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Case Study: Impacts of Loss and Damage. Soil & Moisture Conservation (SMC) Treatment in natural forest tracts-An Impactful Intervention with ramifications for Climate Change challenge-

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Department of Environment & Forests Govt. of Bihar

Participant & thematic area covered1. Sri Vivek Kumar Singh, IAS : Policy issues in natural Forest tracts with ramifications for Climate Change challenge

Principal Secretary2. Dr. D.K.Shukla, IFS : Watershed development interventions in restoring natural eco systemPrincipal Chief Conservator of Forest (HoFF), Bihar

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Avoiding ramifications for climate change challenges- an impactful intervention through soil & moisture conservation

(SMC) treatment in natural forests tracts

showcasing the Bihar

Govt. of Bihar

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Govt. of Bihar

• Although policies are developed at the national level, losses and damages are ultimately incurred at the local level.

• Considering loss and damage is an issue affecting local communities, it is important that the measures used to the address future impacts of climate change are targeted to those in need

• Farmers in disaster prone areas face incremental risks as the global temperature rises and the frequency and severity of disasters increase

• Communities adopting coping measures such as looking for additional income or selling assets in order to buy food.

• Loss and damage is undermining food and livelihood security, social cohesion, culture and identity

Impacts of Loss and Damage at State Level

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Govt. of Bihar

• Enhance the understanding of how loss and damage associated with the adverse effects of climate change affect particularly for vulnerable communities

• Policymakers will need to explore, develop and implement comprehensive risk management frameworks that include risk reduction, risk transfer such as insurance, risk retention such as contingency funds and social safety nets.

• Enhancing data on and knowledge of the risks of slow onset events and their impacts, and identify ways forward on approaches to address slow onset events associated with the adverse effects of climate change

• Building capacity of institutions to ensure that local households and communities can participate in the design and implementation of policies and programs

• Develop and implement financial instruments and tools that address the risks of loss and damage associated with the adverse effects of climate change

Areas for Intervention

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Watershed development interventions in restoring natural eco-system

Govt. of Bihar

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Forests in Bihar• Total Geographical Area: 94163 sq. km.

• Forest Area : 6845 sq. km. (7.23%)

• Degradation due to anthropogenic pressure.

• Degradation of ecological health on all fronts.

• Richness of vegetable cover, succession status, proneness to erosion, moistureregime, surface water retention, ground water recharge.

• Floral & Faunal bio-diversity, soil health and potential productivity, spread ofinvasive species.

Govt. of Bihar

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Climate change• A confirmed phenomenological observation.

• Increase in erratic pattern of precipitation.

• Changed rainfall pattern: Reduced number of rainy days.

• Copious of peaked downpours on fewer days.

• Long spell of dry days during monsoon.

• Some areas are most affected: Some forest area are adaptive to climate change, some are not

• It causes:

– More erosion and reduce water & moisture retention

– Impact physico-chemical and biological system over a range of realms and scales- Soil moisture, soil microfauna, mychorrhizal associations, seeding, germination, water and food availability for small and big fauna

Govt. of Bihar

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Vulnerability of an ecosystem: The Resistance and resilience stability of an ecosystem

Govt. of Bihar

Resilience Stability

Res

ista

nce

Stab

ility

Ecos

yste

m F

unct

ion

Time

Perturbation

Total Stability

Dynamic Equilibrium

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Developing Macro-level Vulnerability Index of Bihar

RAINFALL

TEMPRATURE

DEPTH OF WATER LEVEL

VULNERABILITY

WASTELAND

OPEN FOREST

MODERATE DENCE FOREST

RURAL LITERACY RATE

RURAL POPULATION BELOW POVERTY (%)

% OF RURAL WORKERS AS AGRICULTURAL LABOUR

EXPOSURE SENSITIVITY ADAPTIVE CAPACITY

V = f (Exposure, Sensitivity, Adaptive Capacity)

• Department has developed the vulnerability index of all the districts of Bihar

• Source: Holly Deems & Adriana Bruggeman, Energy, Environment and Water Research Centre, The Cyprus Institute, June 2010

Govt. of Bihar

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Macro-level Vulnerability Index map of Bihar• All the very high vulnerable

districts having forest areasexcept Vaishali & Siwan.

• Only 2 districts having forestareas are less vulnerable:Nalanda (Low) andJehanabad (Average).

• Among forest districts-Nalanda is least vulnerableand Kaimur is highlyvulnerable.

• It shows that districtshaving forest areas arehighly vulnerable, whichrequires interventions.

Govt. of Bihar

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TypeofVegetation

No.ofSpecies

MostDominantSpecies IVI

Jamuni BaseofByapurgiri,Rajgir Range(Nalanda ForestDivision)

Tree 38 Boswellia serrata 36.65

Shrub 27 Dendrocalamus strictus 114.74

Herbs 26 Cassiaoccidentalis 39.52

Bheembandh (Munger ForestDivision)

Tree 18 Magnifera indica 57.25

Shrub 16 Carissaopaca 89.21

Herbs 20 Andrographis paniculata 43.15

Mandar Bahar,Baunsi Beat(BankaForestDivision)

Tree 28 Streblus asper 34.23

Shrub 18 Holarrhena pubescens 40.75

Herbs 29 Gardenialatifolia 50.58

TypeofVegetation

No.ofSpecies

MostDominantSpecies

IVI

Titri Range,Imamganj (GayaForestDivison)

Tree 3 Buteamonosperma 200.99

Shrub 1 Buteamonosperma 299.99

Herbs 17 Cynodon dactylon 75.49

Chakarghata Nadi PatparVillage(Kaimur ForestDivision)

Tree 3 Terminaliaarjuna 243.14

Shrub 3 Mitragyna parvifolia 110.19

Herbs 15 Cyperus rotundus 66.02

Salaya Forest,Madanpur Range(AurangabadForestDivision)

Tree 2 Azadirachta indica 229.58

Shrub 8 Carissaopaca 89.94

Herbs 14 Tridex procumbens 75.77

Importance Value Index (IVI)

Source: Floral Bio-diversity Survey conducted by Forest Research Institute, Dehradun

Govt. of BiharIVI: ‘Importance of a species in its relative contribution to the whole community, IVI = R.D+R.F.+R.B.A.

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Observation• Nalanda, Munger and Banka forest divisions low IVI score of large no. of species in the

community show that these areas are rich in diverse vegetation.

• Department has started soil and moisture conservation and Regeneration of DegradedForests activities in these areas from 2012-2013.

• Gaya, Kaimur and Aurangabad forest divisions are not so rich in vegetation as reflectedin IVI.

• A comprehensive plan has been prepared for these areas under Agriculture Road Map2017-2022.

• Various biodiversity indices calculated to show impact of interventions.

Govt. of Bihar

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Response• Eco-system approach: Response to climate change.

• Watershed development: Micro watersheds have been treated with graded

appropriate type of structures ranging from check dams, silt detention dams,

water harvesting bunds and ponds in 11 Forest Divisions.

– Conserving Soil & Moisture

– Plantation in blank patches

Govt. of Bihar

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RDF & SMC Work

0

10000

20000

30000

40000

50000

60000

2012-13 2013-14 2014-15 2015-16 2016-17

Area (in ha)

Total Area (2012-13 to 2016-17): 158813 ha

Govt. of Bihar

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Process of Micro-PlanningGovt. of Bihar

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Process of Micro-Planning Contd…Govt. of Bihar

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TREATED AREA DETAILS AND TREATMENT CHART – KHARAGPUR RANGE

Process of Micro-Planning Contd…Govt. of Bihar

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Various Watershed StructuresSilt Detention Dam Loose Boulder Check

Dam Earthen Check Dam

Run-off Measure Structure

Water Harvesting Structure

Govt. of Bihar

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Govt. of Bihar

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Photographs Micro Plan- Nalanda Forest DivisionMrig Vihar Water Body Water Harvesting Structure

(Ratnagiri)Silt Detention Structure

(Ratnagiri)

Rock Iron Post Structure(Ratnagiri)

Water Harvesting Structure(Ratnagiri)

Loose Boulder Structure (Ratnagiri)

Govt. of Bihar

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Forest Ecosystem in Bihar: Qualitative & Quantities study by FRI

Biodiversity & Sustainability

Sustainability:

•Ability to maintain Ecological process over long periods of time.

•Maintain structure and function of ecosystem

Biodiversity:

• Richness and variety of life- of genes, species and ecosystem

• Higher/more biodiversity = more sustainable

• Lower/less biodiversity = less sustainable

• High biodiversity in an ecosystem means that there is a great variety of genes

and species in that ecosystem.

Govt. of Bihar

• Shannon-Wiener Index (Shannon & Wiener, 1963)

H= - ∑ pi ln pi

Where pi is (Ni/N) , Ni = Number of individuals of species i and N= Total number of individuals of all the species.

• Concentration of dominance (cd) = Simpson Index (Simpson, 1949)

Cd = ∑ (pi)2

• Pielou's Evenness Index (Pielou, 1966) :

J = H'/ln(S)

where H’ is Shannon Weiner diversity and S is the total number of species

• S= Species Richness

Total number of species

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Biodiversity indicesGovt. of Bihar

Diversity indices of different forest of Bihar

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Biodiversity indicesGovt. of Bihar

NameofDivision Site/GrowthForms

Trees Shrubs Herbs

SR H cd E SR H cd E SR H cd E

Banka

Inarabaran Sub-Beat, KadharBeat, Katoria Range (N 24º 39' 3.6" E 86º 49' 56.3")

26 2.872 0.075 0.881 25 2.759 0.090 0.857 30 2.652 0.107 0.779

Biharu Pahar, Suia Beat, Katoria Range (N 24º 50' 32.3" E 86º 41' 24.8") 11 1.961 0.205 0.818 27 2.967 0.068 0.900 19 2.755 0.075 0.936

Nalanda

Jamuni, Byapur Giri, Rajgir Range (N 24º 59' 54.4" E 85º 24' 37.9"Alt. 115 m)

38 3.253 0.059 0.894 27 1.912 0.338 0.580 26 2.969 0.065 0.911

Kaimur

Chakarghata Nadi PatparVillage, Adhaura Range, Bhabhuya (N 24º 40' 2.3" E 83º 34' 34.1")

3 0.485 0.760 0.441 3 1.098 0.333 1.000 15 1.990 0.188 0.734

(SR=species richness; H=Diversity index; cd=Concentration of dominance; E= Evenness)

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Fluctuation in water level

• Source: GROUND WATER YEAR BOOK, BIHAR (2015 - 2016)

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Outcome

• Transformational impacts- substantive implications for both the adaptive and

mitigation aspects of climate change

• Improving the moisture regime, water security and hydrological characteristics

and soil and vegetation system, incidence of forest fire. These treated watersheds

are leading the path-breaking and turnaround micro-biomes that adds to

resilience and adaptation capabilities of landscape.

Govt. of Bihar

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Policy issue

• Valuation of Eco-system services- Value of soil, ground water recharge,

Carbon sequestration, Biodiversity.

• Database for green accounting.

• Future decision making tool for resource allocation.

Govt. of Bihar

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Thank youGovt. of Bihar