1. Kumbharwadi Project on Climate Change (See attached Project Report)
Kumbharwadi is a village in the Indian state of Maharashtra with a population of 840. Climate change has resulted in land degradation and water scarcity in this area. Agricultural conditions are becoming more and more challenging each season, and farmers have struggled to adapt. If they do not adapt to climate change, they will lack the water they need for their families, farmlands, households and livestock – resulting in starvation.
In 2011, American Friends of WOTR (AFoW) awarded the WOTR (Watershed Organisation Trust) a grant for a project in Kumbharwadi funded by a US Family Foundation. The goal of the activities to be carried out during this period – April 2012 through September 2013 – is to assist the villagers of Kumbharwadi to achieve sustainability by being better equipped to handle climate change. The project combines three general strategies: capacity building and social mobilization, agricultural and horticultural development, and land treatment. The project targets the 840 individuals and approximately 140 households in Kumbharwadi over an 18-month period. Through this project, WOTR anticipates that the villagers of Kumbharwadi will have increased their awareness of climate change and adopt new farming practices to help cope with environmental change.