24-07-2012, 11:53 AM
Impact of Climate Change on India
Impact of Climate Change on India.rtf (Size: 9.19 MB / Downloads: 264)
Executive Summery
India is a Party to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the Government of India attaches great importance to climate change issues. The Convention aims to stabilize greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere at levels that would prevent dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system. Eradication of poverty, avoiding risks to food production, and sustainable development are three principles embedded in the Convention. Information provided in the Initial National Communication is in terms of guidelines prescribed for Parties not included in Annex I to the UNFCCC and the inventory is prepared for the base year 1994 as stipulated. India is a vast country covering 3.28 million km2 with diverse surface features. India occupies only 2.4 per cent of the world’s geographical area, but supports 16.2 per cent of the global human population. India is endowed with varied soils, climate, biodiversity and ecological regimes. Under such diverse natural conditions, over a billion people speaking different languages, following different religions and living in rural and urban areas, live in harmony under a democratic system. The ultimate objective of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) is found in Article 2, where nations agreed “to achieve… stabilization of greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere at a level that would prevent dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system.” Scientists have analysed climate change and identified some main features that works like early warning signs such as heat waves, periods of unusually warm weather, sea level rising, coastal flooding, ocean warming, and melting of glaciers
In this report our main object is to access the impact of climate change, understand the climate change in a better way, find out the causes of climate change, find out the ways through which the ill-impact of climate change can be reduced, make the people aware about the harmfulness of the climate change. According to objective our research design for the study was descriptive in nature. The research work was done by secondary data. The research work was done by collecting and analyzing the secondary data from different sources such as articles, journals, internet, reviews, case study etc.
In India’s interest to ensure that the world moves towards a low carbon future. Many studies have underscored the nation’s vulnerability to climate change. With changes in key climate variables namely temperature, precipitation and humidity, crucial sectors like agriculture and rural development are likely to be affected in a major way. Impacts are already being seen in unprecedented heat waves, cyclones, floods, Stalinisation of the coastline and effects on agriculture, fisheries and health.
Although the action plan may be a missed opportunity for leadership on climate change, the good news is that change is coming. Realising that the market is changing, and not to be left behind in the global race, Indian businesses are beginning to take on climate change as a business issue. What we need now is for the government of India to capitalize on India’s position as a developing giant, take the lead and engage with governments of the world and the private sector for a low-carbon future.
China and India do contribute in a big way the European nations and the US are equally guilty due to their heavy consumption of diesel fuel for transportation and energy production. Per capita emissions of black carbon from the US and European countries are still comparable to the emissions from South Asia and East Asia as projected by a noted environmental scientist Mr. Ramanathan . “The world at large needs to become proactive to fight this menace of environment degradation.”
Introduction
1.1 Background of Study
Climate change is now commonly identified as one of the most urgent and critical global issues to address in the vast majority of countries. The Fourth Assessment Report (AR4) of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) (IPCC, 2007a) confirmed that human actions are changing the earth’s climate and creating major disturbances in human systems and ecosystems. The IPCC reports that the world has warmed by an average of 0.76° Celsius since pre-industrial times, and projects that the global average temperature is likely to increase further by 1.8°C to 4°C if no action is taken. Changes in temperature have already impacted natural and human systems—including reduced snow cover, declines in Arctic sea ice, thawing permafrost, more intense and longer droughts, and increased frequency of heavy precipitation events—and there are predictions of even more devastating impacts with future temperature increases. The Stern Review (2006) reports that there are large economic, environmental and social costs in not acting; and that the benefits of early global action to mitigate climate change will be far greater than the costs.
The ultimate objective of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) is found in Article 2, where nations agreed “to achieve… stabilization of greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere at a level that would prevent dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system.” Countries have yet to define what level of greenhouse (GHG) emissions would actually represent dangerous anthropogenic interference, although the Bali action plan (UNFCCC, 2007a) emphasizes that deep cuts in global emissions are needed and references the findings of IPCC Working Group III to the AR4 that noted that stabilizing CO2-eq at between 445 and 490 parts per million, resulting in an estimated global temperature 2°C to 2.4°C above the preindustrial average, would require that emissions peak before 2015,with 50 to 85 per cent reductions on 2000 levels by 2050 (IPCC, 2007b: 39). The European Union’s (EU) objective is to limit global average temperature increase to 2°C compared to pre-industrial levels (Commission of the European Communities [CEC], 2007b, 2005c). The G8 (2007: 2) struck an agreement in Heiligendamm, Germany, in June 2007 that stated that: “in setting a global goal for emissions reductions… we will consider seriously the decisions made by the European Union, Canada and Japan, which include at least a halving of global emissions by 2050.”
1.2 Need of Study
The climate of the planet has changed tremendously over the last few decades, mostly due to pollution, greenhouse gases, and depletion of the ozone layer that protects the earth. Global warming is one of the main factors of climate change, leading to excessive flooding, forest fires and rise in global temperatures.
Scientists have analysed climate change and identified some main features that work like early warning signs such as heat waves, periods of unusually warm weather, sea level rising, coastal flooding, ocean warming, and melting of glaciers.
In some areas, excessive and unprecedented rise in temperature causes heat-related illness and death, especially in urban areas and among the elderly, the young, the ill, and the poor.
• Studying climate change helps to understand what causes the changes
• Prepares us for any natural hazard or extreme changes that can be predicted
• Helps identify both man-made and natural causes for climate change
• Helps to understand how climate change has an impact on human health and the environment
1.3 Objectives
1. To access the impact of climate change
2. To understand the climate change in a better way
3. To find out the causes of climate change
4. To find out the ways through which the ill-impact of climate change can be reduced
5. To make the people aware about the harmfulness of the climate change
1.4 Literature Review
The purpose of this review is to summarise current estimates of the impacts of climate change and to explain how these estimates are built in order to identify the main sources of uncertainty and approximation affecting them. Second, the paper discusses how this uncertainty should influence policymaker’s decisions. A main conclusion of the review is that there are large uncertainties, which are not fully reflected in existing estimates of global impacts of climate change in monetary units. Nonetheless, despite these uncertainties, policy action may be justified. Now, there is a global consensus about the threat posed by the climate change. The disagreement is only, on how to go about altering human activities that unleash greenhouse gases, fuelling global warming.
The recent report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change is the latest scientific assessment of the impact of global warming on human, animal, and plant life. The culprit is greenhouse gases, notably carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide. These are accumulating to unprecedented levels in the atmosphere as a result of profligate burning of fossil fuels, industrial processes, farming activities and changing land use.
The IPCC is a body of 2500 scientists that brings out reports, considered the last word on the Science of Climate Change. “Warming of the Climate System is unequivocal”, says the IPCC in its latest report, pointing to the increased global, air and ocean temperatures, widespread melting of snow and ice and rising sea levels.
If the introduction of these greenhouse gases continued to soar, global temperature could rise up by 2.40C to 6.40 C by the end of the century, with far-reaching consequences for the climate, warned the IPCC. The report has given fresh impetus to finding solutions to the global warming problem.
Much of that challenge lays in implementing carbon capture and storage technologies in the energy supply sector, which in the past three and half decades has been responsible for a 145 per cent increase in gas emissions.