1) South Asia faces significant challenges from climate change, including rising temperatures, sea levels, and extreme weather events like floods and droughts. This threatens agriculture, food and livelihood security, and human health and well-being in the region. 2) The SAARC Agriculture Centre aims to promote climate resilient agriculture through regional collaboration on adaptation, mitigation, technology transfer, education, risk management, and capacity building. 3) Recent projects include regional training on climate-smart agriculture, consultation on coastal fisheries and climate impacts, and developing a multi-country project on scaling up climate-smart agriculture funded by IFAD.

1. An Overview of SAC Activities on
Climate Resilient Agriculture
(Crop, Livestock, Fisheries, Forestry)
in
South Asia
Dr. Ashis Kumar Samanta

2. CLIMATE CHANGE
Landslides Sri Lanka
Drought Afghanistan Flood Bangladesh Landslides Bhutan
Air Pollution India Tsunami Maldives Earthquake Nepal
Flood Pakistan

3. World to miss 2020 climate ‘turning point’: analysisNEWS HEADLINES

5. Why need climate change mitigation
 The consequences of a 2°C warmer world will be far greater than that of a 1.5°C warmer
world
 As many as 4 billion people already live in regions that experience severe water stress
 The economic costs of climate impacts are mounting. Disasters triggered by weather-
and climate-related hazards cost the global economy $320 billion in losses in 2017
alone. Repeated disasters slow down the development of infrastructure systems, reduce
the productivity of local economies, and push people into extreme poverty.
 By 2030, more than 100 million people will be pushed into poverty by climate change
impacts, primarily in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia
 By 2050 as many as 143 million people could become climate migrants in just three
regions (Sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia and Latin America
(World Bank report, 2018)

6. Evolution of SAARC Agriculture Centre
SAARC
Instituted
SAARC Agriculture
Information Centre
(SAIC)
SAARC
Agriculture
Centre (SAC)
1985
1988
Information exchange
on Agriculture
2007
Promote Rural Development for
Sustainable Agricultural
Development in SAARC Region
SAC
as
Regional
Institute of
Excellence

7. SAC Mission
Promotion of Agricultural
Research and Development
and Technology
Dissemination Initiatives
for Sustainable Agricultural
Development and Poverty
Reduction in the SAARC
Member Countries

8. Objectives
Strengthen agriculture research
and technology transfer
Developing regional policies,
strategies and programs
Promote innovative
techniques and systems
Capacity building through
regional training
Collate & disseminate
information
Collaborative studies on agricultural marketing &
distribution. Harmonization of agriculture related
standards, food security, disaster management
1
5
4
3
26

9. Challenges
 Rise in temperature
 Rise of sea-level
 Increased prevalence of extreme
climate-related events, such as
floods, cyclones and droughts,
land slides, hailstorm, tsunami
 Poor and marginal farmers are
vulnerable
 Emerging disease/ pest of
livestock
 Aquaculture and fishery
 Food & Livelihood insecurity
 Climate migrants
 Growing socio-economic equality
 Loss of natural resources
 Higher migration to city
Opportunities
 Approximately 24% of global
population
 Characterized by social, political,
ethnic and religious diversities
 Large population depends on
agriculture; including crop, livestock
and fisheries as means of livelihood
 Primarily belongs to small and
marginal farmers
 Wide variation in climate (cold, hot,
hot & humid) and geography
(mountain, plain, river basin, desert,
islands etc)
 Growing middle class
 Emerging economy and on the road
higher fast growth rate

10. SAARC ACTION PLAN ON CLIMATE CHANGE
The Fourteenth SAARC Summit (New Delhi, 3-4 April 2007) expressed "deep concern" over
the global climate change. As a follow up action, the New Delhi Declaration called for pursuing
a climate resilient development in South Asia. As a way forward and a first step, Bangladesh
proposed to organize an expert meeting.
SAARC Ministerial Meeting on Climate Change at Dhaka, on 3rd July, 2008
MEMBER STATES agreed to work on seven thematic areas of climate change:
 Adaptation to Climate Change
 Policies and Actions for Climate Change Mitigation
 Policies and Actions for Technology Transfer
 Finance and Investment
 Education and Awareness
 Management of impacts and risks due to climate Change
 Capacity building for international negotiations

11. Taking into account the evolving and rapidly increasing risks, the
16th Summit of the SAARC Heads of the State held in Thimphu in
2010 adopted Climate Change as the theme of the Summit and
adopted the ‘Thimphu Statement on Climate Change’ as a
milestone for making the South Asia, the disaster risk resilient under
the climate change scenario. SAARC Disaster Management Centre
(SDMC) has initiated the process to implement the Thimphu
statement on Climate Change.

12. Prepare a comprehensive study of the policy, institutional landscape and resource allocation
for Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) and Climate Change Adaptation (CCA) projects in the
Member States of the SAARC region
Analyze the issues of convergence and divergence of policies and institutions for Disaster Risk
Reduction (DRR) and Climate Change Adaptation (CCA) in the Member States of the SAARC
region
Recommend how the diverse policy and institutional framework of DRR and CAA can be
effectively integrated for reducing the risks of disasters in the SAARC region;
Prepare an inventory of the DRR and CCA projects already implemented and under
implementation in the Member States of the SAARC region

13. SAARC – ADB workshop was held at Colombo, Sri Lanka on 16th & 17th
October, 2017 to finalize the study on climate risks in the region: Ways
to address the social, economic, and environmental challenges
Under the broader roadmap on regional cooperation for climate changes
adaptation, following activities were assigned to SAARC Agriculture Centre,
Dhaka
 Integrate climate change preparedness into the functioning SAARC Food Bank
 Scaling up of development investment in agriculture R & D including fisheries
and livestock
 Member states to submit joint climate change adaptation projects to SAARC
Development Fund

14. ACIAR – SAC project on “Developing capacity in cropping systems
modelling for South Asia” (February 2011 to February, 2013) with
following objectives
 To establish a network of agricultural research scientist in SAARC
Member States collaborating on cropping systems and modelling
 To apply APSIM-ORYZA to identify a suite of improved crop and
water management practices that increases water productivity in
rainfed and irrigated rice based cropping system
 Strengthen system analysis and farming system modelling for
addressing water scarcity

15. Climate resilient Activities (2018)
 Regional Training on Animal Feed and Nutrient Analysis
 Regional Consultation on Animal Genomics Selection for the Genetic
Improvement of Indigenous livestock
 Regional consultation on climate change impact on coastal fisheries and
aquaculture
 Regional Consultation on Small Scale Fisheries in South Asia
 Regional Consultation on Policy Framing on Trans Boundary Fish Diseases and
Control Measures
 Regional Training on smart agricultural water management interventions for
enhancing water productivity and resilience in South Asia
 Regional consultation on climate smart agricultural policies and strategies

16. Recently, SAC is on the way to begin with multi-countries project on
“Consortium for scaling up climate smart agriculture in south
Asia” funded by IFAD
Few more multi-country climate smart developmental projects are
also being formulated and submitted to several funding bodies
Climate resilient Activities
SAARC FOOD BANK
SEED WITHOUT BORDER
SAARC SEED BANK

17. AFGHANISTAN
35.5
MT
41.7
MT
48.9
MT
GDP per capita (2017) - USD 586 (ranked 175th globally)
Population (2017) - 35,530,081 (2.49% annual growth)
Exacerbate public health issues by increasing the incidence of vector borne diseases (malaria, typhoid, and
diarrhea)
Drought (1998-2005/2006, 2018)
Floods are the most frequent natural hazard in Afghanistan and result in the largest economic damage.
Changes in precipitation patterns as well as earlier spring snowmelt
Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Emissions Targets

18. BANGLADESH
339
MTGDP per capita (2017) - USD 1,517 (ranked 148th globally)
Population (2017) - 164,669,751 (1.05% annual growth)
Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Emissions Targets
 Bangladesh is frequently inundated with seasonal floods and flash floods and is
periodically affected by cyclones, droughts, and earthquakes
 Because of its geographical location and other environmental reasons, the country is one
of the most disaster-prone countries in the world

19. BHUTAN
0.0
MT
Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Emissions Targets
GDP per capita (2017) - USD
3,110 (ranked 124th globally)
Population (2017) - 807,610
(1.23% annual growth)
Bhutan intends to remain carbon neutral where emission of greenhouse gases will not exceed carbon
sequestration by forests, which is estimated at 6.3 million tons of CO2. Bhutan will maintain a minimum of 60
percent of total land under forest cover for all time in accordance the Constitution of the Kingdom of Bhutan.
Efforts will also be made to maintain current levels of forest cover, which currently stand at 70.46%, through
sustainable forest management and conservation of environmental services

20. INDIA
3.85 to
4.74 GT
5.88 to
9.14 GT
Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Emissions Targets
GDP per capita (2017) - USD 1,940 (ranked 140th globally)
Population (2017) - 1,339,180,127 (1.13% annual growth)
 Sea level rise threatens to inundate coastal communities, agricultural land, valuable wetlands, and cause
saline intrusion in coastal aquifers.
 Droughts have caused considerable damage in India in the past (2000, 2002/2003).
 Floods affect hundreds to thousands of people each year
 Agricultural production and food security are vulnerable to climate change
 India is susceptible to vector borne disease

21. MALDIVES
3.3 MT BAU
2.97 MT UNC
2.51 Conditional
Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Emissions Targets
GDP per capita (2017) - USD 10,536
(ranked 64th globally)
Population (2017) - 436,330 (1.98%
annual growth)
 It is one of the lowest-lying countries in the world, and hence, is greatly threatened by sea-level rise,
coastal storm surges, etc. In the past century, global mean sea level has been reported to rise at around
1.7mm/year with an accelerated increase of around 3mm/year in recent decades.
 The IPCC models project a further rise of 0.18 to 0.59m in global mean sea-levels by the end of the
current century. This may increase vulnerability to coastal storm surges during extreme events, and may
cause acute stress on water resources, infrastructure, etc.

22. PAKISTAN
1.6 GT
BAUGreenhouse Gas Emissions and Emissions Targets
GDP per capita (2017) - USD 1,548 (ranked 147th globally)
Population (2017) - 197,015,955 (1.95% annual growth)
Pakistan experiences frequent and severe flooding in the Indus River Basin.
Drought - arid southern and central regions of Pakistan
Sea-Level Rise -The low lying coastal regions of Pakistan, including the city of Karachi
Cyclones and storm surges - Karachi and Hyderabad, are vulnerable to the impacts of
cyclones.

23. NEPAL
Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Emissions Targets
GDP per capita (2017) - USD 835 (ranked 161st globally)
Population (2017) - 29,304,998 (1.11% annual growth)
Floods and landslides in Nepal caused annual loss of US$14.7 million between 2001 and 2007.
Rapid snow and ice melt,
Droughts are becoming more frequent occurrences in Nepal
Epidemics such as cholera and diarrhea take the largest human toll in Nepal. Water borne
diseases are compounded by a lack of health facilities, poverty, and lack of hygiene awareness.
44.1
MT

24. SRILANKA
Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Emissions Targets
GDP per capita (2017) - USD 4,065
(ranked 110th globally)
Population (2017) - 21,444,000
(1.13% annual growth)
The most frequent natural hazards that affect Sri Lanka are droughts, floods, landslides,
cyclones and coastal erosion.
A rise in extreme events and natural disasters as a result of climate change is expected to pose
considerable threat to Sri Lanka’s economy and human health.
45.2
MT

25. 0.94
1.2
0
2.39
3.37
1.5
1.84
2.11
Afganisthan Bangladesh Bhutan India Maldives Nepal Pakistan Sri Lanka
GHG emission (tones/head) in South Asia

26. Emission scenario in South Asia

27. SAARC Agriculture Centre Vision on Climate Change
 Adaptation
 Mitigation
 Technology transfer
 Education and awareness
 Management of impacts and risks
 Capacity building

28. Thank you for your kind Attention
draksamanta@sac.org.bd; drashiskumarsamanta@gmail.com