A State-Level Public Hearing on Climate Change will be held in Jaipur on October 5, 2010, where farmers, livestock owners and small producers from different agro-climatic zones of Rajasthan will present their testimonies on climate change impacts on their livelihoods. An eminent panel of jury members will listen to the testimonies and announce their verdict.
This public hearing will be organized by Jaipur-based NGO, Centre for Community Economic Development Consultant Society (CECOEDECON), at their academic campus at Swaraj in Sitapura from 10:00 AM to 4:00 PM on October 5, 2010.
Dr. Alka Awasthi, Co-Director of CECOEDECON, explained that during the public hearing, various government departments, research institutions and other agencies would be sensitized to mainstream climate change aspects into their work plans.
About 150 representatives across the state will participate in this hearing. Dr. Awasthi pointed out that Rajasthan has witnessed climate impacts in the form of highly variable rainfall playing havoc with agricultural cycles, in turn leading to food insecurity and loss of livelihoods in rural areas of the state. Achieving the Millennium Development Goals including halving of hunger, poverty, infant mortality rate, etc., is going to be even more difficult in the face of climate change. She said that various studies conducted in Rajasthan already indicate further warming of weather, lengthening of summer season, unpredictable and highly variable rainfall.
This hearing will be aimed at sensitizing state level actors – research organizations, agencies working on livelihhods, media, etc., – to focus their programmes on addressing climate change. The climate victims themselves will present in front of eminent panel of judges, scientists, bureacrates and social scientists the selected testimonies in this hearing. The verdict will be shared with the State Government officials, so that the concerns of the farmer community can be mainstreamed in their agenda for climate change.
About the Author:
Kalyan Singh Kothari is currently a freelance journalist, accredited by the Government of Rajasthan, Jaipur. A veteran in the field, he has 30 years of experience as reporter/ war correspondent/ content writer/ journalist/ editor for various newspapers and publications, and still continues to work on journalistic assignments for UNICEF-Rajasthan, and various other national and international organizations, contributing developmental grassroots stories and features from Rajasthan.
