Rolling back the climate change?: FORUM FOR TROPICAL WATER; Release-7

Say NO to the suicidal "vulnerabilities and adaptation" paradigm
For a mass movement against the menace of killer climate,farmer's suicides (climate deaths) & the destitute out-migration (climate refugees)

ROLLING BACK THE CLIMATE CHANGE!
TOWARDS GREEN (HOUSE) WATERSHEDS!!


*THE CHALLENGE:*

The souring temperatures conspire with the moist less and shade less (read tree cover) terrain to turn it in to a *prying pan*. Coming on top of the prying pan is the erratic and unpredictable pattern of rainfall. The two make in to an *odd mix*. What if the erratic rainfall turns a poor face on regular intervals? It turns out to be a deficit rainfall of the order of 40% - 60% below average. The odd mix turns in to a *deadly mix*. *Prying pan + deficit fall*, *which is erratic again?* Millions together of farm based * livelihoods* are lost. Farmers incur heavy losses on account of the high cost input intensive investments. No wonder farmers commit *suicide *in worst case scenarios.

*APPROPRIATE RESPONSE

*We do not need searching for it. The pre GR (green revolution) crop water and moisture regime shows the way out. The erstwhile traditional farming was supported by *multiple sources* of water and moisture support viz 1) capillary water and moisture support to the crop variously called as Punadi Padunu or a Talli Padunu in the Telugu and Kannada countries 2) sumptuous snowfall 3) Rhythmic pattern of rainfall 4) seasonal/annual rainfall (volumes keep changing from year to year) and 5) the crop friendly conducive atmospheric temperatures. It goes without saying that all the 5 factors make a cumulative impact on the crop culture. Contrast it with the afore cited challenge.

How did we land up in the pathetic scenario of the post GR period emerging as we were from the happy augury of the pre GR crop water and moisture regime? For the most majority, it represents climate change. The climate change thesis is in built to the architecture of *RKVY*. We do agree with a reservation. For others inclusive of RKVY, it is a green house gases (GHG) led climate change. Going by this thesis, we can hardly hope to roll it back. You can at best look for *adaptation*. Low cost traditional farming is one such adaptation given the *vulnerability *(climate change). We disagree on the *source of climate change*. True, there is a terrible climate change from the pre GR period. It is inspired by the GR. The GR knocked down the hydel green house and therefore the climate change. It is possible to reconstruct the hydel green house. The climate change thus can easily be rolled back. The message is this. The *GR inspired climate change* indeed is misconstrued to the green house gases (GHG) led climate change, which in turn led to the suicidal conclusion that we can not roll it back. The GHG School would have us believe that we have no other go except learning to live with the monster?

*TASKS AHEAD*:

The post GR pathetic scenario can be rolled back if we can rebuild the hydel green house. The hydel green house was intact in the pre GR period. True it was in a much poorer shape. We can indeed build back a much stronger version of the hydel green house. We will be getting back all the 5 factors and the associated positive cumulative impact creation on the crop water and moisture regime (see the foregoing). Here, we can do far better than our ancestry so as to insure against any possible drought in future. We can build a *drought free future*. The message is loud and unmistakable. *We can roll back climate change*.

*WHAT IS HYDEL GREEN HOUSE?

*All are aware of the groundwater reserves. But very few have heard about the *atmospheric water reserves*. The latter is the atmospheric counterpart of the former. The vegetation serves as live link between the two. The groundwater reserves together with the atmospheric water reserves and the vegetation in between them make in to the hydel green house. The vegetation pumps groundwater in to the atmosphere during day time as part of the evapo-transpiration process and the same is returned back during night in the form of dew/snowfall. This process is known as the *recycling process*. The same water is recycled again and again and it hardly needs any additional water and in the process, the life goes on. In other words, the hydel green house helps in self-watering. The self-watering is immensely rainwater saving.

*SIZE IS IMPORTANT*

The *micro scale hydel green house* is of the size of *5 kms*. For optimal results we will do well covering an area measuring a radius of *15 kms*, which means we are covering a cluster of *micro scale atmospheric circulations*. It rules out size wise interventions at our choice. We can not afford to make a *subjective choice*. The project area will bear the look of a virtual forest at the end of 3 years. It is a *farm area in disguise of the forest*. It shall bear round the year dense vegetative cover through the width and breadth of all and sundry of farm holdings.

*SELF-WATERING AND DOING A FUKUOKA*

The undisturbed forests make an exemplary case of self-watering. Theoretically speaking, the forests hardly are seasonal rainwater dependent. By logging the forests, our ancestry has considerably weakened the infrastructure of the hydel green house. In view of it, the traditional farming remained *part self-watering and part rainwater dependent. *We hope to build a farm system with a strong accent on self-watering. What we need to do is to build a *farm system in the image of the forest* living true to the Fukuokan style. We refrain from operational details here. We will leave it with citing broad outline of proposed interventions below. It is going to be a good mix of basic *infrastructure (of the hydel green house) +the Fukuokan pattern of farming*. In other words, cropping pattern coupled with cultural practices shall be devised in such a way that it will have the Fukuokan accent. Infrastructure is inclusive of the following.

*Broad outline of interventions (Infrastructure side)*

1) Leveling cum bunding of all and sundry of the rain fed upland farm holdings associated by well defined drainage. Size of each slice (plot) could ideally be between a quarter to half an acre.
2) Cent percent of rainwater harvesting cum recharging and safe guarding aimed at building *soil water as well * * as groundwater reserves* to the brim.
3) Building a strong component of *tree component* in to the farm holding. Ideally perennial vegetation all along the internal as well as external boundaries.
4) Generation of *voluminous bio-mass* from the tree component and incorporating the same along with the voluminous crop residue.
5) Add to the above *round the year* economically rewarding maintenance of crops across the width and breadth of the farm. Will follow Fukuokan style of cropping pattern and cultural practices.

*Mass Movement against the killer climate and the common place menace of climate deaths (farmer's suicides) and climate refugees (out-migration) *
* *
It is high time that we launch high powered mass movement to empower the farming community elsewhere to move in a concerted drive to decisively roll back the vicious GR inspired climate change and put an end to the sorry menace of climate deaths and climate refugees. Water literacy movement or so to say the "*KILLER CLIMATE*" literacy movement across a wide sprectrum of sections of people such as the journalists, teaching community, students, trading communities, government servants, political parties, cultural groups and local governance besides all sections of the farming community is the need of the hour. Every other section in the country side has a profound stake in the sustainable all round prosperity of the agriculture sector. The movement against killer climate promises *triple surpluses* in the medium term viz 1) Food, Bio-energy, Freshwater besides *the most* *promising source of carbon sequestration*. Move quick.


*FORUM FOR TROPICAL WATER*
*HYDERABAD, INDIA
*17-06-2009