ALM UNDP

Summary:

The overall goal of SDC’s V&A Programme in semi-arid areas of India was to secure the livelihoods of rural poor and vulnerable communities by promoting adaptation measures that enhance their capacity to better cope with adverse impacts of climate change and by improving their disaster preparedness. By taking a multi-level action learning approach the V&A Programme tried to reduce the gap between reali-ties of climate variability and change and respective adaptive strategies at community level and decision-making around climate change adaptation at national and international levels.
After a comprehensive assessment of the vulnerability to climate variability and change of the com-munities selected for implementation of the V&A programme in the first programme phase, scientific hypotheses were developed for each of the four thematic focus areas (energy, water, land use, and live-stock). These hypotheses helped to differentiate climate-resilient development from classical develop-ment interventions that adapt livelihood systems to climate change. Also a monitoring framework was developed on basis of these hypotheses with a view to assist the implementation of climate-resilient strategies as well assessment of the programme’s outcome.
In the implementation phase of the V&A Programme a significant number of pilot field activities and interventions were implemented, such as e.g. an analysis of the scope of the System of Rice Intensi-fication (SRI) under a limited water availability scenario, an assessment of an up-gradated community managed traditional irrigation system (harren) or the establishment of village level mini agro-met obser-vatories.
The interventions made by the V&A Programme were not new per se, but an attempt has been made to understand the perceptions at the community level so as to explore the best adaptation options avail-able at the local level. Thus, the V&A Programme concluded that the ability of communities to anticipate climate change and accordingly design and implement adaptive strategies is essential for successful ad-aptation. V&A interventions also broadened the understanding of climate related stresses at the local level.