wotr

To add on to this, rural India faces a problem of a rigid mindset and pre-defined gender roles. Traditionally women were required to do household chores, raise children, etc but with modernization the role of women is shifting from a primary caregiver to someone who can contribute towards the economy and be financially independent. While there is a shift towards this thought process in urban parts of the country, rural India still views women as primary caregivers. Almost all households have entrusted women with the responsibility of domestic work like cooking, cleaning, raising children, and taking care of the elderly.  Roughly 48% of the population of rural India is female. The pre-defined gender roles have rendered so many women who can potentially contribute economically, useless both to their family needs and themselves. Herein, enters NGO for women empowerment, some of them have been working tirelessly in the rural areas to educate people about this fact.

A holistic adaptation strategy, Ecosystem-based Adaptation (EbA) is the use of biodiversity and ecosystem services as part of an overall adaptation strategy to help people adapt to the adverse effects of climate change. A people-centric concept, it recognises the essentiality of a healthy ecosystem for communities to be resilient in the face of the changing climate. For a farmer, this could mean the introduction of heat-resistant crop varieties, for a coastal community safeguarding of mangroves, and for drought areas recharging of groundwater through ponds and forest regeneration.

Turning to nature to retain topsoil cover, cool down rising temperatures and, tackle floods and drought, the idea is simple. Equip and fortify the existing ecosystem to take on the vagaries of climate-induced changes, head-on. This ecosystem and human-centric approach ensure that neither of the two  is neglected and both are benefited, increasing resilience as well as reducing vulnerability to climate change.

It focuses on restoring, maintaining and improving ecosystems so they are resilient to climate change. EbA looks beyond the role of ecosystems as being providers of fixed natural resources and instead sees them as a network of interconnected beings that not only generate products such as food but also provide regulating services that affect climate and water cycles, cultural services that provide educational and community benefits and supporting services such as nutrient cycling. For example, in our watershed development projects we not only look at conserving soil and water but also pay attention to the needs of humans, flora and fauna while promoting local biodiversity and maintaining a People’s Biodiversity register.

We understand the gravity of the climate crisis in India. We also know with our proven research that if practised more widely, the Ecosystem-based Adaptation response to climate will help India manage land degradation, conserve and improve ecosystems and progress towards reducing its carbon footprint in the world.

While literature about the role of Biodiversity in adaptation initiatives is insufficient, the success achieved by embedding Biodiversity in EbA is felt at multiple levels. This is mainly by virtue of its comprehensiveness, proactiveness, and climate resilience, which influences landscape-level factors and has significant socio-economic implications. Moreover, the broad base and variety, from the soil microbes to the higher-order organisms across multiple levels, i.e., genetic, species and ecosystem, present a significant vantage point to tackle climatic issues and offer livelihood benefits. For instance, the plethora of Ecosystem Based Adaptation goods and services obtained through better integration of Biodiversity in EBA can be bundled and strengthened by sustainable financing to enhance rural income.

Positive socio-economic conditions, in turn, are known to influence the adaptive capacity of species, ecosystems and the human community. This is especially pertinent for the vulnerable and developing geographies of the world, which remain rich in terms of natural capital yet disadvantaged on multiple fronts.  For instance, Sub-Saharan Africa, one of the most species-rich regions in the world, is also one of the poorest and runs a risk of losing close to 10% of its real GDP to the collapse of ecosystem services. This elucidates a causal nexus between socio-economic conditions and adaptive capacities, effected by the far-reaching role of Biodiversity. Based on these sophisticated linkages, reasonable correlations can be made about the ability of Biodiversity to both leverage and reinforce the natural capacity of ecosystems to support human adaptation and planetary well-being.

If we wish to solve the huge water crisis in India then we need to try and imbibe things from our past. We need to go back to the traditional methods of water harvesting and try to turn it into a community activity whereby it turns into a communal resource as well.

The current Covid situation in India has turned our attention from the alarming crisis that we are facing in our lives today. And all thanks to the short attention span of human beings nowadays, many have almost forgotten about it too. Recently in the year 2019, approximately 21 cities had dried out and were out of water. Until we look for a radical solution for water management in India, we will be forced to see the sad situation all of our lives.

Proper water management is not just essential but also critical for our livelihoods. Here are a few salient reasons to conserve water at all levels:

Water is a natural resource

Conserving water alleviates droughts

Use of water drains other energies

Importance of Water Conservation in Maharashtra, Along with other states like Jharkhand, Gujrat, Karnataka, and Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra has been facing an unprecedented water crisis since 2017. Following many years of drought, the Union Ministry of Agriculture has reported that groundwater levels are going down at an alarming rate over the years.

A report from Composite Water Management asserts that the demand for water will be more than twice its availability by 2030, which is indicative of a severe water crisis.

In Maharashtra, there has been over exploitation of groundwater which has depleted water from dams and reservoirs

The goods and services of the ecosystem, such as food and clean water supply, are affected by shifting weather patterns which is a result of climate changes. These resources have a massive effect on peoples’ lives; hence it is vital to find methods and strategies to deal with the consequences of climate changes on human lives. Ecosystem-based adaptation or EbA is a way of living which promotes conservation, restoration, and sustainable management of ecosystems. Ecobari is a nature-based solution that leverages the power of ecosystem services and biodiversity to reduce vulnerability and build sturdy resilience to climate changes.

Ecosystem-Based Adaptation

The use of biodiversity and ecosystem resources to assist people in adapting to the detrimental effects of climate change is referred to as “ecosystem-based adaptation.” EBA is founded on the idea that healthy ecosystems may help people become more adaptable to climatic and non-climatic hazards by ensuring essential ecological services.

When deteriorated trees and wastelands are rejuvenated, they give flood control benefits and require fewer financial resources, unlike dams. It would also provide co-benefits for the ecosystems and inhabitants and enhance biodiversity. This is an example of an ecological adaptation with no loss and only gain with great benefits, even changing climate uncertainty.

Watershed Organization Trust, referred to as (WOTR) is a Pune-based NGO that has stretched its wings throughout nine Indian states, benefiting over 3,750 villages. WOTR is widely recognized as a premier institution in the fields of participatory watershed development and climate change adaptation. WOTR, founded in 1993, is a non-profit organization that works at the intersection of practice, knowledge, and policy at various scales and in collaboration with stakeholders from various sectors.

Watershed management is a comprehensive approach to halting environmental deterioration and maximizing land productivity. Watershed management entails the rational use of land and water resources for optimum and long-term productivity while posing the least amount of risk to natural resources. Watershed development means the preservation, restoration, and appropriate use of all-natural resources within the watershed, including land, water, plants, animals, and social development. It is a holistic approach to stopping and limiting utilization and managing natural resources for necessary reasons.