Flood Kerala

The project which commenced in 2019 continued through 2021. The main objective of this endeavour was to restore the livelihoods of the vulnerable and marginalised sections of the community living around the Varalchal wetland—flowing from the Pampa river in Pathanamthitta district, Kerala—who were severely affected by the 2018-19 floods, enabling the wetland and its people to become more resilient to such disasters in the future. Varalchal is the key source of productive activities and drinking water for the marginalised and low-income households of about 2000-odd residents living in the surrounding village of Koipuram. The said endeavour commenced in 2019 and is duly supported by Ford Foundation.

In the year under review, some of the ground level activities had to be deferred to a later date due to the ongoing pandemic. Key activities that were held included an online focused group discussion with the local women in April 2021 (owing to the pandemic, a physical event could not take place), to understand and study the challenges faced by them due to the floods, and develop the way forward for their socio-economic development. In addition, key livelihood activities such as poultry farming was initiated and suitable training provided to the villagers to sustain the activity. Pen culture was introduced to attain the dual benefits of fish farming and keeping the Varalchal wetland clean, by breeding fish species such as ‘grass carps’ and ‘tilapia’ that thrive on the weeds. Apart from this, field data collection to assess and analyse the water resources, land forms and land use, and explore linkages with the river and canal systems of the Pampa Valley Irrigation Scheme with the wetland was organised, with the objective of improving disaster preparedness and disaster management. A local  volunteer committee was formed that assisted in up-stream cleaning work, and organizing livelihood and outreach activities. There was also active involvement of the local block panchayat President and members.

The findings of the focused group discussion with the local women, and water and land use survey will be compiled, analysed and published into reports which are expected to provide immense benefits to the local communities, enabling them to follow sustainable water management practices and aid gender empowerment, and overall, be prepared to handle/adapt to future disasters with the aid of climate resilient disaster management techniques.

The said project is currently ongoing.

The clean and calm waters of the Varalchal, post-cleaning.

This eighteen-month project supported by Shakti Sustainable Energy Foundation, New Delhi, commenced in July 2020, with the aim of developing a framework for facilitating multilevel climate governance at the sub-national level. The state selected for this purpose was Kerala. The project team reviewed the status of existing policies in climate/environment and the actual process of implementation by the state government and (especially) local self-governments, as they are mainly responsible for management of key sectors such as waste, transport and electricity services—all critical sectors targeted for mitigation in the NAPCC/NDCs—besides being responsible for climate adaptation activities in the vital sectors of forest, water, agriculture, and coastal. The final outcome of the project is a more empowered and strengthened governance system (and stakeholders), thus establishing Kerala as a model for multi-level climate governance in the country. To achieve this outcome, the project received non-financial support from the Local Self-Government Department, Government of Kerala.

In the year under review, an extensive field survey for primary data collection was carried out to assess, analyse and evaluate the barriers and challenges facing the current climate governance regime in Kerala, as also drivers enabling progress at the local level. The WISE project team surveyed select villages from the districts that were identified as being vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, as well as the six municipal corporations in the state and respective state government departments, conducting a series of one-on-one interviews with the concerned officials. In addition, online and telephonic interviews were also conducted. A comprehensive google survey with end users and stakeholders was also carried out to assess their views on the current climate governance scenario in Kerala. Post the survey, detailed statistical analysis of primary and secondary data was carried out by the project team and the findings summarized with suitable interpretations.

The preliminary findings were then presented to the project Advisory Committee chaired by Mr S M Vijayanand, IAS (Retd), Former Chief Secretary, Kerala, and Chairperson, Sixth State Finance Commission, Kerala, and co-chaired by Mrs Sarada Muraleedharan, IAS, Addl. Chief Secretary, LSGD, Kerala, and relevant feedback to strengthen the draft was obtained. Furthermore, organisation of two online stakeholder meetings was carried out with key experts from the field (actual events could not take place due to the pandemic), and the findings of the study validated by the relevant experts and interventions/ recommendations suggested to overcome them. The final draft report incorporating the key findings and recommendations was submitted to Shakti in March 2022. WISE plans to submit the final report to the Government of Kerala for necessary action in the near future.

The project funded by WWF Norway and administered by WWF India was the Indian state equivalent of WWF Global’s ambitious report on 100% RE for the world. The project required WISE to assess the feasibility of meeting 100% energy from RE in Kerala by 2050.

WISE carried out detailed stakeholder interactions in Kerala with its topmost stakeholders and experts in the energy and environment domain and assessed the renewable energy potential (wind and solar) of the state using Geographic Information System (GIS) tools and high-resolution datasets of land use and land cover, topography and resource layers. The project team also used an open-source modelling tool to design different energy demand scenarios and model impacts on energy utilization through energy conservation, energy efficiency and energy substitution (renewable energy use). The energy model covered electricity, industrial heat and transport energy.

The report was widely disseminated and some of the recommendations from the report were implemented by the state electricity department and state nodal agency. The main conclusion that emerged was that Kerala can technically meet about 95% of its energy demand from RE by 2050. Based on the report, the Kerala State Electricity Board created a separate division for development of renewables, resulting in the sector gaining momentum in the state. Post the project, WISE was requested by the state to undertake a follow-up project focusing on Palakkad district in Kerala. Both the reports were widely appreciated and, on the request of the state, were translated into the local language, Malayalam, for enabling wider dissemination.

See Report link

The UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office (UK-FCO) awarded a project to WISE to develop clean energy technology action plans for three states: Karnataka, Maharashtra and Rajasthan. The main objectives of the project were to strengthen the states’ renewable energy capacity and address energy security concerns across various sectors including power, industry, water and transport.

WISE undertook this project in 2009 at a time when wind energy was fledgling and solar energy was not yet established. The awareness levels in state governments about RE technologies and clean energy were low. WISE undertook a comprehensive literature review and data analysis exercise across diverse sectors and worked with the states’ top bureaucrats to consult and prepare a roadmap and action plan for accelerating clean energy interventions. Under the project, WISE also undertook a detailed renewable resource assessment that suggested huge RE potential (wind and solar) in the GW range.

Consequent to the preparation of the Draft Action Plans, a series of workshops were held in each state capital—Bengaluru, Mumbai, and Jaipur—with participation from various departments, agencies and utilities of the state governments. Participation was also open to various central agencies, private utilities, and NGOs. The first round of three workshops were held for detailed presentation and briefing on the contents/recommendations of the Draft Action Plans, stressing the need for each department/agency to critically examine the recommendations and provide feedback in the light of their own perspective and emerging policies. The second round of three workshops were held to garner the feedback for the Draft Action Plans. Based on the detailed feedback received, the Draft Action Plans were suitably modified and finalised, prior to formal submission to the state governments.
The third round of three workshops were Policy Workshops, emphasising the emergent need for coordinated policy changes at the sectoral and inter-sectoral levels, if the combined challenges posed by climate change, future energy security, and environmental sustainability were to be suitably addressed. The final round of three workshops were Capacity Building Workshops, concentrating on the techno-economics and potential for renewables to simultaneously address the above challenges through institution building.

In addition, six Media Briefings were also held, three coinciding with the release of the Draft Action Plans, and three with the formal presentation of the Final Action Plans. Print and visual media representatives were present in large numbers in all the three states.
The study findings were groundbreaking and received extensive publicity. Copies of the three Action Plans were submitted to the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy and the Ministry of Environment and Forests, Govt. of India.

Many of the implementation strategies, mainly in the area of renewable energy policy and regulation received considerable traction through direct state government action over the next five to ten years.