Team Progress & Planning Notes – Coastal, Climate & Sustainable Communities (Weekly Meeting)

Meeting Overview & Key Participants

  • Regular team call chaired by “Sir/Professor Raj”; multiple attendees including Shruti (also written as Shukti), Prashant, Manjiri, Harish, Madhusudan, Danya, Dr. Sushruti, Prof. Satish, Prof. Chaturvedi, and others.

  • Papa (senior member) recovering; call conducted despite lack of board-room availability.

  • Structure agreed in previous meeting: short progress updates followed by slide presentations.

Agenda Sequence

  • Prashant’s 4-slide briefing (workshop & webinar take-aways).

  • Harish’s 12-slide data analysis on natural disasters.

  • Manjiri’s sustainable-villages update plus COP-30 preparatory work.

  • Madhusudan: minutes review & action-tracking.

  • Quick updates: flux-tower proposal, Bellary mining project, air-pollution literature, NC-India engagement, newsletter, budget questions.

Prashant – Capacity-Building & Research Concepts

1 | 8-18 July Workshop (IISc, Ocean & Climate-Change Modelling)

  • Hands-on training in oceanic anomaly prediction and climate models.

  • Variables emphasised: sea-surface temperature (SST), salinity, current patterns.

  • Relevance: enables literature review on Coastal Karnataka climate shifts and fish-landing trends.

2 | Asia-Pacific Webinar – “Evidence-Based Plastic-Pollution Management”

  • 1-hour session; organisers: South-Asia & Pacific consortium (Japan involved).

  • Current knowledge gaps acknowledged; call for research community contributions.

  • Forest Dept. has a Blue-Plastic World-Bank project (≈ 830\text{ crore INR}). Prashant tasked to obtain concrete details & contact focal officer (Sir ready to intervene if needed).

3 | Coastal Karnataka Monsoon-Shift Study

  • Observed phenomenon: cumulative annual rainfall unchanged, but intra-seasonal frequency spikes; sudden showers harm drying fish & livelihood of fisherwomen.

  • Proposed correlation: monsoon pattern ↔ fish-landing quantity (data sources: CMFRI, MPEDA enumerators).

  • Possible analytic model: \text{Landing}t = f\big(\text{SST}t,\; \text{Salinity}t,\; \text{Rain‐Burst Index}t\big).

4 | Indigenous-Youth Representation

  • Global Indigenous Youth Conference upcoming; searching for Karnataka nominees.
    • Halakki Dodta (Uttar Kannada) considered.
    • Alternative: Soligas (Chamarajanagar) deemed stronger; A3 organisation active there.

5 | Future-at-Coast Workshop (2 Feb — World Wetlands Day)

  • Objective: coastal resilience & sustainability; resource-person Sebastian (to be contacted).

  • Concept note due 21 July.

6 | Confirmed Webinar – September (SDG 14 “Life Below Water”)

  • Government-College professor agreed; coordination via Madhusudan.

7 | Draft Research Pipeline

  1. Review monsoon-fish-landing linkage (secondary data).

  2. Install eddy-covariance flux-tower in coastal district; cost ≈ 40–42\text{ lakh}; measure net CO₂ flux \big(NEE = F_c + S\big) → blue-carbon credits for farmers with fallow coastal land.

  3. Document fishermen’s traditional weather lore & its degradation.

  4. Study community coping strategies to climate change.

  5. Comparative‐sediment analysis: undammed Aghanashini vs. 3-stage-dammed Sharavathi; link nutrient flux, biodiversity loss & socio-economics.

  6. Case-study: Bengaluru Smart-City growth vs. CRZ violations.

Harish – UNCCD Disaster Dataset Analysis (2000-2025)

Data & Method

  • UNCCD open dataset, 2000\text{–}2025.

  • Countries categorised into Global North vs Global South (World-Bank income/industrialisation criteria).

Core Findings

  • Total affected population time-series shows multiple spikes; peak > 6\times10^{8} individuals in certain years.

  • Deaths: significant annual variability; separate from baseline mortality.

  • Damage (USD): The Americas top monetary losses despite lower population impact; Asia has largest affected & deaths counts.

  • Correlation heat‐map: weak global correlation r \approx 0.04 between total affected & deaths → suggests preparedness & demographic modifiers. Chair suspects aggregation masks regional signals.

  • Scatter regressions show positive slope only for Asia & Americas; indicates frequent event counts in Asia.

Next Steps

  • Re-run analysis isolating South Asia vs Rest-of-Asia to sharpen policy relevance.

  • Explore per-GDP damage metrics and disaster frequency normalization.

Manjiri – Sustainable Communities Initiative (Karnataka)

Departmental Outreach (4 completed, more pending)

  1. Minorities/MP Directorate (initial meeting 4 July; DG supportive; will not pick villages themselves).

  2. Agriculture – Joint Director (Rashmi): leverage ongoing national schemes once village chosen.

  3. RDPIR – Joint Director (S.T. Mani): shared block-wise stats; advised criteria‐driven village selection.

  4. Health – Dept. officials: existing ASHA network; focus on child malnutrition & maternal health; communicable diseases preferable for measurable outcomes; governance audit of PHCs recommended.

  • Upcoming: Women & Child Development meeting (same week).

District Typology Exercise (Excel + Word files)

  • Ballari → mining-related issues.

  • Chamarajanagar → dense forests; potential human–wildlife conflict theme.

  • Davangere & Chitradurga → peri-urban transition.

  • Yadgir & Chamarajanagar → highest BPL & backward communities; may need priority.

Methodological Foundations

  • Use Ankyo-daya village-level database, National Water Mission, S. R. Nagaraj “Regional Imbalances” report, Socio-economic Survey of Karnataka.

  • Mixed indicators: demographic, livelihood, ecological, governance.

Immediate Deliverables

  • Clear problem-statement & solution pathways for presentation.

  • Long, detailed funding form for Sustainable-Model pilot to be drafted jointly with Danya & Sushruti.

Pre-COP 30 Conference (Aug ’24, Bengaluru)

Objectives

  • Showcase South-Asian climate research, coastal resilience, wetlands, SDG 14 linkages.

  • 2-day hybrid event; collaboration among UNCN, Forest Dept., DCC.

Draft Programme Snapshot

Day 1 Morning

  • Welcome + partner remarks (UNCN, Forest Dept.).

  • Keynote 1: Dr H.S. (Director, UAS-GKVK).

  • Keynote 2: Dr Rajiv Chaturvedi.

Day 1 Afternoon

  • Technical Session A: Wetlands, Water & Climate (Chair TBD).

  • Industry perspective.

  • Round-table.

Day 2

  • Inspirational talk: Prof Chetan Solanki (“Solar Gandhi”).

  • Panels: Air quality (CSIR-NEERI), Tropical Meteorology (IITM Pune), Coastal Dynamics (IIT-Bombay), NGO perspectives (Biome), Indigenous voices, Private-sector CSR.

  • Field component & group photo.

Speaker Logistics

  • Need 24 slots (+ chairs); compile buffer list of ≈ 30–35 names.

  • August timeline for confirmations; CN partners will recruit industry speakers.

Funding & Project Development

  • Bellary Mining Reclamation Study: manpower & remuneration per DCC norms to be budgeted (< ₹60 L cap suggested; RA rate 58{,}000 + HRA).

  • Flux-Tower Long-Term Carbon Study: one tower (~42 L) in Acacia/Eucalyptus harvest zone; 10-year dataset requirement; potential DST submission by 9–11\,\text{Aug}.

  • Proposal abstract & budget draft required before Professor’s Delhi visit.

Air-Pollution & Health Work-Stream (Danya)

  • Literature synthesis: differentiate short-term vs long-term impacts.

  • Priority pollutants: PM${2.5}$, PM${10}$, NO2, SO2, O_3, CO.

  • Epidemiological designs:
    • Cohort (prospective & retrospective).
    • Time-series.
    • Cross-sectional.

  • Need to meet Prof Ramesh; NC-India to anchor webinar series (“Air Pollution & Health”).

National Committee (NC) India Engagement

  • Chair Dr Rajiv Anand still silent; reminder emails every 15 days (include previous mail threads).

  • Planned revamp around Sept ’24; meanwhile propose 4–5 webinar series (alternate themes: environment ↔ air pollution).

Documentation & Communications

  • Madhusudan circulated minutes for 13 May & 15 Jul; reviewed live for accuracy.

  • Newsletter Issue #1 exists but not yet uploaded to microsite; needs coordination with Laurel/web-team.

  • All presenters asked to share slides & trackers during meetings (not merely via email) for collective feedback.

Ethical, Philosophical & Practical Implications

  • Sudden monsoon bursts endanger women’s livelihoods (dry-fish sector) → gendered climate justice.

  • Evidence-based plastic policy vital for Asia–Pacific; links to 830\text{ cr} Blue-Plastic project.

  • Flux-tower data could monetise blue-carbon credits → sustainable income for marginal coastal farmers.

  • Disaster-data inequities reveal need for tailored resilience funding for Global South.

  • Sustainable-village model blends health, ecology, governance → holistic SDG alignment.

Consolidated Action Items & Deadlines

  • Prashant
    • Obtain Blue-Plastic project dossier & contact person (ASAP).
    • Workshop concept note (World Wetland Day) by 21 Jul.
    • Nominate indigenous youth; coordinate with A3 for Soliga candidate (this week).

  • Harish
    • South-Asia-specific disaster analysis; present next meeting.
    • Include clear “next-steps” slide in future decks.

  • Manjiri (+ Danya, Shruti)
    • Finish department meetings (Women & Child Dev.).
    • Refine village-selection criteria & Excel baseline.
    • Draft long funding form for Sustainable Communities.
    • Lock pre-COP speaker list by early Aug.

  • Madhusudan
    • Publish newsletter #1 & #2 on website; liaise with Laurel.
    • Maintain rolling action-tracker.

  • Shruti (Shukti)
    • Email NC-India chair today; copy Danya; track every 15 days.

  • Sushruti + Rajiv
    • Confirm RA/consultant pay-scales; clarify if lump-sum permissible.
    • Prepare Bellary manpower sheet (< ₹60 L) by meeting 22 Jul.

  • Flux-Tower Team (Shruti, Raj, DCF Hassan)
    • Site visit & detailed design; draft DST abstract by 10 Aug.

  • Danya
    • Meet Prof Ramesh; map webinar topics; flesh out air-pollution research plan.

  • All
    • Upload presentation files before each meeting; ensure clarity for recorded sessions.

Next Meeting

  • Weekly cadence retained; expect report-back on action items.

  • Proposed dedicated slot for Bellary-project budget & flux-tower feasibility.