Karnataka State Action Plan
on Climate Change
Comments by
Sharachchandra Lele
Centre for E & D, ATREE
Summary of SAPCC
• Based on BCCI-K work (World Bank
funded) on GHG emissions, CC modelling
and other sectors for Karnataka
• CC models show temp rising (esp
northeast), rainfall fluctuating (but again
reducing in Kodagu and northeast)
• Sector-wise analysis is made to indicate
what policies are already in place that pay
CC dividends, and what additional can be
done
Several policies already in place
• Various agricultural schemes, including
organic farming, micro irrigation, etc etc
• Water: RWH compulsory, watershed
development, artificial recharge, etc etc
• Forestry: lots of planting
• Energy: SWH incentives continue, new
building CFL mandatory, green energy
cess, biofuel board, Solar PV gen, CNG
pipeline
Main recommendations: Mitigation
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Stabilise grid voltage to improve efficiency
Increase agricultural power tariff
Notify the building energy code
Implement markets for energy efficiency
Scale up renewables (wind, co-gen,
biofuels)
• Spread fuel-efficient chulhas
• Promote effluent treatment & solid waste
mgmnt
• Mangrove replanting
Main recommendations: Adaptation
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Agency for devising cropping shifts
More work on dryland farming
Prevent theft of sprinkler pipes (?)
Create market for indigenous crops (?)
Livestock insurance (?) & native breeds
Enforce groundwater act, regulate use,
impose cess
• Subsidy for RWH structures
• Price for irrigation water
Main recommendations:
Adapatation (contd)
• Estimate carrying capacity of WGhats (?)
• Remove invasive alien species
• Clear forest encroachments (?)
Caveat to comments
• Easy to critique government documents,
but hard to come up with comprehensive
strategies in a climate of political
uncertainty
• VERY hard to come up with meaningful
strategies for an issue as uncertain as
Climate Change
• Temptation to simply fit into Central
strategies and funding schemes is very
strong
Core approach of the SAPCC
• Mitigate wherever we can
• Generally to pursue old policies in new
bottle
• Tap money from NAPCC
• Pour money into research
• Treat people as ignorant
• No societal involvement except at tailend
(see section on forestry)
Core issues not addressed
• Why mitigate? How much? Who should
mitigate? At how much cost?
• Why adapt? To what? Who needs help to
adapt? What kind of help?
• What are the synergies and tensions with
other Sustainable Development issues?
• How effective are we so far, and why not?
Mitigation
• Karnataka’s emissions are at 1.5
tCO2e/cap/yr. So do we need to mitigate
at all?
– No national cap. Should we set our own cap?
– For any reasonable cap (say 4 t), is the real
issue of average emission or distribution?
– So we come back to equitable development
within a sustainability limit, else there is no
issue
– Limits and distrib goals – then we figure out
steps
Synergies & tensions
• Renewables will help energy sector
anyway (but question of where, who, how,
remains)
• Energy efficiency will help anyway, but real
goal has to be mass transport & a non-AC
lifestyle
• Chulhas will not help, have to switch to
liquefied fuels for sake of women’s health
and convenience
Adaptation
• Lots of activities are already going on
towards ‘development’ of these sectors
(Agri, fisheries) and towards supply
augmentation and sustainability (water
resources)
• Do we need to do more? Or something
different?
• Again, no evaluation of effectiveness, just
listing
Agriculture
• Is CC the only issue? What about farmer
suicides? What about food security? What
about health impacts of pesticide use?
What about unsustainable and inequitable
water use?
• All the issues that CC will aggravate—
drought, flood, uncertainty, disease—are
already part of the Agricultural situation.
So is anything extra really required? Are
we already doing what needs to be done?
Water Resources
• Entire focus is on efficient water use,
groundwater regulation, and rainwater
harvesting
• How is this related to CC?
• Is the govt officially saying no more supply
side projects? (not mentioned anywhere)
• Is the govt officially saying no more
expansion in irrigated agri? How about
expansion through better distribution of
existing irrigation water?
• CC and Dam operation
Forestry
• Is Forestry only an ‘impact’ sector?
• Even if it is, what really can one do about
it?
• Not a resource?
• Why no mention of democratic
governance of forest sector?
Overall
• What is the concept of adaptation?
• What makes society more or less
adaptable and resilient?
– MORE development?
– Greater ‘capital’ to fall back on?
– Loosely coupled systems
– Decentralisation for quick local response
– Integration of traditional knowledge