A coastal and ocean modelling division at Kottayam: the State institute for climate change alone

Background

The Institute for Climate Change Studies was established in 2014, and in 2019 the Kerala State Council for Science, Technology and Environment took it in as a research and development institution. The Council describes it as the first institute in the State to work on climate change research, adaptation and policy support alone, and its headquarters is at Kottayam. Its mandate is state-specific research on how climate change strikes the sectors and ecological zones of Kerala, with strategies for management and adaptation to follow. Impact studies, vulnerability assessments and the folding of adaptation into developmental planning in Kerala are listed as its contributions. Its divisions cover weather and climate modelling, coastal and ocean modelling, hydrologic and hydraulic modelling, agrometeorology with remote sensing and GIS, and the impact of climate change with mitigation and adaptation. Projects funded from outside have come to it from bodies including DST, SERB, MoES, DRDO and the World Bank. Awareness programmes, training workshops and exhibitions make up its public work.