Indian farmers are ready to adapt to climate change: Prakash Javadekar

The government would shortly be finalizing a comprehensive Action Plan on the Climate Change Adaptation Fund introduced in the Union Budget this year.

The government stood committed to the Clean India Green India philosophy outlined by the Prime Minister.

The Minister said this while delivering the inaugural address at the National Workshop on Scaling up Good Practices for Climate Change Adaptation here today.

Elaborating further, Javadekar said that climate change as a comprehensive issue needed to be addressed at the global, national, regional and even at the local level.

While at the global level the focus was on emission cuts and mitigation, India’s perspective had focused on financial and technological support, information sharing and technology transfer for the developing communities to scale up adaptation strategies.

The Minister stated that a balanced global view needed to incorporate these aspects as part of the new International Protocol on Climate Change that would emerge in 2015.

On the issue of climate change adaptation, the Minister called for a collaborative, community-based, and participatory approach and emphasized that efficient watershed management and water budgeting, soil health cards, and disaster-risk mitigation strategies were of paramount importance.

Javadekar also stated that the common people and farmers in India were ready to adopt good practices and successfully adapt to the changes brought about by climate change.

The Minister also mentioned that the entire approach instituted had to be “Bottom Up.”

Based on this premise, adaptation plans would be designed. This would enable mainstreaming of adaptation of sustainable cultures.