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Global warming in India
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global warming on India
Lakshadweep comprising tiny
low-lying islands is 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-tying 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
volatile over the past several decades; this trend is expected to
continue.
Greenhouse gases in India
Elevated carbon dioxide
emissions contributed to the greenhouse effect, causing
warmer weather that lasted long after the atmospheric shroud
of dust and aerosols had cleared. Further climatic changes 20
million years ago, long after India had crashed into the
Laurasian landmass, were severe enough to cause the extinction
of many endemic Indian forms. The formation of the Himalayas
resulted in blockage of frigid Central Asian air, preventing it
from reaching India; this made its climate significantly warmer
and more tropical in character than it would otherwise have been.
Effects of global warming
on India and Bangladesh
Several effects of global
warming, including steady sea level rise, increased
cyclonic activity, and changes in ambient temperature and
precipitation patterns, have affected or are projected to affect
India. Ongoing sea level rises have submerged several low-lying
islands in the Sundarbans, displacing thousands of people.
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. According
to a 2007 World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) report, the Indus
River may run dry for the same reason.
Environmental
Increased landslides and
flooding are projected to have an impact upon states such as
Assam. 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.
The first among the
unfortunate countries to be affected by severe climate change is
Bangladesh. Its sea level, temperature and evaporation are
increasing, and the changes in precipitation and cross boundary
river flows are already beginning to cause drainage congestion.
There is a reduction in fresh water availability, disturbance of
morphologic processes and a higher intensity of flooding and other
such disasters. In comparison to the United States, Bangladesh
only contributes 0.1% of the world’s emissions yet it has 2.4% of
the world’s population. In contrast the United States makes up
about 5 percent of the worlds population, yet they produce
approximately 25 percent of the pollution that causes global
warming.
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 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 M and Chennai, if global
temperatures were to rise by a mere 2 °C (3.6 °F).
Villagers in India’s North
Easter state of Meghalaya are also concerned that rising sea
levels will submerge neighbouring low-lying Bangladesh, resulting
in an influx of refugees into Meghalaya which has few resources to
handle such a situation.
If severe climate changes
occur, Bangladesh will lose land along the coast line This will be
highly damaging to Bangalies especially because nearly two-thirds
of Bangladeshis are employed in the agriculture sector, with rice
as the single-most- important product. 1’he economy has grown 5-6%
over the past few years despite inefficient state-owned
enterprises, delays in exploiting natural gas resources
insufficient power supplies, and slow implementation of economic
reforms. However, Bangladesh remains a poor, overpopulated, and
inefficiently-governed nation. If no further steps are taken to
improve the current conditions global warming will affect the
economy severely worsening the present issues further.
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 That 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. 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.
Pollution
Thick haze and smoke,
originating from burning biomass in northwestern India and air
pollution from large industrial cities in northern India 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.
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 scientists state that
global climate change is causing these areas to experience an
increasingly sparse and erratic rainfall pattern and a lengthened
dry season, affecting the livelihoods of thousands of villagers
who cultivate paddy and maize. Some areas are also facing water
shortages. |
