Jump to content

Climate change in South Asia

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Pareshdesh (talk | contribs) at 06:37, 8 September 2007 (Global Warming impact awareness in Indian communities). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Lakshadweep, comprising tiny low-lying islands, are at risk of being inundated by sea level rises associated with global warming.

The effects of global warming on India vary from the submergence of low-lying islands and coastal lands to the melting of glaciers in the Indian Himalayas, threatening the volumetric flow rate of many of the most important rivers of India and South Asia. In India, such effects are projected to impact millions of lives. As a result of ongoing climate change, the climate of India has become increasingly changeable over the past several decades; this trend is expected to continue.

Effects

Several effects of global warming, including steady sea level rise, increased cyclonic activity, and changes in ambient temperature and precipitation patterns, have impacted or are projected to impact India. Ongoing sea level rises have submerged several low-lying islands in the Sundarbans, displacing thousands of people.[1] Temperature rises on the Tibetan Plateau, which are causing Himalayan glaciers to retreat, may reduce the flow rate of the Ganges, Brahmaputra, Yamuna, and other major rivers; hundreds of thousands of farmers depend on these rivers.[2] According to a 2007 World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) report, the Indus River may run dry for the same reason.[3]

Environmental

Increased landslides and flooding are projected to impact such states as Assam.[4] Ecological disasters, such as a 1998 coral bleaching event that killed off more than 70% of corals in the reef ecosystems off Lakshadweep and the Andamans, and was brought on by elevated ocean temperatures tied to global warming, are also projected to become increasingly common.[5][6][7]

Economic

The Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research has reported that, if the predictions relating to global warming made by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change come to fruition, climate-related factors could cause India's GDP to decline by up to 9%; contributing to this would be shifting growing seasons for major crops such as rice, production of which could fall by 40%. Around seven million people are projected to be displaced due to, among other factors, submersion of parts of Mumbai and Chennai, if global temperatures were to rise by a mere 2 °C (36 °F).[8]

Past climate change

Thick haze and smoke along the Ganges River in northern India.

However, such shifts are not new: for example, earlier in the current Holocene epoch (4,800–6,300 years ago), parts of what is now the Thar Desert were wet enough to support perennial lakes; researchers have proposed that this was due to much higher winter precipitation, which coincided with stronger monsoons.[9] Similarly, Kashmir, which once had a warm subtropical climate, shifted to a substantially colder temperate climate 2.6–3.7 mya; it was then repeatedly subjected to extended cold spells starting 600,000 years ago.[10]

Pollution

Thick haze and smoke, originating from burning biomass in northwestern India[11] and air pollution from large industrial cities in northern India[12], often concentrate inside the Ganges Basin. Prevailing westerlies carry aerosols along the southern margins of the steep-faced Tibetan Plateau to eastern India and the Bay of Bengal. Dust and black carbon, which are blown towards higher altitudes by winds at the southern faces of the Himalayas, can absorb shortwave radiation and heat the air over the Tibetan Plateau. The net atmospheric heating due to aerosol absorption causes the air to warm and convect upwards, increasing the concentration of moisture in the mid-troposphere and providing positive feedback that stimulates further heating of aerosols.[12]

Awareness

Tribal people in India's remote northeast plan to honour former U.S. Vice President Al Gore with an award for promoting awareness on climate change that they say will have a devastating impact on their homeland.

Meghalaya -- meaning 'Abode of the Clouds' in Hindi -- is home to the towns of Cherrapunji and Mawsynram, which are credited with being the wettest places in the world due to their high rainfall.

But environmentalists said these areas are now witnessing less rain due to climate change and this was affecting the livelihoods of thousands of villagers who cultivate paddy and maize. Some areas are also facing water shortages.

See also

Citations

  1. ^ Harrabin, Roger (1 February 2007). "How climate change hits India's poor". BBC News. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Unknown parameter |= ignored (help)
  2. ^ Times News Network (3 April 2007). "Himalayan meltdown catastrophic for India". Times of India. Times Internet Limited. Retrieved 2007-04-19. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  3. ^ "Rivers run towards 'crisis point'". BBC News. 20 March 2007. Retrieved 2007-03-20. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  4. ^ Dasgupta, Saibal (3 February 2007). "Warmer Tibet can see Brahmaputra flood Assam". Times of India. Times Internet Limited. Retrieved 2007-03-18. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  5. ^ Aggarwal D, Lal M. "Vulnerability of the Indian coastline to sea level rise" (PDF). SURVAS (Flood Hazard Research Centre). Retrieved 2007-04-05.
  6. ^ Normile D (2000). "Some coral bouncing back from El Niño". Science. 288 (5468): 941–942. Retrieved 2007-04-05. {{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
  7. ^ "Early Warning Signs: Coral Reef Bleaching". Union of Concerned Scientists. 2005. Retrieved 2007-04-05.
  8. ^ Sethi, Nitin (3 February 2007). "Global warming: Mumbai to face the heat". Times of India. Retrieved 2007-03-18. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  9. ^ Enzel Y, Ely LL, Mishra S, Ramesh R, Amit R, Lazar B, Rajaguru SN, Baker VR, Sandler A (1999). "High-Resolution Holocene Environmental Changes in the Thar Desert, Northwestern India". Science. 284 (5411): 125. ISSN 0036-8075.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  10. ^ Pant GB (2003). "Long-term climate variability and change over monsoon Asia" (PDF). Journal of the Indian Geophysical Union. 7 (3): 125–134. Retrieved 2007-03-24.
  11. ^ Badarinath KVS, Chand TRK, Prasad VK (2006). "Agriculture crop residue burning in the Indo-Gangetic Plains—A study using IRS-P6 AWiFS satellite data" (PDF). Current Science. 91 (8): 1085–1089. Retrieved 2007-04-16.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  12. ^ a b Lau, WKM (February 20 2005). "Aerosols may cause anomalies in the Indian monsoon" (php). The Climate and Radiation Branch at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center. NASA. Retrieved 2007-04-17. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)

Further reading

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Atlas of India.
General overview
Maps, imagery, and statistics
Forecasts


Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Climate_change_in_South_Asia&oldid=156435374"