Sustainable, Tech-enabled Climate Resilience for Coasts

A multistakeholder, IoT-, AI- and Blockchain-enabled governance and management system for building sustainable long-term coastal climate resilience

Climate Change impacts on coastal zones and communities of the southern Indian peninsula  requires data management for effective decision making. The approach adopted to solving the problem is to measure, track, manage and mitigate the impacts of climate change on an ongoing manner, through a participatory, bottom-up, multi-stakeholder approach where communities, governments, businesses and the academic/research communities interact and construct solutions together, based on data gathered by IoT devices on a number of parameters, and stored on the blockchain for immutable, decentralized, "trustless" access. Identification of patterns will use relevant AI or Deep Learning algorithms. The solution is built on the following building blocks:

 * A data capture system based on distributed IoT-based and manual capture mechanisms together with secondary data for Climate Change parameters such as precipitation, temperature, humidity, wind vector, insolation, sea surface/column temperature, salinity, groundwater level, carbon dioxide and methane, water quality information including pH and DO. Additional information on fishery species migration,

 * Data storage on a public/permissioned blockchain that provides a decentralized, immutable storage of primary data that will provide a solid, un-tamperable datastore that can be used by all stakeholders without the need for cross-verification or reconciliation

 * A multistakeholder governance mechanism that brings together the federal, state and local Governments; communities (through community organizations and leaders); scientific, research and educational communities; and small & large business.

 * A small group of experts drawn from scientific & research communities supported by an IT team who would plan the deliverables of the project, co-ordinate the data collection, cleaning, storage, analysis and report to the Project Governing Body on the lines of the UN SDGs.

 * A central project secretariat that will co-ordinate the project activities.

 Deliverables include:

* Ongoing capture, collation and storage of primary and secondary data on CC indicators

* Ongoing monitoring and analysis of data collected and identification of vulnerability (eg., salinity intrusion, groundwater depletion, fish species migration) using statistical and AI-based techniques

* Creation/protecting infrastructure (mangroves, MPAs, artifical reefs, buffer zones, sand dunes)

* Identifying a set of strategies for land/sea use for coastal zones, such as extractive use of resources (Sustainably-managed fisheries; CC-resistant agriculture; Water management & sustainable extraction; Animal husbandry; Sand/mineral mining) or non-extractive use (Eco-tourism  such as diving, kayaking, surfing, wildlife observation; or Energy harvesting, such as solar, wind, wave, geothermal) keeping in mind the participation of local communities, particularly the most vulnerable

* Providing capacity building (Financial inclusion, entrepreneurial capabilities) to communities (including communication & distress alert options particularly for marine fishers)

 Coastal communities are often the poorest, and amongst them, women, children and the aged are even more vulnerable. This is particularly true of the coastal zone of the southern Indian coast. The adverse impacts of climate change further threaten to these communities, and, if left unaddressed, will likely lead to a social disaster, including creation of climate refugees.

Noting that addressing climate change is a continuing, unfolding process ("a journey, and not a destination"), the project proposes a safety net for vulnerable coastal communities

It is attempting a new application of an emerging technology which will set up the requirements for solving the challenge. The proposed solution using blockchain  has significant application potential in areas of governance, especially of managing marine and coastal areas

Data capture will be using distributed IoT-based mechanisms which implies the high use of technology as does the use of AI or Deep Learning algorithms for constructing solutions; hence technology is integral to our solution 

The solution's goals are planning and piloting over the next 12 months.

Once the structure is developed and piloted, it can be scaled and used over larger areas. Beginning with the local and then moving on to the state (province), multiple states and then to the federal level over the next 3-5 years

A main stumbling block in governance everywhere is data sharing. The blockchain approach would enable decentralized, "trustless" access so that partners can access data in real time to be able to construct workable  solutions based on pattern identification. Data would be secure, but usable for defined purposes

The population under consideration is coastal consisting of communities who live close to the shoreline along India's southern peninsular states of Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Puducherry, Kerala and Karnataka. While the general focus will be on all coastal communities, the specific focus will be on the fishing communities who are directly dependent on coastal resources - including ecosystems such as mangroves and the sea for their livelihoods – which are likely to be affected by climate change impacts especially rising sea temperatures; the effects being intensified by human activities and poor governance increasing overall risk

Initially it is proposed to develop this idea for implementation in a district in the state of Tamil Nadu one in Kerala with a limited number of parameters. In twelve months, the pilot should be ready for expansion in areal coverage (multiple districts in the two states) and with additional parameters over the next 3 years

In the team we have a community specialist, a researcher who works in coastal management and a technocrat specialising in IoT based solutions as well as AI and Blockchain

As a not for profit, the focus is on providing innovating solutions, in this case, empowering the community with data to enable decision making in the face of climate change

Solve can provide funds that will enable the building and piloting of this concept

Funding is a key barrier