Climarice

Climarice (www.climarice.com) is a research project, carried out by The Norwegian Institute for Agricultural and Environmental Research (Bioforsk, Norway), Tamil Nadu Agricultural University (TNAU, India), International Water Management Institute (IWMI, India) and International Pacific Research Center (IPRC, USA); which is trying to assess the impact of climate variability on water availability and rice production in the Cauvery river basin of Tamil Nadu, India.

In particular, the impacts of climate change on extreme events such as droughts, floods, heat waves and on the spatial and temporal distribution of the monsoon rains will certainly impact rice production and food security in India. However, there is a significant level of uncertainty in the climate models' projections that cascade into impact models and thereby influence policy decisions related to adaptation. For both scientific community and policy makers, reducing the uncertainties is a big challenge. On a positive note, examination of historical observed rice production data in India shows an overall increasing trend in many regions with annual fluctuations. Will this trend continue given the projected change in climate and population increase in India?

Climarice is funded by the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, is currently assessing the impacts of climate change on rice production areas and rice productivity. Specifically, the project is assessing the behavior of the Indian monsoon in different climate scenarios, and examining its impact on the water availability, rice crop production and the resultant socio economic vulnerability and adaptation of farming communities in the Cauvery river basin, India. During the 18 month period, since the project was started in January 2008, relevant coping and adaptation mechanisms have been identified and techniques developed to address the issues of climate vulnerabilities in rice production.