoping that an action plan should come out at the end of the seminar. He added that different government representatives present here will definitely extend their support in this fight against climate change.

Tarun Kumar Debnath, advisor of SHGPF (Self Help Group Promotional Forum) started the programme by explaining the objective of the Seminar. He said that GDP of the world has increased 300 times and per capita income has raised 13 times whereas population has increased 22 times which was not the story 1000 years before that. Compared to the last 100 years, with increasing GDP, now people are using 11 times more energy and 8 times more natural resources. All these are suggestive towards the huge effects of human activities on nature. The socio economic status of present civilization is based on the cruelty on nature. He added that if the present trend continues, then by 2100, the temperature of earth will increase by 4.5 degree Celsius and if all the countries keep their promise of decreasing greenhouse gas emission then the temperature rise will be 3.5 degree Celsius. As a result, the expected dreaded natural disaster that is feared to   will make 100 crores people environmental refugee across the world. He further added that Climate Change is inescapable so better we prepare to find out adaptation methods to face it and try to find out the ground level mitigation methods.

The inaugural session was addressed by Prof. Kalyan Rudra, Chairman, WBPCB (West Bengal Pollution Control Board), Smt. Choten D Lama, IAS, CEO & SMD, WBSRLM (West Bengal State Rural Livelihood Mission) and Mr. Chintamoni Mahapatra, Concern World Wide. 

Prof, Kalyan Rudra started his address saying that from his long teaching experience he will share few lines about the changing climate and its affects. He said that as per IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change), risk of death due to flooding is highly concentrated in Asia. At the same time as the sea levels are rising most Asian deltas are sinking as a result of groundwater extraction, floodplain engineering and trapping of sediments by dams. So the deltas are considered as the high risk zone for sea level rise due to climate change. He referred the data of rainfall and temperature of West Bengal of last 100 years from 1901 to 2002 from Indian Statistical Institute. He raised some basic questions and wanted everyone to discuss on the same throughout the seminar during the day. These are-

1. Whether our weather has really gone extreme?

2. Has West Bengal become warmer?

3. Has yearly temperature gone up?

4. Has annual range of temperature changed?

5. Has annual rainfall pattern changed?

6. How the farmers to cope with the changing temperature?

He further added that as per the statistical data, in all the 20 districts of West Bengal, the annual maximum temperature has remained almost same in last 100 years but the minimum temperature has increased. The pattern of rainfall has not changed much although monsoon is delayed. It is seen that 3 to 4 days unusual rainfall during the monsoon affects various parts of the state. The rainfall pattern in the first half of the monsoon has decreased whereas the same has increased at the end of it thus affecting the Kharif crops. The farmers are getting confused when to start the plantation as it is dependent on monsoon rain. As a result, they are becoming more dependent on ground water which again decreasing the ground water level. An alternative crop calendar for the farmers has to set to face this changing pattern of rainfall.

Smt. Choten D Lama, IAS, CEO & SMD, WBSRLM, started her address with a wonderful line, “We haven’t inherited this planet from our parents; we borrowed it from our children so as adults, we should introspect as responsible citizen what we have done to protect this planet from the dreaded effects of climate change.”

Smt. Lama said that WBSRLM recognizes the strength of women who are among the worst affected by Climate Changes. She assured the Community based organizations that the organization will support them if they come up with any successfully tested pilot projects for the alternative coastal livelihood for the vulnerable women. She said that Government will consider the scalability and replicability of the initiative taken by any organization. They will check if the model has scope for adaption for a larger section of the community. She invited the NGOs to share their good practices and successful interventions proven over time which can be replicated in other districts.

Smt. Choten Lama addressing at the inaugural session

She further added these women also deserve a life of dignity and that can be offered only through providing good alternative livelihood as most of them are being deprived of basic human rights at some places. She said that WBSRLM doesn’t believe giving support to any woman as an individual as it might or might not work so they prefer to support women groups as an institution as it helps larger number of people and chances of being successful becomes higher and the message also gets spread quickly. She stressed on involving women in the task of poverty eradication. She further added that whenever a flood situation arises, the poor coastal people do not want to leave their houses even though they are aware of the danger. They are in the fear that when the flood water will recede, other people may take over it and they will be considered refugee and they will lose their property. They risk their lives in such situation. 

Smt. Lama requested the research institutes and the researchers to come out with their ideas so that the works in lab can be brought to the land. 

Mr. Chintamani Mahapatra, Concern World Wide addressed the inaugural session informing about the priority focus area of the organization. Then he shifted his discussion to the Climate change adaptation from the community perspective. He stressed on the linkage of the affected communities with various existing government programmes related to livelihood. He suggested the NGOs to support the farmers in getting subsidies from various departments. 

Nasir Atique, representative from UNICEF at the seminar raised some points of practical concern like how the behaviour and norms of people can be changed and the projects on Climate change adaptation should come with clear vision otherwise they end up abruptly much before coming closer to the goal. He also pointed out the missing links between the government and civil societies. 

UNICEF representative raising his queries during the open session

Mr. Chandan Piri of Ramkrishna Ashram raised a question for all present in the seminar. He asked whether the forum has any ideas for improvement of the present situation due to climate change. On this, Prof. Kalyan Rudra replied that we all have to work together to develop an action plan following the seminar. So, this should be considered as an initiative which will be followed up in near future for further actions.

Queries during the open session

Mr. Amit Choudhury, Special Secretary, Department of Planning, Govt. of West Bengal, raised the point that how human activities are contributing to the climate change. He suggested that Climate change should be considered as holistic part of disaster risk reduction. He added that any adaptation concept should be institutionalized for Climate Change Management. Citing the example of Bhopal Gas tragedy, Mr. Choudhury said that only 1 died within the company whereas the rest of the sufferers were outsiders. He added that only one wet cloth on face could save so many lives and the genetic problems caused later on. He said that legislation is required for such disaster risk reduction. 

Professor Lalu Das from Bidhan Chandra Krishi Viswavidyalaya presented his works on “Present and Past Climate Change scenarios and its implication in agriculture over Eastern India”. He focused on the changing rainfall pattern and temperature over the years and its effects on agriculture. He stated that all are discussing about Global climate change but we should now mainly concentrate on the local level as West Bengal, Bihar, Orissa are rich food suppliers and we should focus that their agriculture should not get affected by climate change. He said that working and simulating climate of any locality is very difficult so the farmers get just an approximate idea of the rainfall. 

Professor Lalu Das from Bidhan Chandra Krishi Viswavidyalaya giving his presentation

Renowned journalist Smt. Swati Bhattacharjee shared her long experience of working in the field with the vulnerable coastal women. She said that it is quite tough to draw a line between the cruelty of human and nature when it comes to Climate Change. Sharing her experience of visiting Sundarbans, post AILA (the dreaded cyclone of 2009 in West Bengal), Smt. Bhattacharjee said that they could find the aged people and women were only left with the children as the earning male members of the families  immigrated to the nearby cities for livelihood. Their agricultural lands were flooded with salt water making them sterile for any farming for next few years. So, the women of the family had the responsibility of fighting the real challenge to look after the other members. She was surprised to see that they were very happy when they could afford to eat bread and potato during the festive season. 

Citing example of the recent blast at a fire factory at Pingla in West Midnapore, she said that seven of the victims were child labours. When she along with her colleagues visited the nearby two Blocks, they discovered that around hundred families here are the victims of breaching of embankment and they consider it quite natural that their kids would work in the cracker factories to earn bread and butter for the family. An eight year old boy here is regarded as expert in cracker making. She added that even though a lot of government plans and projects exist for these flood victims yet it could not reach to them and vice versa. 

Smt. Swati Bhattacharya sharing her experiences

The seasoned journalist further added that it would be wrong to say that government is doing nothing for climate change. She said that various research institutes are working to develop climate resilient farming techniques, salt tolerant variety of crops and how to fight with the delayed monsoon. In this context, she gave the example of the sweet grapes being grown at the arid land of Bankura with scientific technology. However, the technology has not reached the individual marginal farmers and mainly the women farmers. The women farmers do not have the claim over the land they cultivate so they cannot claim for Agricultural loan and cannot afford to avail any training on modern scientific technology. So, she suggested that where the women have not formed any groups and doing farming in their individual small farms, some women friendly technology should be developed for their improvement. She added that marginal farmer technology, poor friendly technology and training for such marginal farmers and women farmers should be arranged so that they can have a better livelihood through farming. 

Professor Maitri Bhattacharya, Director, Jagadish Bose National Science Talent Search (JBNSTS), Kolkata shared her research work on “Changing Climate and the Micro World”. She explained the anthropogenic effects, more precisely different types of pollutions that alter the nature of the climate and other natural niche elements. She elaborated the importance and role of various microorganisms in the adaptation with changing climate. 

Prof. Maitri Bhattacharya presenting her research works on “Changing Climate and the Micro World”

Sri Nilanjan Sengupta, Secretariat Member of FOSET (Forum of Scientists, Engineers & Technologists), presented his paper on, “Housing Demand in India- Need for adoption of cost effective construction technology to reduce greenhouse gas emission”.  He discussed about various housing techniques that will help in reducing the greenhouse gas emission. These houses will not only become cost effective but also environment friendly. Even in the hot summer, such houses will not require air conditioner through natural insulation and less bricks will be used which will reduce the use of fuel. He informed that 14 to 16 tonnes of coal is burnt for production of one lakh of bricks which emits 38 tonnes of CO2. Any percentage reduction in use of building materials will be beneficial to the problems of global warming and climate change. He explained about few Cost Effective Technologies of construction like Rat-trap bond wall, filler slab, Compressed mud block, bamboo panels and hollow concrete blocks. 

Sri Nilanjan Sengupta giving presentation on Need for adoption of cost effective construction technology to reduce greenhouse gas emission

In his address, Professor Ajay Ray, Director, IIEST, Shibpur suggested that sustainability should be consciously introduced and taught through every subject of teaching. He also wanted balanced energy consumption by each and every one. He said we all can contribute a lot by using less energy as the use of more energy emits more CO2. 

Shri Shantanu Gayan Head Master of Dhablat Lakshan Pranabesh High School, Sagar, South 24 Parganas, West Bengal, shared the Climate Friendly model of his school. He elaborated how his school has Eco park, organic manure processing unit, rainwater harvesting tanks, solar plates and weather forecasting units which are handles by the students. All these earned the school Éducational Sustainable development award from Rastrasangha. They also have various vegetable gardens which are also taken care of by the students who are well aware about greenhouse effects and he hopes other schools will also follow the same to contribute their part in protecting environment. 

An open session was conducted in the second half for sharing the experiences of various organizations and individuals. The session was anchored by Mr. Dilip Ghosh, IAS (retd), member of West Bengal Finance Commission and Mr. Amit Choudhury, Special Secretary, Department of Planning, Govt. of West Bengal. 

The seminar ended with a vote of thanks by Mr. Tarun Debnath, Advisor of Self Help Group Promotional Forum. He thanked everyone for their valuable contribution and asked everyone to come forward with a follow up session at the earliest so that action research can be started.