Collaborative initiatives across multiple sectors bolster India's defences against climate change impacts, from greener transportation to protecting mangroves, ensuring a sustainable and resilient future
India has a diverse geography that makes it particularly vulnerable to climate change. Its long coastline and the fragile young Himalayas make it susceptible to various climatic disasters. Over 80 percent of the country's population resides in districts prone to climate-induced disasters.
The changing rainfall patterns, rising temperatures, declining groundwater levels, retreating glaciers, intense cyclones, and rising sea levels can cause significant damage to livelihoods, food security, and the economy.
The impact of climate change is not limited to rural areas, as densely populated urban areas are also at risk. Unplanned urbanisation, combined with global warming, can lead to an increased risk of prolonged spells of extreme heat, floods, and disease that can have dire consequences on the urban population.
Extreme weather events have doubled in the last decade, leading to significant economic losses. This trend is likely to continue, threatening the country's overall development.
To help India strengthen its climate resilience, the World Bank is working with the government across various sectors to promote adaptation and mitigation measures.
Lowering the carbon footprint
• As India transitions to greener modes of transportation, the World Bank is helping build a dedicated rail freight corridor, develop a modern inland waterway on the Ganga, and revamp ferry services in Assam and Kolkata.
Restoring the dwindling forest cover
• The World Bank is collaborating with India on programmes to conserve biodiversity, sequester carbon, and provide benefits to local communities. These programs include forest restoration, water conservation, and soil improvement.
Promoting resilient agriculture
• The World Bank is assisting small farmers in India to build resilience to climate change by diversifying cropping patterns, adopting new farm techniques, improving soil and water management, and developing enterprises.
Strengthening large dams
• Under the Dam Rehabilitation and Improvement Project, the World Bank is aiding India in the modernisation of approximately 300 large dams. State-of-the-art technology is being used to improve dam management and establish higher standards.
Conserving groundwater
Under the Atal Bhujal Yojana, the World Bank is helping farmers in seven states better manage their water resources by budgeting water use and adopting sustainable practises. Planting mangroves to protect India's coasts
• Since 2010, the World Bank has been working with India to protect coastal communities by planting mangroves and restoring species diversity along the western and eastern coasts.
Making flood-prone areas safer
• In Bihar's Kosi basin, modern flood forecasting methods have been implemented to alert communities in advance, with the help of the World Bank, to reduce the impacts of floods in Bihar and Assam.
Ramping up solar power
• The World Bank has supported India's transition towards solar power in recent years, investing in large solar parks such as the Rewa Solar Park in Madhya Pradesh and promoting India's.
Storing renewable energy in batteries
• As India strides in renewable energy, the World Bank is helping promote an ecosystem for storing wind and solar energy in batteries to make power available when demand is high.
Rethinking the development paradigm
• After the floods of 2018, the World Bank worked with Kerala to build resilience against extreme weather by earmarking agro-ecological zones, introducing holistic river basin management, and more.
Safeguarding future health
• The World Bank's 'One Health' approach addresses human, animal, and environmental health simultaneously to reduce pandemics and epidemics and can save developing countries $34 billion annually.
Lowering the carbon footprint
The World Bank is supporting India's efforts to switch to more eco-friendly modes of transportation. For example, it assists in constructing the Eastern Dedicated Freight Corridor. On this 1,873-kilometer railway track that is exclusively for freight, each electrified train will replace 90 to 120 trucks. This will reduce fossil fuel consumption and emissions and enhance logistics services.
The Bank is also collaborating with India to establish its first modern inland waterway on the Ganga River and improve ferry services on the Brahmaputra in Assam and the Hooghly in Kolkata.
Restoring the dwindling forest cover
World Bank projects are crucial in conserving biodiversity and reducing carbon emissions in India. From the dry deciduous forests of Madhya Pradesh to the community-owned lands of Meghalaya, local communities are working together to restore the dwindling forest cover, contain forest fires, and improve the quality of forest produce, such as medicinal and aromatic plants and herbs.
These projects are also bringing economic benefits to the local people. In Meghalaya, the World Bank collaborates with traditional tribal institutions to restore degraded landscapes, increase water availability during the dry season, and improve soil productivity.
Promoting resilient agriculture
Changing rainfall patterns and rising temperatures threaten the livelihoods of a large section of India's rural population and the sustainability of its food production systems. To help India's small-holder farmers adapt and build resilience to climate change, World Bank projects in several states provide locally adapted packages that help increase agricultural productivity.
Farmers can diversify their cropping patterns, access the latest agrarian know-how, use digital technologies to learn about crop advisories, improve soil and water management, and develop both farm and non-farm enterprises.
Strengthening large dams
With climate change making India's weather patterns unpredictable, dams have become critical for providing drinking water and irrigation, controlling floods, and ensuring food security. Yet, many of India's 5,700 large barriers have become structurally vulnerable over time.
With World Bank support, India is implementing the world's largest dam rehabilitation programme, using innovative solutions and global best practises to modernise and strengthen around 300 large dams. State-of-the-art technology is helping improve dam management, and higher safety standards have been laid down to protect the millions living downstream.
Conserving groundwater
Groundwater usage is a significant concern in India, as it is the largest consumer of it in the world. If the current usage patterns continue, more than half of India's districts could face a critical water situation within two decades. Climate change is expected to make this issue worse. However, in seven states, the World Bank assists India's Atal Bhujal Yojana, the world's largest community-led groundwater management programme.
The program is being led by rural women and is designed to help farmers understand how much water is available and how much they consume. They are then guided to budget their water usage, construct appropriate water retention structures, and adopt more sustainable irrigation techniques.
Planting mangroves to protect India's coasts
Mangroves are nature's wonders, home to several marine creatures and endangered species. They reduce the impacts of coastal storms and tsunamis and sequester four times more carbon than rainforests. However, India's once extensive mangrove forests are threatened by the conversion of the land for other uses, rising sea levels, and shrinking freshwater flows.
Since 2010, the World Bank has been helping India restore the natural balance along its western and eastern shores by working with communities to plant mangroves and restore species diversity.
Making flood-prone areas safer
Given Bihar's vulnerability to floods, the World Bank is helping the state reduce their impacts, particularly in the Kosi basin. Flood forecasting has been improved, and communities are informed in advance, giving them and the administration time to respond.
Lives and livelihoods are also being protected by strengthening and enhancing the embankment system along the Kosi River, including through the use of nature-based solutions.
Ramping up solar power
The power sector is a key contributor to India's carbon emissions. World Bank Group support has helped spur private investment in India's 750 MW Rewa Solar Park in Madhya Pradesh. The Park established a record-low tariff for renewable energy.
Three other parks, with a combined capacity of 1,500 MW, are now being supported in the state. The World Bank has also helped kick-start the solar rooftop market in India, which has grown from investments of $500 million to over $5 billion since the launch of the bank's programme in 2016.
Storing renewable energy in batteries
India has made commendable strides in boosting its renewable energy capacity. However, since both wind and solar energy are variable, the surplus power generated must be stored before it can be made available when power demand is high.
As battery storage in the power sector is still nascent, the World Bank is working with India to catalyse investments in the industry and build a sustainable market together with its associated ecosystems.
Rethinking the development paradigm
The state rethought its development paradigm when the devastating 2018 floods highlighted Kerala's vulnerability to climate change.
World Bank support is now helping Kerala build all-round resilience to extreme weather events by introducing holistic river basin management, ensuring the sustainability of water sources, reorganising agricultural practises according to agro-ecological conditions, building resilient roads and bridges, integrating disaster and climate risk into the planning processes of local governments, and bolstering the state's ability to manage disasters and provide timely assistance.
Safeguarding future health
As human activities and climate change disturb the ecological equilibrium, the likelihood of animal pathogens spilling into human populations increases. Some 75 percent of emerging infectious diseases and almost all recent pandemics have originated from animals.
The World Bank's 'One Health' approach thus focuses on addressing human, animal, and environmental health together. Developing countries will need an estimated $3 billion annually to build and operate One Health systems. This would save $37 billion from reduced epidemics and pandemics—a net win of $34 billion annually.