~By Pakhi Das

​Extreme climatic events and variability are on the rise around the world, with varying implications for populations across socio-economic conditions. The recent assessment report published by the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change in July 2021 has reiterated the urgent need to develop climate resilient strategies to safeguard the health, prosperity and wellbeing of billions of people across the world. With some communities more dependent on natural resources than others, it has become more important now than ever to study the extent to which the changing climate affect various people from various socio-economic settings and develop strategic plans to mitigate the adverse impacts of climate change. A recent study by Pooja Choksi and collaborators examines seasonal migration as an livelihood strategy given current climatic variability amongst the vulnerable populations living in forest-fringe villages of the Central India Landscape (CIL).

~ By Satvik Parashar

​Can improving household living standards help control forest degradation? Interdisciplinary researchers from Universities across India and the USA (Columbia University, Ashoka University, University of Delaware, Azim Premji University and Johns Hopkins University) answer this question in their recent study. In the study, researchers quantify the role of improved living standards, such as durable housing, and alternatives to fuelwood for cooking, in alleviating pressure on forests and reducing degradation in the Central India Highlands. 

​The study region covers ~25 million hectares (7.6% of the total land area of India) across the states of Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Maharashtra. Five thousand households were surveyed in 500 forest fringe villages (10 surveys per village) within 8 km of forest. The survey questions targeted two aspects of household living standards: 1) alternate energy for cooking, primarily the use of LPG or fuelwood for cooking, and 2) durability of house material i.e. kutcha or pucca house.

~ by Satvik Parashar

​A recent study by interdisciplinary researchers ( from McGill University, Rutgers School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins University and Deshpande Foundation, including some NCCI members from the University of Delaware, Columbia University, Foundation for Ecological Security (FES)) explores the efficacy of multiple cropping, seasonality and the socio-economic factors with respect to food security and especially dietary diversity. Specifically they explore the seasonal variation of dietary diversity and food security as well as the associations with multiple cropping and income sources in the region.​

~ by Satvik Parashar
 
Since the last few decades, biodiversity conservation measures in India have largely been dependent on the creation of state-controlled protected areas (PAs). Despite the popularity, PAs in India face many conservation challenges that include fragmentation, insufficient size, limited connectivity, development pressure, close proximity to human population etc. Additionally, there can be resentment among some local populations in these areas as they are seldom part of the decision making processes that directly affect them. Inclusive strategies such as ecotourism and biodiversity-friendly agriculture are proving to be more sustainable steps in conservation. A recent paper focuses on the effectiveness of voluntary conservation initiatives on private agricultural lands such as agroforestry. For the involvement of landowners in agroforestry, the influence of factors such as 1) Program Design, 2) Land Characteristics, Demographic and socio-economic characteristics of landowners, 3) Socio-psychological variables of landowners has been studied in this paper.

Source: Photo; Map

A recent study by Prof. Tarun Kumar Thakur (from the Department of Environmental Science at the Indira Gandhi National Tribal University in Amarkantak) and collaborators uses satellite imagery to look at decadal changes in land use within the upper catchment of the Narmada river. The study strongly suggests planners of urbanizing areas utilize spatial information from satellites to conduct similar studies to manage water resources in the face of climate change related struggles ahead. As is now common knowledge, water will be one of the main resources we will have to manage to the best of our abilities given uncertainty in monsoon rainfall and growing urban centres in central India.
 
An important consideration is that the Narmada and its tributaries such as Gayatri, Savitri, Kapila, Baitarini, Arandi emerging from Amarkantak region are all are fed by rain water. In years with ample rainfall there is a consequent positively correlation to the flow in these rivers. The Maikal range where these tributaries and the Narmada originate are under tremendous anthropogenic stress – indicators of which are clear in the changing land use and land cover dynamics as described for the Narmada catchment in this study.