Index-based impact monitoring of water infrastructures in climate change mitigation projects: A case study of MGNREGA-IWMP projects in Maharashtra

Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) is currently the largest funded rural development program in India to ensure rural livelihood by providing employment through different activities. Owing to climate change impacts and water scarcity for the last 5 years, approximately more than 70% of activities (budget of 5 billion USD per year) are focused on water issues. For better utilization of resources, MGNREGA has been implementing these works in convergence with many other schemes like the integrated watershed management programme (IWMP), with the aim of restoring rural natural resources, like soil, vegetation, and water. Although the largest Rural Development Scheme in India, the monitoring and evaluation (M&E) does not focus on the actual impact on water resources but only focuses on the amount spent. This can lead to only information on funds spent but does not have much an impact on water resources and earmarking data for monitoring. The recent advancements in remote sensing techniques have provided open access to high-resolution satellite data along with the processing platform. Considering the available technologies and gaps in the existing M&E framework, the current study developed a low-cost, comprehensive, robust, and near real-time M&E framework to assess the impact of water projects. A novel remote sensing-based ecological index (RSEI) has been developed to assess the overall ecological status of land surfaces due to the water infrastructures developed. The performance of RSEI has also been assessed using the secondary data of crop production, which shows excellent results (adjusted R2 value of 82% and Pearson's correlation coefficient of 0.92). In addition, RSEI results were compared against the results of government audits (e.g., by the Comptroller Auditor General of India), wherein RSEI found similar areas of increased water status and crop productivity. The results indicate that the use of the RSEI-based M&E framework will allow for an impact assessment of water infrastructure and also aid to identify the priority areas demanding immediate intervention. Thus, RSEI can be used as a decision support system for stakeholders, including for smooth planning, designing, implementation, monitoring, and evaluation of water infrastructure for combating climate change extremes such as droughts.