PRAYAS: A climate vulnerability reduction project launched

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dillip subudhi

25 December, 2011

The project, to be implemented by Regional Centre for Development Coopertion, will aim to reduce flood vulnerability in Odisha coastal areas through integrated water management.

ODISHA IS christened as home to disasters. Climate change has brought havoc to the land and the people in forms of drastic change in local economy and ecology. Many development initiatives aiming socio-economic welfare of the people implemented by local Government are hindered by impacts of climate change and natural disasters.

List of districts affected by flood is swelling and more districts in the hinterland are joining the list apart from the districts in chronic flood affected coastal plains. The number and frequency of natural disasters is also seen rising over the past decades.

Puri district of coastal Odisha is one of the worst climate change affected districts of Odisha. The area witnesses frequent floods in rainy season and experiences severe drought during summer when the accelerating depletion in ground water causes acute drinking water crisis. Saline ingress in ground water is another issue of the district. Agricultural produce and agriculture based livelihoods are at stake due to erratic rainfall in Puri.

To address the impact of climate change on local communities and reduce vulnerability of the masses to disasters, an initiative is taken by two voluntary organisations Regional Centre for Development Cooperation and Society for Women Action Development. The initiative named PRAYAS is supported by UNDP. This project aims at reducing vulnerability of the masses through integrated water resource management. The project will be implemented on pilot basis in Sukala and Madhuban Panchayat of Puri district. In this initiative government schemes like MGNREGA will be integrated.

On 22nd December 2011, a Launching Ceremony cum Inception Workshop of PRAYAS was organised at Hotel Swosti Premium in Bhubaneswar, Odisha. A docket and a brochure were unveiled on the occasion. The workshop was chaired by Prof. Bhagaban Prakash and participated by Surya Narayan Patro, Honourable Minister, Revenue and Disaster Mitigation, Mr. P.K. Jena, IAS, Commissioner cum Secretary of Panchayatiraj Department, Dr. Arvind Padhee, IAS, Director, Special Projects, Mr, J Radhakrishnan, IAS, Assistant Country Director of UNDP, Dr. Ambika Prasad Nanda, Odisha State Programme Officer of UNDP, Engineer N. K. Mohapatra, Chief Engineer of Odisha Water Planning Organisation, Kailash Chandra Dash, Executive Director of RCDC, Binpani Mishra, Secretary of SWAD, Bimal Prasad Pandia, Programme Manager of Water Programme in RCDC, representatives of civil society organisations of the State, media representatives, resource persons, academicians and community representatives of the project area.