Marrakech summit: India makes presentation on water resources

India today made a presentation on the water resources scenario in the country at the ongoing climate summit here in Morocco where deliberations were held on climate change adaptability.
During the opening session on "Climate Change Adaptation - Preserving Water Resources", officials outlined the water resources scenario in India and made a presentation on the National Water Mission.
Initiatives taken by the National Water Mission for adaptation and mitigation of impact of climate change on water resources in particular was discussed.
Member (Finance) of the Central Ground Water Board Ariz Ahammed Mahammed explained various traditional forms of water conservation as a strategy for climate change adaptation and gave details of aquifer mapping of ground water resources.

Joint Secretary (Policy and Planning) in the Ministry of Water Resources Sanjay Kundu elaborated on the role of people's participation in the Namami Gange programme and said the Ministry was working in partnership with various central ministries, state governments and national and international organisations in this gigantic task.
In the second session for the day, hosted by the Agriculture Ministry, V Usha Rani, Director General (MANAGE), shared various policy initiatives and efforts around afforestation, food security, waste reduction, employment for agriculture labourers among others.
The officials gave a detailed presentation on various policies and schemes of the Ministry on integrated farming systems, agro-forestry among others and integration of various departmental activities like irrigation and agriculture.

V P Sharma of MANAGE, the Ministry of Agriculture, made a presentation on district level contingency plans to deal with changing climatic scenarios, while others talked about innovative approaches on knowledge and advisories management to help farmers adapt to climate change using simple information and communication technology (ICT) tools.