This document proposes developing climate resilient communities to improve rural livelihoods in India. It recommends developing location-specific adaptive strategies through participatory approaches. It also recommends establishing a climate change information network to empower rural communities, and building stakeholder capacity. Selected villages will be studied to develop, implement, and evaluate climate adaptive strategies to establish proof of concept for building climate resilient communities. The solutions will be context-specific and consider local catchments, crop/soil/water efficiency, diversification, and new technologies. Approaches include participatory development, public-private partnerships, and engaging women and youth. Proof of concept communities will serve as models and learning sites. Information networks will share strategies to scale up climate resilience across communities.

1. BIG IDEAS
Climate resilient communities for
improving rural livelihoods
S
mallholder farmers are reliant mainly on rainfed areas.
With climate change – increasing variability in the rainfall intensity and unusual
heavy rainfall events followed by long dry spells – there is a need to build the
resilience of these rural communities.
There are solutions to reduce the vulnerability of the rural communities to impacts
of climate change.
We recommend
Location specific customized adaptive strategies developed through
participatory approaches.
Establish a climate change information network to empower the rural
communities using innovative knowledge delivery systems in the rural areas.
Build the capacity of different stakeholders for developing climate resilient
agriculture and enabling policies and institutions for scaling-up.
Science with a human face
www.icrisat.org
November 2013

2. Scientific solutions and proof of concept
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Selected villages will be studied and climate adaptive
strategies developed, implemented and evaluated.
A proof of concept will be established by building
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climate resilient communities.
The solutions will be context specific including:
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Taking into account the local catchment level,
including the multi-sectoral activities.
Enhancing crop, soil, water and other inputs
use efficiency to increase production and
profits.
Approach
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Participatory development of solutions
that engage and empower the community.
A consortium of different institutions
to harness the power of public-private
partnerships.
Involvement of women and youth to build
sustainability of the interventions.
Enabling institutions and policy guidelines
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Diversification of on-farm and other livelihood
options.
Other methods for sustainable intensification
on-farm.
Harnessing the power of new scientific tools
like ICT, GIS, simulation models and remote
sensing.
Considering the whole value chain through to
processing and markets.
Scaling up
The proof of concept for climate resilient
communities will be clearly defined models, sites of
learning and have an inventory of tested adaptation
and mitigation strategies.
Established information networks in one community
will be tapped for information sharing in other
communities.
to support the science-based solutions.
Involvement
Contact
Support development of proof of concept for
selected communities.
Suhas P Wani, Research Program Director (Acting),
Resilient Dryland Systems
Email: s.wani@cgiar.org
Assist with the scaling up of a network of climate
resilient communities.
2
A concept note for
Ensuring nutritional security in rural India