Climate change consciousness of the community

Over the past few weeks on the Morung Express Climate Change Corner, we have been following a series of articles on climate change. This morning also I would just like to reinforce a little more on what my friend Ella Mary had written on climate change corner dated the 25th October 2008. 

Of the 6.7 billion people standing over this cool planet earth, how many do you think would actually know the challenges of climate change! Are we all really aware of the terms and consequences of Climate Change?
Plain teaching or talking about awareness on Climate Change may not have achieved the desired results to lead to action at the local level. The local communities may not be seriously conscious of the changing patterns on the given ecological domain that they are dependent upon. The level of awareness in Nagaland like in many parts of the world is therefore still low.

Discussions on the issues of environment and development, global warming, green house effect, and so on must be linked to the local issues, as these are most tangible.
Scientifically, climate change study requires lots of long term monitoring of rainfall, humidity, temperature, wind directions, pollutions, other meteorological and climatic parameters, but at the same time, the wisdom of the local people cannot be ignored. Traditional farming system, traditional ecological knowledge and indigenous technical knowledge are clearly at the cutting edge in adaptation to climate change.

While scientists and policy makers work to find solutions, local people have knowingly or unknowingly rolled up considerable adaptation and coping mechanisms of how to cope, based on their observations and experimentation. Here, the wisdom of conservation from an ecosystem perspective plays an important role. Conserved ecosystem offers many other services vital for adapting to climate change. For instance, wetlands are important reservoirs for flood water. Vegetation such as hedges protects agricultural landforms from excessive water or wind erosion in times of rainfall or drought. By preventing erosion on hillsides, vegetation also reduces the risk of landslides when rain comes in heavy bursts. Watersheds with intact plant cover slow the movement of rainfall to rivers and so reduce flood risk downstream, just like the mangroves acting as coastal buffers protect the coast from cyclone damage by reducing the strength of waves before they reach the shore.
As a responsible citizen, one must not only be conscious of climate change but strive to make each and every individual aware. An octogenarian from your locality or village may unconsciously have quite a lot of stock on climate change information and such information could be a good indicator of climate change. Interested readers are requested to start with personal projects on documentation of climate change and I would, through this article request, those interested to mail us and share your ideas or experiences at -  ccl.nagaland@gmail.com.
One must however, be aware of the anecdotal data on changing pattern of nature. Experiences and traditional wisdom alone cannot simply conclude the evidence of climate change. On being queried upon climate change to lay people, village elders and even researchers, the most common reply is that there are changing rainfall patterns and uncertainties over the local weather conditions. Who could have ever imagined that cloudbursts in May 2005 ( 170.7 mm of rainfall recorded at the Meteorological Observatory Mokokchung, Dept. of Soil and Water Conservation, stationed around milak watershed) would flood half of Tuli Town and kill fourteen innocent lives? The same day persistent rains in Mokokchung Town triggered landslides destroying life and property. Is it just because of the thin vegetal cover around the Milak watershed that caused the flashflood? Or, poor planning and management that caused the landslides simultaneously at different locations? Or, does it also have climate change implications?
People also commented on the reduced yield productivity of the paddy when compared to the past decades. Has the productivity really reduced? If so, what could be the possible reason? Should we then also think of climate change and food security? Yes, indeed and therefore, it is very crucial that each and everyone of us becomes not just aware of climate change but also ensures that this awareness leads to action.
Then there are the reports of migratory birds in the districts of Mokokchung, Wokha, Dimapur (more migratory birds all around Nagarjan locality!) and elsewhere every year. Could this be linked to climate change? Maybe! You and I, as a climate change conscious citizen, should start to study and observe the nature of such migrating species, e.g. the most commonly seen around this season referred to by the Ao’s as ‘Molulem’ will probably help. It would be interesting to study whether there are any changes at transit sites, which are key to survival, and whether the seasonal availability of food sources are synchronized with migration times.

And of course, there is every day talk of early occurrences or flowering and ripening of flowers, fruits and crops. While these could be because of the natural climatic and seasonal upheavals, the fact that it is becoming so unpredictable even for traditional varieties is worrying.
Naga society is well known for its tribal culture, floral and faunal diversity, landuse pattern including jhumming practice and its rich traditional knowledge base. It is the society and the community itself that can play the vital role in the participatory approach to climate change awareness and mitigation. Our society is a social network of interacting individuals.

There are 1286 (2001 census) villages in Nagaland. 82.26% of the total population of Nagaland (1.9 million, 2001 census) is rural. All these villages have strong village councils, organizations and governance. The rural community based approach of governance can be a powerful weapon in climate change mitigation.

We also have a strong set up of Civil Societies including the Churches. The Naga Hoho, NBCC, The NSF, the Municipal and Town Councils, and the likes can play pivotal roles in environmental and climate change awareness campaigns. Indeed, this will help to investigate the role of social learning and capacity in enabling communities to work collaboratively with the main stream policies. Could the government through its innovative ‘Year of Capacity Building’ also capacitate such organizations and institutions to face the challenge of climate change?
Our society is looking for environment friendly and climate change conscious leadership. Candidates with this agenda should be supported and elected. Your sermons, public speeches, lectures, classroom teaching, or a causal chat with a little concern on environment and climate change is what the world wants you to be. Now is the time to start.

The Climate Change Leaders (CCL) programme is sponsored by EHDRC, LEAD India (www.leadindia.org ). There are 8 CCL’s in Nagaland and 30 in the North East Region. The Nagaland CCL’s invite you to respond to this article on-line at www.morungexpress.com or email ccl.nagaland@gmail.com