NURTURING NATURE AND PEOPLE AMID CLIMATE CHANGE – THE CASE OF PURUSHWADI
Grappling with a changing climate and an uncertain future Heerabai Kondhar has lived all her life in Purushwadi in the Akole block of Ahmednagar district in Maharashtra, India. Akole lies in the offshoots of the Sahyadri range among the Western Ghats; with heavy rainfall and mostly dense forest replete with rich biodiversity. Heerabai’s family and her community belong to a tribe called Mahadeo Koli. Predominantly farmers, they also rear livestock as a much needed, supplementary source of income. Here agriculture depends on the rains, and despite receiving close to 1900 mm of rainfall annually, it is restricted to one cropping season during the Kharif. After the rains, water becomes scarce as the rainwater flows away due to the hilly terrain.