SaciWATERs

Managing Community Impacts of Climate Change

March 12^th and 13^th  2012

organised by Monash University, Kolkata

A two day workshop was organised by the Monash University in Kolkata (ITC Sonar Bangla Hotel) on “Managing Community Impacts of Climate Change”. This workshop was attended by members of NGOs, academic institutions and other civil society bodies in West Bengal and a few other states, who presented their work along similar lines.

Ms. Sreoshi Singh of SaciWATERs presented the Peri-urban Water Security project and its activities in South Asia to the rest of the participants, where issues with regard to the peri-urban sites were highlighted along with how the communities were adapting to the changing climate. The various advocacy initiatives that have been/are being planned at the different study sites were also presented. The group appreciated the project and its objectives and realised how urbanisation as a process in itself would be an added problem to deal with, in the light of climate change. The peri-urban issues highlighted in the SaciWATERs presentation, however, raised the eyebrows of the organisers, who were working especially in the lower Ganga delta in India and Bangladesh and had not really considered the huge impact of urbanisation in these areas, when it comes to managing communities to deal with climate change.  

The academic circle also showed concern about the loss of surface storages in Hyderabad and urged the need for strict policy action to protect them in the face of rapid urbanisation and reduced water access in peri-urban areas.