Shankar IAS: Summary of Impact Of Climate Change - Famous Books for UPSC Exam (Summary & Tests)

AGRICULTURE AND FOOD SECURITY

• The Third Assessment Report of the IPCC, 2001 concluded that climate change would hit the poorest countries severely in terms of reducing the agricultural products
• Crop yield would be reduced in most tropical and sub-tropical regions due to decreased water availability, and new or changed insect/pest incidence.

Impacts on Indian agriculture

• Agriculture will be adversely affected not only by an increase or decrease in the overall amounts of rainfall but also by shifts in the timing of the rainfall.
• Summer rainfall accounts for almost 70 per cent of the total annual rainfall over India and is crucial to Indian agriculture
• Semi-arid regions of western India are expected to receive higher than normal rainfall as temperatures soar, while central India will experience a decrease of between 10 and 20 per cent in winter rainfall by the 2050s 
• There would be a decline in the productivity of rabi as compared to kharif season crops

WATER STRESS AND WATER INSECURITY

• By 2020, between 75 and 250 million people are projected to be exposed to increased water stress due to climate change
• By 2050s, freshwater availability in Central, South, East and South-East Asia, particularly in large river basins, is projected to decrease.

(i) Impacts on water situation in India

• Available records suggest that the Gangotri glacier is retreating about 28 m per year 
• A serious environmental problem has also been witnessed in the Indo-Gangetic Plain Region (IGPR)_ in the past whereby different rivers (including Kosi, Ganga, Ghaghara, Son, Indus and its tributaries and Yamuna) changed their course a number of times.
• Available statistics on water demand shows that the agriculture sector is the largest consumer of water in India

(ii) Impacts on Coastal States in India

• The coastal states of Maharashtra, Goa and Gujarat face a grave risk from the sea level rise, which could flood land (including agricultural land) and cause damage to coastal infrastructure and other property. 
• Goa will be the worst hit, losing a large percentage of its total land area, including many of its famous beaches and tourist infrastructure
• The states along the coasts like Orissa will experience worse cyclones. Many species living along the coastline are also threatened.
• The coral reefs that India has in its biosphere reserves are also saline sensitive and thus the rising sea level threatens their existence too, not only the coral reefs but the phytoplankton.

ECOSYSTEMS AND BIO DIVERSITY

International World Wildlife Fund (WWF) asserted that one-fifth of the world's most vulnerable natural areas may be facing a "catastrophic" loss of species.

IMPACTS ON INDIA’S BIODIVERSITY

It is predicted that there will be an increase in the phenomenon of Glacial Lake: Outburst Floods (GLOFs) in the eastern and the central Himalayas, causing catastrophic flooding downstream, with serious damage.

CLIMATE CHANGE AND HEALTH

• The warmer the climate the likelihood of its impact on human health becomes worse. It is anticipated that there will be an increase in the number of deaths due to greater frequency and severity of heat waves and other extreme weather events. 
• The World Health Organization (WHO) in their studies have indicated that due to rising temperatures, malaria cases are now being/' reported for the first time from countries like Nepal and Bhutan.
• The projections by WHO and IPCC suggest that the negative effects of climate change on health are greater.