Climate change has changed the way how the world perceives disasters. It's impacts , whether in the form of prolonged droughts or excessive rainfall, are visible across the globe. Gorakhpur city in Uttar Pradesh is no different!
What was earlier continuous low intensity rain here, has now changed to incessant rain in the monsoons. Earlier the river Rohini doubled or tripled in volume due to heavy rains in Nepal, but that was an expected phenomenon. Now heavy rains result in flash floods followed by long dry spells. There is increased flooding and water logging, and where once water receded within a week, now water logging persists for over a month, destroying the kharif crops.
This unpredictability and extreme climate conditions greatly impacted the farmers and made adaptation difficult. Many a times, lack of timely information aggravated the situation. Till, a few farmers, put their resources together and began talking about climate change for a more resilient society. Here is their story....
These initiatives are an outcome of a project titled ‘Enhancing Climate Resilience of Gorakhpur city by Buffering Floods through Climate Resilient Peri-urban Agriculture’, supported by The Rockefeller Foundation, USA.
The change makers: Ramrajya Infogram
The change makers: Laghu Seemant Krishak Morcha Infogram
This is the fifth and final series of real life stories of peri-urban farmers, originally featured in the booklet ‘Peri-Urban Agriculture & Ecosystems: Resilient Narratives’ by Gorakhpur Environmental Action Group (GEAG), 2016