Kerala will implement a project to minimise the impact of climate change and associated risks in the Pampa basin districts by integrating the downscaled climate information into the disaster risk management plans of the local bodies in Idukki, Kottayam, Pathanamthitta and Alappuzha districts.
An exhaustive plan on Climate Down Scaling for Risk-Informed Planning (CDRIP) by the local self-government institutions (LSGIs) has been developed.
The Kerala State Disaster Management Authority (KSDMA) and the Kerala Institute of Local Administration (KILA) have been working on making climate change information available to local self-governments for adaption planning and resilience building, in association with the International Red Cross Red Crescent Climate Centre, Centre for Disaster Resilience, University of Twente; and Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute, Netherland.
As part of the project, the local bodies in the four districts would make available precipitation and temperature change information for the near term (2021-40), medium term (2041-2060) and long term (2061-2099).
The project will eventually create a hyper resolution climate change model and translate the various RCP scenario-based rainfall and temperature information into flood, landslide, heat and drought hazard probabilities. (RCP or Representative Concentration Pathways are greenhouse gas concentration trajectories). The disaster risk management plans of these local bodies will then be updated based on these scientific inputs.
The CDRIP is to be implemented in the Pampa basin districts in three years. The funding commitment from the Kerala government for this project is ₹7.82 crore, while the Dutch institutions are expected to provide ₹6.95 crore. The State government has now given the in-principle sanction for implementing the project. The implementation will commence only after obtaining commitment on funding support from the Dutch partner institutions as per the minutes of the 5th Netherlands-Kerala round table conference. A memorandum of understanding (MoU) between the partner entities will be executed after the funding and required approvals are secured.
