New Delhi, Mar 6 (KNN) The National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD), in collaboration with Gates Foundation and Dalberg Advisors, has launched the National Climate Stack Innovation Challenge, a national initiative aimed at strengthening India’s climate resilience architecture by building the foundational layers of a National Climate Stack for rural India.
The initiative comes amid intensifying climate risks in the country, with heatwaves, floods, droughts and cyclones placing growing pressure on agriculture and rural livelihoods, reported The Economic Times.
Although climate data availability has improved in recent years, near-term hazard forecasting remains fragmented across multiple datasets and siloed models. Existing risk management systems are largely reactive, highlighting the need for forward-looking, interoperable and decision-ready climate intelligence.
NABARD Chairman, Shaji K V said India has made significant progress in climate data collection and analysis, but much of the information remains scattered across isolated platforms.
He noted that the National Climate Stack Innovation Challenge aims to bring together leading innovators to develop solutions that integrate these data streams seamlessly.
The broader objective, he said, is to create a technology-driven system that democratises climate data and makes it more accessible and actionable, aligning with the vision of Narendra Modi to leverage technology for building a more resilient rural India.
The challenge seeks to mobilise India’s scientific and innovation ecosystem to contribute to the development of a National Climate Stack. It calls for proposals focused on credible near-term climate hazard forecasting frameworks covering a 10–15 year horizon that can serve as the foundational forecasting layer of the stack.
It also encourages the creation of practical use-case dashboards built on top of this hazard layer to demonstrate operational applications and system integration.
Through these efforts, the initiative aims to move beyond simple climate data aggregation toward operational climate intelligence that can support agriculture, rural finance and public planning.
(KNN Bureau)
