KSRM organized a guest talk on “Building Climate Resilience of Odisha’s Coastal Communities”on 3rd March 2023.
The speaker for the talk was Mr. Dillip Mahapatra, Socio-Economic and Livelihoods Associate at United Nations Development Program (UNDP). In his talk, Mr. Mahapatra shared about cyclones, especially those which had hit the coasts of Odisha, damages caused and the strategies adopted by the government during the calamities. He elucidated about the Enhancing Climate Resilience of India’s Coastal Communities (ECRICC) project, developing resilience in the coastal communities especially some of the most vulnerable populations using an ecosystem centered and community-based approach.
Mr. Mahapatra elaborated on mangroves, their significance in the context of climate change and biodiversity preservation. He also shared about the importance of sea grass and salt marshes. and about the various policy measures and agreements on climate change, especially in the Indian context.
Mr. Dillip Mahapatra holds a postgraduate degree in Economics with specialization in Agricultural Economics and has extensive experience of more than 2 decades working for the FCDO (DFID), World Bank and Green Climate Fund (GCF), supported large scale externally aided projects in Odisha and other states working with the Government, International NGOs/ CSOs, Technical Support Partners and Community Institutions. He has domain expertise on implementation and management of rural development projects focusing on climate change; climate resilient livelihoods; climate resilient infrastructure; restoration of coastal ecosystem; rural livelihoods; value chain promotion and natural resource management through watershed plus approach.