Category Climate Change

Can preserving Goa’s Khazans address climate threats?

By Neena Bhandari

Sydney, 04.04.2024 (IPS): Growing up in a khazan ecosystem, the traditional agricultural practice followed in the south-western Indian state of Goa, Elsa Fernandes would love sitting in a koddo, a woven bamboo structure for storing paddy. Her family members would pour paddy around her and with the growing pile, she would rise to the top and then jump down with joy.

“Rice crop for us meant play, work and earnings. Whatever I am today is because of the khazans,” says Fernandes, an environmental architect and president of the Goa Khazan Society, an organization of concerned citizens and experts dedicated to preserving the khazan ecosystem.

The khazan ecosystem has played an intrinsic role in alleviating the effects of soil salinization, conserving biodiversity, and ensuring food security for over 3500 years. But this sustainable agriculture practice is facing increasing pressure from neglect, mismanagement, environmental degradation, and commercialization of land and fishing rights, even as threats posed by climate change loom large.

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Asia Pacific tops list of most impacted by weather perils

By Neena Bhandari

Sydney, 08.03.2024 (SciDev.Net): Climate change will be the main driver of future economic risks, with countries in the Asia Pacific region among the most vulnerable to extreme weather events, according to new analysis.

Four weather perils –– floods, tropical cyclones, winter storms and severe thunderstorms –– account for the largest share of economic losses from natural disasters globally, according to a report by the Swiss Re Institute, the research arm of global insurance firm Swiss Re. Of 36 countries studied, the Philippines is the most impacted by tropical cyclones, severe thunderstorms and floods, and these hazards are highly likely to intensify here, the report says. This causes the Philippines annual economic losses (based on property damage) of 3 per cent of GDP –– eight times more than any other country.

The analysts argue that private sector finance must be mobilised to mitigate these risks and adapt to climate change.

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Innovation `imperative’ for securing rice production

By Neena Bhandari

Sydney, 19.02.2024 (SciDev.Net): Innovations in rice production and eco-friendly practises must be made viable for small-scale farmers in the global South in the face of climate threats, says Yvonne Pinto, incoming head of the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI).

Relied upon by more than half of the world’s population for nearly 80 per cent of their dietary needs, rice is pivotal to ensuring global food security, with consumption increasing even as the climate crisis jeopardises production and the livelihoods of millions of people.

About 520.4 million metric tonnes were consumed worldwide in the 2022-23 crop year, up by almost a quarter from 437.2 million metric tonnes in the crop year 2008-2009, according to the data platform Statista. The Food and Agriculture Organization says developing countries produce and consume about 95 per cent of the global rice output.

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