Climate Change Website Launched
Website for climate change research being launched by Vice-Chancellor C. Ramasamy (left) at the Tamil Nadu Agricultural University in Coimbatore on Saturday. A new website for exchanging research outcomes between collaborating countries and institutes involved in climate change research was launched on Saturday at the Tamil Nadu Agricultural University by Vice-Chancellor C. Ramasamy. The website http://agmet.tnau.ac.in/climarice/ has been created as part of the ClimaRice project. The inter-continental collaborative research project titled “Climate Change and Persistent Droughts: Impacts, Vulnerability and Adaptation in Rice Growing Sub-Divisions in India (ClimaRice)” is to address the impact of climate change, according to S. Natarajan, Director of Centre of for Soil and Crop Management Studies.
The project is implemented by the university jointly with the Norwegian Institute for Agricultural and Environmental Research, Norway, and International Pacific Research Centre, University of Hawaii, the U.S. V. Geethalaksmi, Co-ordinator of the ClimaRice project, said the project aims at assessing the climate variability and its impact on water availability and rice production systems in the Cauvery basin. “The overall goal is to contribute to the regional and national adaptation strategies to sustain rice production and ensure food security amidst changing climate,” she added.
The website is expected to provide a link between the research team and stakeholders that would result in developing joint protocols to sustain rice production in the context of climate change. It would also enable stakeholders send their queries by mail to get clarification. Eventually the website is expected to host crop, weather and hydrological models. Stakeholders could run the models by feeding the inputs related to their agro basins and know the future water availability and impact of climate change on yield.
