The 2015 Paris Agreement required countries to decide on their nationally determined contributions (NDCs) as part of their climate action plans to cut emissions and adapt to the impacts of climate change. Member countries update the NDCs every five years. Each country has developed national climate policies and climate adaptation plans and is aligning its development plans and policies with a low-carbon development model.

National climate policies provide an intent and a direction to move towards low-carbon and emission-reducing options in sectors such as energy, transport, agriculture and others where emissions are high and can be reduced.

For example, in the energy sector, emissions can be reduced by implementing renewable energy projects and enhancing the efficiency of existing power plants. Using fewer emissions-based transport options, improving the efficiency of vehicles, reducing rice-based emissions in agriculture and practising afforestation are some of the mitigation actions that national policies promote.

In developing countries, adapting in the face of the immediate crises is a critical action in terms of building climate resilience. This move requires policies that support the implementation of adaptation measures such as disaster risk-reduction programmes and increasing access to education and healthcare. Insurance can help small farmers during climate events. Communities can be involved in developing water management and resource maps of their villages to support water conservation efforts. Communities — especially women — need support to help them play a constructive and active role in taking climate action. It is critical to acknowledge that women and men have different experiences, expertise and knowledge.

The case study below, from a Centre for Environment Education (CEE) in India project, illustrates how communities can take a leadership role in local climate action programmes.

Case study

Taking the lead in climate action

Women took the lead as Panchayati Raj (local self-government at the village level in India) members to plan and monitor water conservation efforts in their villages in Jasdan, in Gujarat State in India. Their villages are in an arid area where water is scarce. As a part of the project, young women and men mapped out all the water sources in the village. This exercise helped the villages develop a plan for managing their existing water resources and developing new ones as required. The villages received corporate support and government financing to fund the rejuvenation of local water resources, watershed development activities and the development of drinking water supply infrastructure.

Youth used their basic reading and writing skills and their ease with mobile and computer technology to support local government in accessing information about government schemes  — for example, employment programmes, accessing water connections — and helping them apply for the ones that were relevant to them. They helped build local resilience in the community and helped them to access financial and other support for the village from the government. These young people volunteer at the Gram Shiksha Kendras (Village-level Education Centres) set up under the project to provide this support.

Women’s self-help groups and farmers’ groups were organised into a farmer producer company, a business enterprise that supports local farmers and other producers to get a fair price for their produce and benefit from bulk-buying options. Communities have adopted climate-adaptive practices such as using solar drying, practising organic farming and using natural fertilisers and less water-intensive irrigation practices (e.g., drip irrigation).

There are still some the critical gaps in terms of climate policy implementation. For example:

1. Many countries in Africa and Asia find it difficult to allocate the necessary funds to reach their mitigation targets and take adaptation measures to tackle the severe impacts of climate change they are already facing.
2. All stakeholders need access to gender-disaggregated and timely data for all sectors related to climate change so that policies and programmes are effective and reaching the target population — for example, data on displaced families may not include details about the gender of children whose families have been displaced. In addition, while communities generally provide local and Indigenous knowledge that can be invaluable to guide climate action, this knowledge is usually not captured during the data-gathering process or factored into the data analysis process.
3. Communities require context-specific and relevant information, know-how and skill building to undertake climate action. Information about climate-resilient crops and natural solutions to common problems would help farmers to take decisions about diversifying crops to reduce economic losses, for example. Strengthening and acknowledging the importance of investing in capacity building of women and other vulnerable communities so that they can be change agents and leaders is critical to creating inclusive environments.
4. The integration of climate change into national plans on agriculture, water, energy, forestry and management of natural resources needs to be strengthened at the local level and should clearly address gender.
5. Disaster risk-management and risk-reduction strategies, including early warning systems, should consider differentiated impacts and prioritise the needs of the most vulnerable populations, including women.

How communities can take action

Communities can start to take action by first understanding their local policy and governance systems and how they are implemented. They can also participate in decision-making by looking for solutions and advocating for change. A community could take a variety of advocacy actions such as:

• preparing a charter of demands to submit to local government
• creating an evidence-based presentation about a particular issue — for example, a water resource map and suggestions for actions that the local government and community could take to preserve water plus the financial support required
• launching petitions and other campaigns to raise awareness of issues of concern

Assessment

Formative assessment: 3.2

Study a policy that is in place in your area — for example, the agriculture policy — to identify which climate resilience-building measures it is promoting or supporting.

Does the policy promote climate-resilient varieties of crops? What is the possibility of implementing these in your area? If you were a farmer, what information, skills, tools, materials and financing would you need to introduce climate-resilient crops? Do you know where to get these resources?

What does the policy say about the use of water, energy, fertilisers and pesticides in agriculture? Do people in your area already use low-carbon practices?

Does the policy have any specific provisions for small farmers or women farmers?

Write notes about all these points in your journal.