About
My key interest lies in exploring the framings of existing climate-based adaptation actions and the potential for adaptation initiatives to be just and equitable and reflective of community needs and priorities. My dissertation research examines the narratives through which climate change discourse, policy and action emerge in India as shaped and produced by state and non-state actors and their implications for current and future adaptation strategies. Further, it investigates challenges of adaptation from a rural communities’ perspective to illustrate the empirical relevance of on-going adaptation services as well as throw light on a range of factors that potentially undermine existing and future adaptive capacities to climate change. This research contributes empirically and theoretically to the fields of political ecology, human-environment studies, and adaptation research, through a critical examination of the ideas, technics, policy and practice that underlie climate change discourse and action in a specific socio-economic and political context.
Projects
As a consultant with CCAFS, CGIAR, I led an assessment of an existing climate-based service provided by the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) to farmers across the country, called the Agromet Advisory Service (AAS). The study indicated that the uptake of climate information and the capacity for climate action was dependent on multiple factors including institutional support, timely availability of resources as well as socio-political structures. This called for building and sustaining collaborations amongst a broad network of actors including local municipalities and state government authorities to ensure transparency and equity in the provision and use of services. Outcomes from this research were shared with IMD, India to inform AAS across the country.
Teaching
GEOG 200 – Human Geography
GEOG 316 - Geography of South Asia
GEOG 590 – Special Topic/Politics of Climate Change