India: Mitigating climate change with local weather data

DW (English)

After repeat devastation by floods, a community in Kerala has come together to mitigate the impact of climate change: collecting and sharing regional-specific weather data.

Transcript

00:00Another heavy downpour catches people in the Wayanad region unprepared.

00:06For five years, extreme weather has become more common here.

00:11Each time, there's as much rainfall within a few days as there usually is in three months

00:16during the monsoon.

00:18Landslides trigger mudslides and rock avalanches that bury everything under them.

00:24This summer, almost 700 people lost their lives, 300 are still missing.

00:30Farmers in the region also have few defences against such extreme weather.

00:34And yet, India has no shortage of weather stations.

00:38India is a country which has invested so much on rain forecasting, on weather forecasting

00:44for the farmers.

00:45We are a country which sent a satellite, which set up a satellite information centre for

00:51agriculture weather forecasting way back in 1964.

00:53We were the first, the only one at that time.

00:57Then we are also one country which has a whole centre for medium weather forecasting.

01:02There is a national centre on medium weather forecasting.

01:05The entire system still doesn't tell you whether it's going to rain in my village,

01:09in my valley, tomorrow or not.

01:12Organic farmer Rajesh Krishnan set up a collective of organic rice farmers in 2017.

01:18The farmer producer organisation now has 85 members.

01:23The farmers are also part of the Wayanad weather forecast community.

01:27It works together with meteorologists from the Hume Centre and Cochin University.

01:32Together with the director of the Hume Centre, the scientists have developed a climate monitoring

01:36system that produces local weather forecasts.

01:41To do this, they need precise data from the area.

01:45That's where local residents come in.

01:48In each of the grid, we installed rain gauges and we identified local people from the villages,

01:54farmers, school teachers, students, etc.

01:57And these people were given training how to measure rainfall in the same manner that IMD

02:01is taking data, because we also wanted to compare the data for a larger analysis, if

02:07anybody wanted.

02:08So the data has become very standard, the protocol has been followed.

02:12And every day these farmers used to give rainfall data into a WhatsApp group that we created

02:17called Wayanad weather forecast.

02:19The data is recorded and analysed in spreadsheets.

02:23This enables the scientists to determine which areas will have the heaviest rainfall at what

02:28time.

02:29Cochin University has a supercomputer with access to data from global weather models.

02:35The scientists use this to compare the data from Wayanad and then create a local weather

02:40forecast for the region.

02:43Data updation is the major thing, we have to spend much time on that.

02:47There will be errors, someone might have been typing and there will be some kind of error.

02:53So we have to cross-check that.

02:54We have to take every grid's data, then only we can make it perfect that how much intensity

03:00was there in each grid.

03:03Wayanad is located in the Western Ghats, a hilly region that is often affected by the

03:09El Niño climate pattern.

03:12Rising sea surface temperatures affect the amount of rainfall here.

03:20The global warming induced changes in the sea surface temperature increase in Arabian

03:24Sea has contributed for creating more vertical cloud formation and these clouds are approaching

03:30along with the monsoon into the Western Ghats.

03:34So wherever there are high steep mountains, there is an orographic lift of clouds from

03:40the base to the top of the mountain and when it reaches like 2300 meters, it starts precipitating

03:45in that particular area leading to a longer cloud-based event.

03:50The more data the team receives, the more accurately they can predict where it will

03:55rain heavily.

03:56But for that, they need far more people on board.

04:00For the region's around 900,000 residents, the scientists have only reached around 400.

04:06But they regularly share their data in a WhatsApp group and find it really helpful.

04:13Farmer Jayaprakash Narayanan has been involved since 2021.

04:18Every morning, he measures moisture levels in his soil and posts the data in the group.

04:24In the afternoon, he receives a rainfall forecast for the region.

04:28So far, they have been 75-80% accurate, he says.

04:36Advanced knowledge helps us make informed decisions, such as when to move coffee to

04:40the drying yard.

04:42This timely information and its effective use are crucial for optimising our farming

04:47practices and also so that we can pass the information on to other farmers.

04:57Rajesh Krishnan is also convinced that this locally focused model is highly effective

05:02for farmers, enabling them to protect themselves and their crops from extreme weather.

05:08When you start getting the medium range, which is 7-10 days' information, you can decide

05:14your farm activities.

05:15You have decided your variety.

05:17Now you can decide on what date will I do tilling, what date I do planting, what day

05:22I apply manure and all that, because especially when we are organic farmers, we use a lot

05:28of liquid manure for our crops.

05:32And if it rains heavily on the day when we are putting it, everything washes off to the

05:36nearest stream and from there to Bangalore.

05:39He has also created a weather calendar so that more rice farmers can join in and also

05:44get used to regular weather service.

05:47Both sides benefit from their combined efforts.

05:50The model could also be implemented in other regions in India in order to better protect

05:55the rural population in particular from extreme weather events.

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