- Modelled after the global Conference of Parties, the Conference of Panchayats, a decentralised initiative in Jharkhand, fosters a collaborative approach to address climate challenges.
- It focuses on developing local, evidence-based solutions and implementing long-term climate initiatives.
- Representatives from 250 gram panchayats put forth their concerns around climate change.
Shubhash Chandra Bose from Latehar, Pinki from Saraikala and Chandradeo Ghami from Bokaro districts in Jharkhand, recently realised that they have a lot in common. Their villages have been struggling with rather similar issues – changing rainfall patterns, declining production in agriculture, increased use of chemical fertilisers and pesticides, land degradation, changes in quantity and quality of forest produce, and climate-induced migration.
After dealing with these pressing issues for years, they finally found a platform to raise their concerns among key stakeholders, learn collaboratively, think, debate, and even come up with possible solutions. This platform is the Conference of Panchayats (CoP), a local initiative spearheaded by the Policy and Development Advisory Group (PDAG), a public policy organisation, in collaboration with social impact advisor Asar and Damodar Bachao Abhiyan.
Inspired by the global Conference of Parties, this localised CoP marks a significant departure from top-down climate strategies, placing the power to address climate vulnerabilities firmly in the hands of those who experience them first-hand. Following the local community-led engagements over two years, the final state consultation of Conference of Panchayats (CoP) was organised on August 6, 2024, in Ranchi, Jharkhand.
Advancing locally-led climate action
Govindpur gram panchayat in the Bokaro district of Jharkhand, is one of the panchayats most affected by mining and climate change impacts in the region.
Local leaders raised several concerns, such as the prevalence of coal dust, which has been linked to respiratory ailments and degradation of soil quality. This, in turn, has led to reduced crop yields and forced many farmers to adopt single-crop cultivation. Additionally, the negative impacts on local flora and fauna were highlighted. Beyond these environmental issues, the leaders emphasised the need to address labour displacement, as Jharkhand’s heavy reliance on coal presents significant challenges to India’s climate goals. The transition to renewable energy sources and the reduction of carbon emissions are critical priorities for the region.
However, Govindpur has now managed to finally direct funds from the District Mineral Fund (DMF) for the development of its village in the last year. The funds also supported the education of farmers to revive their barren agricultural land and return home. Although DMF was available for villages affected by mining in the region, the people were not aware of how to pool the funds to implement projects under the Gram Panchayat Development Plans (GPDP).
Ghami from Jarwa Basti, a village in Govindpur, recollects how they had been facing difficulties with the implementation of GPDP due to lack of funds, a situation that has reversed in the last year.
“Our village experiences high pollution levels. There is displacement, loss of livelihood, and severe impact on agriculture and migration. We do take up environmental issues in our gram sabhas, but the kind of conversations that can bring actual change were missing,” Ghami said.
CoP helped bridge the gap. “When some mining units shut down, the loss of livelihood becomes even more prominent. We always knew that DMF was executed at the district level. We were unaware of how to execute it at the village level. We learned it during the consultations and have been able to implement many projects from helping people revive their lands for agriculture to returning to traditional seeds,” he added.
![A coal mine in Jharkhand. Image by Vikas Singh via Pexels [CC0].](https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/30/2024/09/17024646/pexels-vikashkr50-17971722-768x512.jpg)
Bose also opined that the conference provided a platform to get more acquainted with rights over the forest and its resources. This is necessary in the wake of several concerns in Latehar, like dwindling forest resources, increasing human-animal conflict, and migration.
“Migration is rampant in our area. The region is home to many indigenous communities who depend on forests but are migrating out for work due to lack of resources. We do not have access to rights under the Forest Rights Act. Our people weren’t aware of these rights and how to gain access to them,” he said.
Through consultations, the village representatives have now gained the confidence to push for their rights to manage and protect their resources and preserve their traditional knowledge too.
“Just as water is essential for agriculture, it is vital for our animals too, and we have always believed in coexistence. This platform has enabled us to collaborate with village residents from other regions to develop ideas on water conservation measures, incorporate them into our GPDP, and mobilise funds through various stakeholders, such as the administration or civil service organisations,” he added.
A bottom-up approach
In India, the national adaptation planning is guided by the National Action Plan on Climate Change which is then adapted at the state level through the State Action Plans on Climate Change (SAPCCs), similar to a National Adaptation Plan. The Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs), particularly the gram panchayats, play a crucial role in this process. As elected bodies at the grassroots level, they are responsible for local governance and development, making them well-suited to implement localised climate strategies outlined in SAPCCs. By integrating climate initiatives into village development plans, gram panchayats can contribute meaningfully to state, national, and even global climate goals.
“The CoP was designed to explore ways to enhance the capacity of local institutions and actors to address emerging climate risks. It focuses on developing local, evidence-based solutions and implementing long-term climate initiatives. This approach aligns with the SAPCCs’ guiding principles and India’s decentralised governance structure,” said Arindam Banerjee, co-founder and partner of PDAG.
Over the last two years, the conference has managed to bring together representatives from 250 gram panchayats from across five administrative divisions of Jharkhand, along with a diverse presence of senior state government officials, PRI representatives, women collectives, policy experts, civil society organisations, and community leaders.
Jharkhand is considered a climate-vulnerable state owing to higher dependence on rain-fed agriculture, higher forested areas, around 69.98 percent area of under desertification and land degradation and a major population of communities Below the Poverty line. The panchayat-private partnership model emerged as a promising avenue for redefining public-private sector collaborations, offering a path toward more resilient and adaptive local economies.
Vandana Dadel, Principal Secretary, Department of Forest, Environment, and Climate Change, Government of Jharkhand, who attended the state convening of CoP on August 6, commented, “The inputs and learnings collected over two years from every division of Jharkhand will be important for the policies and schemes that have to be developed in the country.”
Read more: Indigenous knowledge of Jharkhand’s forest greens need preserving
Banner image: The village leaders opine that the Conference of Panchayats (CoP) was a knowledge-sharing platform for them to learn about different ideas and implement on ground. Image courtesy of the Policy and Development Advisory Group (PDAG).
Credits
![Mahouts and their elephants at Kaziranga National Park. Image by SeethaG via Wikimedia Commons [CC BY-SA 4.0].](https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/30/2024/10/07114200/1200px-Kaziranga_Elephant_Safari-768x512.jpg)
