In semi-arid regions, a global temperature rise of 1.5℃ (and each interval of 0.5℃ thereafter) will have progressively severe local impacts. In this video we describe how average local temperatures increasing faster than the global average (and rising more with each interval of global increase), and intensifying climate extremes and changing rainfall patterns, mean that semi-arid regions will experience declining crop yields, shifts in water availability, compromised health of people and livestock, and additional pressures to livelihoods. Affected countries have growing evidence available to argue for emissions reductions in line with a 1.5℃ warming target, as proposed in the Paris Agreement, and at the same time push for adopting climate-resilient development pathways that acknowledge the threats of increasing temperatures and their associated impacts.
With a strong focus on understanding the factors that enhance or diminish people's vulnerability and wellbeing, and the responses they take to deal with both climatic and non-climatic stressors, ASSAR focused on the most marginalised. In particular, we sought to shift the adaptation narrative from centering mainly on infrastructural, technical solutions to forefronting and addressing some of the barriers posed by power structures, patriarchal norms and governance disconnects.
This article shares the experience of how Transformative Scenario Planning in the district of Jalna in Maharashtra, India motivated people for action on water management.
ASSAR has been examining the conditioning factors surrounding adaptation action in four of the world’s semi-arid regions, with a specific focus on barriers and enablers to the uptake and success of adaptation. Here is what we found.
This beautifully illustrated story of change written by ASSAR's WOTR team members described how communities in the Sangamner Block of Ahmednagar District, in Maharashtra, India, have realised their potential to manage the water issues that face them in their daily lives.
Renie Thomas and Vijayasekaran Duraisamy from the Watershed Organisation Trust look at how communicating the distribution and availability patterns of groundwater to agrarian communities could lead to better management of this crucial resource.
Lucia Scodanibbio visited ASSAR's South Asia field sites with Georgina Cundill Kemp to see the great work that WOTR has been involved in over the past few years. This is her photo-essay of the field trip.