Climate change and wetlands; Impacts, adaptation and mitigation

Coordinator: Dr. A.K.Pattnaik
Email: ajitpattnaik@hotmail.com

Societies have always lived with the risk from natural disaster; their occurrence and impact seem to be increasing in recent years. The challenges of Natural Disasters are

(i) Geographic location of countries that are prone to repeated occurrence of natural disasters;

(ii) Lack of preparedness and infrastructure to mitigate disaster impact, particularly in the developing and small island countries;

(iii) Present development model i.e. the process of globalization which is encouraging developing countries to a life style of higher degree of urbanization, and consequent higher risks and vulnerability to natural hazards;

(iv) Climate variability and climate change as a new challenge.

Equally important are the effects that are reducing nature’s ability to combat the natural disaster. Changes in climate would exert adverse impact on biodiversity and livelihood. Rising to the challenge of global warming and biodiversity loss, appropriate adoption and mitigation options are essential to ensure the ecosystem services that are crucial to human survival. Together with the existing exposure of many communities and assets to extremes of weather, adaptive measures are imperative in order to enhance the coping abilities of valued wetland ecosystems, vulnerable communities and exposed infrastructures. Adaptation initiatives can be 'planned' or “autonomous’. Many of the adoption measures adopted traditionally by the local communities are very effective and learnt through their experience and are autonomous. It is expected to cover all above aspects in this session. Papers and case studies are invited illustrating various adaptation measures and adaptive capacity to the disaster and impact of climate change, about the livelihood resilience and the strategy for climate change mitigation efforts, and how the issues are being addressed at both national and global level.