Water Awareness Exhibitions
Photo Exhibition

as part of the 4th International Film Festival on Water

• • THE FESTIVAL
  • COLLABORATORS
  • FILM SCREENINGS
  • PRESS REVIEWS 2008
  • VFTW at 2008

• In the Festival..

  • CONFERENCES
  • EXHIBITIONS
  • WATER SONGS
  • AWARENESS RALLY
  • PUBLICATIONS
  • KIOSKS

• Venue Direction..

  • 

ABOUT THE PHOTO EXHIBITION.

Climate Change and Water: Human Dimensions
Climate change has become a tangible reality & is occurring faster than previously anticipated. Seen as primarily anthropogenic in origin, it is the result of human activities in the industrial era that have caused increase in atmospheric concentration of greenhouse gases, released aerosols & altered the land cover.
Climate change is evident from warming of the climate system, observed as increase in global air & ocean temperatures, widespread melting of snow & ice, rising sea level, & other associated changes such as those in precipitation & winds.
Observational records & climatic projections strongly indicate that the water sector is highly vulnerable to climate change. There have been important changes in the water cycle & in patterns, intensity & extremes of precipitation; leading to changes in run-off & river discharge. These further imply serious outcomes for human well-being. For instance, increased precipitation intensity & variability imply increase in risks of floods & droughts; decline in water supplies stored in glaciers & snow cover imply reduction in water availability; higher water temperatures & changes in extremes imply adverse affect on water quality; while changes in water quantity & quality imply stress on existing water infrastructures as well as use & management practices; aggravating the impacts of other stresses, such as population growth & urbanization.
Access to water plays a key role in human development. The impact of climate change on water will seriously affect the quantity, quality & accessibility of water supplies for users, also fuelling many new conflicts. Some of these outcomes are already becoming evident.While considerable knowledge now exists on the global scenario of climate change & its consequences, also projected to some extent at regional scales, significant gaps continue to persist.
First concerns the incompleteness of knowledge regarding the relationship between climate change & water. Second & perhaps more important is the lack of adequate understanding on the human dimensions of the phenomenon - the micro-level realities in terms of contributions, climatic effects, impacts & responses.
The obvious questions are: How do local communities contribute to the process of climate change? What consequences do they face as a result of their own actions & that of others?
What is the impact on water – the key resource for their sustenance & development?
What kind of stress do they face in their day-to-day lives in relation to the climatic impacts on water? What means have they adopted to encounter the new challenges & how sustainable are these in light of the great uncertainties that climate change brings?
Unfortunately not much illustration currently exists on these crucial questions. This exhibition attempts to visually present answers to the above questions, focusing on a local niche where very scant attention has been hitherto paid. Impact of climate change in relation to water in the mountainous regions has been an important issue of concern but focused on melting of glaciers & snow covers.

This exhibition will unravel new challenges for climate change research, policy & practice by portraying the micro-level realities of people who inhabit these difficult terrains, especially those hilly regions where rainfall is the only source of freshwater. Climate Change and Water in North-Eastern Hills of IndiaThe North-Eastern Hills of India exemplify a classic situation where contribution of local communities to climate change is rampant through large-scale deforestation due to the practice of slash-and-burn cultivation (locally called jhum), and log operations for furniture, fuelwood & other uses.
Deforestation means disappearance of carbon-sinks and consequent increase of greenhouse gases, while burning down of slashed forests for preparing agricultural fields every year directly enhance greenhouse gas emissions and release aerosols. Deforestation is known to be responsible for nearly 26% of India’s greenhouse gas emissions. Other major contributions in the region come from the emissions from the open inefficient waste disposal system and round-the-year burning of fuelwood in every house for warming, cooking and continuous boiling of the scanty unclean drinking water.Home to almost 12 million people, the region was known for its severe monsoons and rich natural resources including forests and water.
It was once the wettest place of the world with average annual rainfall of 2500 mm. However, as a result of the climate drivers, warming trends and delayed and progressive decline in annual rainfall have been observed in recent times, causing considerable water stress, disrupting supplies for domestic use and adversely affecting agriculture.
The exhibition portrays the human dimensions underlying climate change and water in Nagaland – a state in the region where more than 1 million rural population practice jhum as the source of livelihood while many more in the rural as well as urban areas suffer the consequences. Many of the traditional drinking water sources, such as streams and springs that used to supply water for domestic use now remain dry for greater part of the year.
This implies greater hardships for women and children who are the primary domestic water managers. Children miss school while women lose valuable productive time, toiling hard for hours attempting to collect water from the meager sources. Their health falls in jeopardy as they traverse long distances over steep hilly slopes with heavy water loads on their backs. Also the family hygiene suffers resulting in skin diseases due to lack of water for washing, bathing and sanitation. Sometimes even men have to join in the search for water, further thwarting the family’s productive potentials. Family incomes and food production have dropped as jhum is essentially rain-fed.
The story is no different in urban areas. With the exception of only one town – Dimapur - that has access to groundwater reserves, none of the towns - including the state capital Kohima - have any regular source of water supply.
Though a number of measures have been adopted by the local populations, to adapt to the new challenges, such as through roof-top rainwater harvesting, the uncertainties brought by climate change pose the question of sustainability of these efforts.
Contact: nandita@kth.se / opsingh_1@excite.com