Way forward References: Bergkamp
Case Study 4: Experiments with traditional practices in Andra Pradesh, India
Crops in Andra Pradesh, India are usually not grown in irrigation tank areas before the tanks are half full of water, despite the fact that enough soil moisture would be available in the
command areas at an earlier time. Experiments were undertaken to adapt this traditional practice to future changes in the hydrological cycle when less water may be available.
Experimentation with early deep seedling and weeding in June demonstrated that under specific conditions a crop can be grown with considerably less water. This is important during
dry years when not enough water is available in the tanks and reservoirs. Experiments carried out during drought conditions showed that although yields per hectare decreased, the total
yield in the command areas would increase by as much as 50 Bergkamp et al., 2002.
Case Study 5: Ancient and present use of rainwater harvesting in South Asia
Over thousands of years, people living in various geographical and climatic regions of the world have evolved diverse indigenous regimes of rainwater harvesting and management as
an adaptation to climate change. In South Asia, rainwater harvesting has a history of continuous practice over 8000 years and is still used today. Rainwater harvesting was used as
the glaciers retreated and climate fluctuated around 9,600 BC. This adaptation method has been pivotal to the mergence and diversification of food production. Construction of early
rainwater harvesting systems required simple scooping of the earth and putting up embankments or erecting elongated soil heaps along farm boundaries. But the benefits of such
innovations for early farmers may have been substantial. The earliest examples of rainwater systems in India include the havelis of Jabalpur, bandh and
bandhulia of Satna, virda of Gujarat, khadins of Rajasthan, ahar-pynes of Bihar, eri of Tamil Nadu, dhora of Aravalis and there are similar other earthworks throughout the country. These
earthworks can still be seen today and provide useful insight into the dynamics of rainwater harvesting and climate relationship in diverse geographic regions across India.
Rainwater harvesting is still used in India today, even more so in response to recent climate extremes. This demonstrates the resilience of human society to absorb shock, learn and build
on historical adaptive processes Pandey et al., 2003.