INTRODUCTION
The relation between atmosphere and agriculture has been known since the 1800s, however significant efforts, to study the impact of climate change on agriculture and vice versa began only after 1970. Agricultural activities are one of the large scale contributors of greenhouse gases which in turn contribute towards climate change. On the other hand, climate change puts forth a risk of having the global mean temperature arisen, in turn leading to a direct threat to the existence of many ecosystems. This two-way relationship between climate and agriculture is of great significance for developing countries like India due to their major dependence on agriculture for livelihood and economy. Owing to this intense interconnection between climate change and agriculture, it is important to assess the impact of global climatic variations on agriculture to adapt farming and to enhance production.
CLIMATE CHANGE AND INDIAN AGRICULTURE: AN INTERSECTION
Agriculture is an economic activity that is highly dependent on weather and climatic conditions. There are various changes in the climate that affect agriculture such as change in mean temperature, average rainfall, nutritional value of the soil, weather extremes, etc. Indian subcontinent, right from the Himalayas to the coastal area, is highly vulnerable to all kinds of climate change issues. It is predicted that south Asian countries may go through a mean rise of around 2℃ to 6℃. India is prone to a wide ambit of climatic events like droughts, floods, heatwaves, melting Himalayan glaciers, extreme events like cyclones and storms and many more. On the other hand, agriculture also has an impact on the climate as these activities emit huge amount of greenhouse gases (hereinafter “GHG”). India is the third largest emitter of GHGs in the world, only behind China and USA. Notably, agricultural activities account for nearly 18% of gross national GHG emission.
ADAPTING STRATEGIES COMBATING CLIMATE CHANGE
The core strategy of the Indian agricultural sector is ‘Adaptation led Mitigation’. Adaptation strategies with improvement in farming techniques and practices has the potential to decrease the adverse effects of climate change on agriculture. Changes in the frequency and scale of natural catastrophes have a severe impact on the agriculture industry, putting many lives and health at danger. Technology is a key source of climate change adaptation. For comprehensive climate change adaptation, awareness and capacity building among all stakeholders, from farmers to policymakers, is crucial. There has been an attempt to tackle this issue both at the global level and regional level.
The leading body in India that has taken the initiative of evaluating the vulnerability of Indian agriculture towards global climate change is the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (hereinafter “ICAR”). ICAR is an autonomous body responsible for promoting technology in agriculture. Its efforts in comprehensive study on impact of climate change on agricultural sectors like cereal crop, horticulture, livestock, agroforestry, etc has been globally acclaimed. Government of India had taken initiatives to formulate policies to combat global warming and minimize the effect of climate change on agriculture in accordance with the technologies developed by ICAR. Some important initiatives are National Mission on Sustainable Agriculture which aims at making agriculture more productive, sustainable, remunerative and climate resilient by promoting location specific integrated/composite Farming Systems.; Green India Mission which focusses on protecting, restoring and enhancing India’s diminishing forest cover and responding to climate change through adaptation and mitigation measures. It envisages a holistic view of greening that extends beyond tree planting and National Adaptation Fund for Climate Change to meet the cost of adaptation to climate change for the State and Union Territories of India that are particularly vulnerable to the adverse effects of climate change.
ICAR’s efforts- howsoever promising- are more or less dependent upon the climate change strategies of the country which currently are sparse. It’s research and recommendations have certainly given ways of adapting India’s agriculture to climate change, but in order to mitigate the adverse effects of climate change on agriculture, there is a dire need of strong climate change policies. India’s climate change policy dates back to 2008 when National Action Plan on Climate Change (hereinafter “NAPCC”) was announced. For a country that has already felt the effects of climate change, developing a strategy to address the issue should have been a logical progression. NAPCC, on the other hand, was more of an exercise in securing worldwide recognition than anything else. NAPCC was formulated in a rushed manner which only provided broad objectives and not strategy. So, there has hardly been any implementation of the policies and there also hasn’t been any statutory body to check their progress. On the other hand, on the global front many other countries have introduced a plethora of measures to tackle the climate change problem. It is the need of the hour for India to develop stronger climate change policies which in turn are beneficial for the agricultural sector too.
WAY FORWARD
Many national legal systems currently lack laws and policies aimed explicitly at addressing climate change in agriculture. Legal provisions and institutional arrangements, on the other hand, are essential for effective governance and can aid in the execution of national policy and international obligations, especially those related to climate change. Given the uncertainty around the pace and form of climate change, farmers' self-initiated attempts to adapt to climate change while reducing agriculture's GHG footprint are unlikely to be sufficient. Agriculture's contribution to global emissions, the need for more global mitigation measures, and the continuous anticipated rise of agricultural emissions in many nations all point to the need for stronger and more effective policies.
At the national level, in addition to adaptation and mitigation initiatives, broader social, economic, and environmental policy settings — such as trade, investment, infrastructure, and education policies – should continually promote sustainable productivity development. Shrinking down to a more regional level, unaligned and socially damaging agricultural policies that foster unsustainable increase, exploitation of natural resources, and possibly harmful inputs must be reformulated. Promotion of innovation that can boost long-term productivity growth, more expenditure in research and development is required. Climate change policies should focus on farmer subsidies and information transfer platforms that help farmers achieve sustained productivity increases through reducing and adaptation measures. At last, Governments should guarantee that appropriate and up-to-date data on resource utilization effectiveness and risk assessment is available and widely disseminated to assist farmers and other private agents in making educated investments in adaptation strategies.
Climate change and its impact is one of the biggest threats emerging at a global level. In India, about 70% of the population is directly or indirectly dependent on agriculture. Although climate adaptation strategies have shown positive effects so far in the journey of Indian Agricultural sector, a lot more needs to be done from the policy making angle. A strategic approach is crucial both at the central and state level to mitigate climate change impacts on agriculture. Along with implementing the strategies, they should also be continuously evaluated and monitored to understand the need of alteration of these strategies as per the situation.
Shawaiz Rather & Alankrita Sinha
The authors are fourth year and third year B.A. LL.B. (Hons.) students at Rajiv Gandhi National University of Law, Punjab, respectively.
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