Building of Data Bank and Knowledge Repository

Data Bank will be established as part of the project for storing and retrieving Climate Change information at the State level to be useful to all sectoral line departments, institutes/universities, public etc. Data from different sources (e.g. IMD, ISRO) on different parameters (e.g. temperature, rainfall) related to Climate Change at different scales (state level, district level and village level) will be stored in the Data Bank. ICCS will generate more reliable customized and user friendly products from these data sets, and these will be made available to academics, public, LSG functionaries, policy makers and other stakeholders through the Web Portal. Access rights of data will be controlled by Data Bank Admin. A frame work will be established between different agencies and ICCS through government in sharing the data and also getting more updated data sets from different agencies within the stipulated time frame in real-time.

Web Portal

Web Portal to be set up as part of the project will have relevant climate change data (e.g. Climate indicators, Climate Impacts, Mitigation etc.) to assist decision makers to make policy interventions in various government departments. It will serves as a platform that brings information regarding the climate change specific to Kerala, together from diverse sources in a uniform way.

Vulnerability and Risk Analysis

One of the major objectives of the project is the vulnerability and risk analysis of important ecosystems in the State. Vulnerability assessment primarily requires change in land use and land cover over a period of time in a designated area. Preliminary investigation of vulnerability study will be done through low resolution images such as LISS 4 and LISS 3. PAN images are proposed to enhance the resolution of LISS images. High resolution image such as IKNOS/GeoEye will be used to validate the vulnerability indexing of the hotspots. General vulnerability study will be carried out in the initial years and in the subsequent years each selected hotspot of the state will be studied with high precision with the help of high resolution GeoEye image.

Data Gathering/Information generation

Collection of information on climate and atmospheric variables has been a key research topic identified by the ICCS. Knowledge concerning Climate change and related fundamental processes is still very limited from the Southern Western Ghats and individual states. When this is seen in the light of the emphasis put on by the IPCC, it becomes clear that the study of drivers of climate change, mitigation and adaptation are very important at regional level. The main components of the present project include secondary data collection and analysis of key atmospheric and environmental variables in the light of developmental pressures and climate change scenario. Climate change impact projections for the state are based on global and national level models and data extrapolation.

Workshops/Seminars/Training Programmes

One of the main activities of the project is capacity building of all stakeholders on climate change adaptation and mitigation. It is expected to mainstream climate change knowledge into developmental and planning process in all activities of the government down to the grass root level to take appropriate adaptation and mitigation measures. For this the Knowledge Cell intends to establish linkages with Local Self Government Institutions, Government Departments/Agencies, Scientific and Academic institutions, NGOs, etc. in the State with added advantage for programme implementation. The Cell will serve as a platform for the communication of results of climate change related research and studies of various agencies through education and extension programmes. Workshops, seminars, training programmes, awareness programmes, IEC programmes including publication of booklets, brochures, posters, etc. will be conducted under the project at regular intervals.