Climate Change Impacts at Benchmark Watershed

Abstract

Knowledge of climate and weather helps in devising suitable strategies and managing crops to take advantage of the favourable weather conditions and minimizing risks due to adverse weather conditions. The role of climate assumes greater importance in the semi-arid rainfed regions where moisture regime during the cropping season is strongly dependent on the quantum and distribution of rainfall vis-a-vis the soil water holding capacity and water release characteristics. Evidences over the past few decades show that significant changes in climate are taking place all over the world as a result of enhanced human activities through deforestation, emission of various greenhouse gases (GHGs) and indiscriminate use of fossil fuels. Various studies show that climate change in India is real and it is one of the major challenges faced by Indian agriculture. Agroclimatic analyses of the watersheds based on long-term weather data include concepts of rainfall probability, dry and wet spells, water balance, length of growing period (LGP), occurrence of droughts, climate variability and projected climate change. Long-term weather data of Kothapally watershed was obtained from installed automatic weather station and Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) gridded data and analysed for characterizing the agroclimate and assessing the climate variability. Results indicate clear increasing trends in temperature and considerable changes in rainfall. Climate projections also indicate large change in temperature and rainfall at Kothapally in the future. Implementing Integrated Watershed Management Programme in a holistic way can mitigate the adverse effects of climate variability and change and enhance the capacity of small farm holders to manage extremes of drought and floods in a sustainable way.