Representatives from the rural development, agriculture and various CSO’s took part in a technical workshop to discuss how to implement the Jharkhand Climate Resilience Information System and Planning (JHAR -CRISP) tool in the State here on Wednesday.
This workshop was organised after the scale-up of JHAR -CRISP tool was officially launched by Chief Minister Hemant Soren along with Alex Ellis, British High Commissioner to India, on 23 August 2022.
The tool has been designed and developed by the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) in collaboration with a range of expert organisations and includes a drought early-warning system. It also provides communities with information like changes in ground water status, run off, rainfall pattern and so on under future climate scenarios that helps with longer term planning to conserve water.
Jharkhand is one of a few pioneering states that are scaling up use of the tool. Its implementation should help rural communities deal with climate change as the state increasingly experiences more frequent and intense droughts and associated water stress.
The event commenced with an inaugural session with officials like Nagendra Nath Sinha, Secretary, Ministry of Rural Development, Government of India, who attended the event virtually, Dr. Rajeev Arun Ekka, Principal Secretary to Chief Minister, and Dr Manish Ranjan, Secretary, Department of Rural Development, Government of Jharkhand.
In his special address, NN Sinha, quoting from his experiences during his tenure in Jharkhand said that this tool was especially relevant in Jharkhand, due to its climate vulnerability. He emphasized on the need to establish convergence between all relevant departments and have a multi-sectoral planning to ensure that the incomes of farmers can be increased, create more self-sustainable and diversified livelihoods and incorporate climate resilient practices into their lives etc. Sinha concluded by saying that the state of Jharkhand has tremendous potential and with right planning and coordination between departments they can combat the challenges of climate change head on. like agriculture, water resources, and forests.
Dr. Rajeev Arun Ekka in his keynote address said that the JHAR-CRISP tool is a potential game changer and will help the state better manage climate impacts. He spoke that the tool shouldn’t be limited to MGNREGS related activities. Dr. Ekka also discussed the need for a holistic approach to implementation of the tool. Lastly, he urged that the only way to tackle climate change is through a bottom-up approach and proper planning and coordination between all relevant stakeholders to ensure this tool is utilized to its full potential.
To end the inaugural session, Dr Manish Ranjan, said that the transition from old to new methods is often a challenge in implementation and it is necessary to ensure that the community is taken into confidence while introducing this tool. He discussed the tool in the context of theory of change and how its outputs will have wide ranging outcomes at different levels.
A panel discussion was held at the workshop was attended by Rajeshwari B.,
Commissioner, MGNREGA, Aboobacker Siddiqui, Secretary Department of Agriculture,
PHIA Foundation will be leading the scale up of the JHAR-CRISP tool in the state. Johnson Topno, regional head of programme in PHIA Foundation said that while they plan to set up a programme management unit at the state level, their focus will be on creating awareness among the field level government functionaries and communities of the utility of the tool and building their capacity to use it, so they can be better equipped to manage climate impacts in future. He also mentioned that while they will initiate the effort by using the tool for MGNREGA implementation, they are also having discussions with other departments like environment and forests, and water resources on how to use the tool to manage forest and water resources across the entire area fed by the same river basin.