Cyclone ‘Phailin’, said to be the strongest cyclonic storm to hit Odisha in 14 years, is set to make a landfall this evening near Gopalpur with authorities in the State and in neighbouring Andhra Pradesh having evacuated over three lakh people from vulnerable areas.

Hundreds of personnel of Army, IAF, Navy and NDRF were positioned in areas vulnerable to be hit by ‘Phailin’ that was positioned just 260 km off the coast of Gopalpur in Odisha around noon.

Wind speed

With a wind speed of 210-220 kmph, the tides could rise up to 3.5 metres and sea water could enter 300-600 metres in land, the IMD said.

http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/news/strongest-storm-in-14-years-to-hit-ap-odisha-coast-today/article5228362.ece

Asia’s largest study on the environment reveals increased pressure on jobs and basic resources, with many struggling to survive

BBC Media Action has launched the findings of Asia’s largest study of people’s experience of climate change. The study provides the first comprehensive picture of how people are being impacted by climate change and maps where communities are struggling to adapt.

The 35,500 people interviewed in Bangladesh, China, India, Indonesia, Nepal, Pakistan and Vietnam were not climate scientists or policymakers. They were the farmers, fishermen, housewives, and slum dwellers who live at the frontline of changes in the environment across the region.

Across the region, almost all respondents have identified significant changes to their environment and basic resources – from increased temperatures and extreme weather events to decreases in water and food.

http://www.thethirdpole.net/people-may-not-know-what-climate-change-is-but-they-are-feeling-its-impact/

New Delhi: This year’s monsoon in Delhi is tipped to be of the longest duration in more than 50 years with another spell of light to moderate rainfall likely this weekend while Dussehra revelries are on in the city.

According to the MeT department, the length of the current southwest monsoon is likely to exceed 120 days, breaking the previous record of 111 days recorded 57 years back.

“The southwest monsoon’s withdrawal from north west India is likely to get delayed and break the previous record of latest withdrawal in 1956 and 1959, when it had occurred on October 13,” said Dr OP Singh, Deputy Director General of Meteorology, Regional Meteorological Centre, New Delhi.

http://www.ndtv.com/article/cities/delhi-facing-longest-monsoon-in-50-years-says-met-office-429132

The fifth assessment report of the UN Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has warned that the last three decades have been the warmest since scientists started keeping records since 1850 with carbon dioxide concentrations having increased 40 per cent since pre-industrial times.

The effects of this are for everyone to see — a relentless heating up of the atmosphere and the oceans which will adversely impact the global water cycle. Glaciers will continue to melt and sea levels are expected to rise along coastal levels by 10 to 32 inches by the end of the century against the project levels of seven to 23 inches.
What will the impact of this change, prepared by 259 climate scientists from 39 countries, mean for South Asia and specifically for India. The report gives both a mid-term projection (2045-2065) and long-term projections (2081-2100) for us though more details will be made available early next year.

http://www.asianage.com/science-health/planet-warms-middle-class-becomes-more-aspirational-030

In the past 15 years, the world has not warmed in the same scale as it has been doing since 1951, read headlines across the world in the first week of September. There is a “hiatus” in global warming, media reports stated, quoting a draft of an upcoming Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report.

A source in the know of the drafting process at the IPCC had leaked the draft of the Summary for Policymakers of the Working Group 1 to Assessment Report 5. This draft contained the assertion on the hiatus.

It read: “Global mean surface temperature trends exhibit substantial decadal variability despite the robust multi-decadal warming since 1901. The rate of warming over the past 15 years (1998-2012; 0.05 °C per decade) is smaller than the trend since 1951 (1951-2012; 0.12°C per decade).”

http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/opinion/global-warming-is-here-to-stay/article5201483.ece

NEW DELHI: North India is likely to heat up more than the southern parts of the country while the entire Indian subcontinent may see longer rainy seasons in second half of the century, the UN’s climate body has predicted in its latest comprehensive document on climate change.

The conclusion, showing variation in temperature and rainfall in South Asia, is part of the lengthy technical details of the United Nation’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) which made its comprehensive report — Climate Change 2013, The Physical Science Basis — public in Stockholm on Monday.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/environment/global-warming/Monsoon-to-get-longer-in-India-IPCC/articleshow/23375718.cms

The agricultural sector represents 35% of India’s Gross National Product (GNP) and therefore plays a crucial role in the country’s development. So while the magnitude of impact of climate change on agriculture in India varies greatly by region, it is still believed to impact agricultural productivity and shifting crop patterns gradually each year.

Climate change can affect crop yields (both positively and negatively), as well as the types of crops that can be grown in certain areas, by impacting agricultural inputs such as water for irrigation, amounts of solar radiation that affect plant growth, as well as the prevalence of pests. And these changes in agriculture could then affect food security, trade policy, livelihood activities and water conservation issues, impacting large portions of the population in India.
 

http://www.moneycontrol.com/news/weather/climate-change-affecting-indian-agriculture_959850.html

Sundarbans: Climate change is inspiring farmers in Sundarbans to dig into their history to a time when their forefathers grew indigenous varieties of rice using green manure.

Giving the modern high-yield varieties of rice a miss, farmers are going back to the pre-Green Revolution days and opting for traditional seeds which have unique properties like ability to tolerate salinity and floods.

“The switch over was difficult but slowly we realised that our traditional rice varieties like ‘Dudheswari’ has low input costs and tolerates salinity more easily than the modern ones,” farmer Uttam Maity who lives in one of the islands under Pathar Pratima block says.

http://zeenews.india.com/news/eco-news/climate-change-makes-farmers-go-retro-style_880001.html

WASHINGTON: Recognising climate change as a “defining challenge”, India and US have announced the establishment of a joint working group to develop and enhance action-oriented cooperation in this key sector.

In a joint statement after the summit meeting between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and US President Barack Obama, the two leaders jointly announced the group to begin an enhanced dialogue focusing on working closely in developing an ambitious climate change agreement for the post-2020 period and also on strengthening bilateral efforts in this regard.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/environment/global-warming/India-US-to-set-up-joint-working-group-on-climate-change/articleshow/23209973.cms

PUNE: The sea surface temperature in the Indian Ocean has undergone a steady warming at the rate of about 0.5 degree C to 1 degree C during the last 50 years, researchers at the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM) have found in a recent study. During this period, the monsoon rainfall over India declined by about 5% (decrease of about 3-4 cm), the researchers have found. A prominent decrease has been seen over the Western Ghats region, especially over Kerala and central-north India around Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/pune/Monsoon-rainfall-dipped-5-over-last-50-years/articleshow/23022980.cms