Commentary, action and research on climate and development in India
The environment ministry has asked the Planning Commission to revise the 12th five-year plan climate change chapter and realign it with government’s existing domestic and international climate policy.
Environment Ministry Writes to Plan Panel, asks it to rework climate change chapter
The environment ministry has asked the Planning Commission to revise the 12th five-year plan climate change chapter and realign it with government’s existing domestic and international climate policy.
Environment Ministry Writes to Plan Panel, asks it to rework climate change chapter
As farmers from Africa to India struggle with insufficient rainfall, the U.N. has sought consolidated efforts to combat climate change threat and counter its effects on global food security. “Climate change is projected to increase the frequency, intensity, and duration of droughts, with impacts on many sectors, in particular food, water, and energy,” warned World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) Secretary-General Michel Jarraud.
Adverse weather events around the world, such as floods in China, the changing pattern of the monsoons in India, devastating drought in the United States and the resulting damage to local, national and regional economies, are stark reminders that climate change is not a fringe concern of environmentalists, but an issue of profound importance for economic development.
Warming signs for the economy
The Planning Commission’s attempt to rewrite the international and domestic obligations of the government on climate change in the 12th five-year plan, with a push for greater commitments to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, has miffed the environment ministry.
Peerumade, Kottayam, Punalur, Tiruvalla and Alappuzha are those stations in the State which have witnessed significant reduction in rainfall during the last century. Y.E.A. Raj, Deputy Director-General, Regional Meteorological Centre, Chennai, revealed this during a special address at the Kerala Environment Congress 2012 here.
Downpours and heatwaves caused by climate change could disrupt food supplies from the fields to the supermarkets, raising the risk of more price spikes such as this year’s leap triggered by drought in the United States. Food security experts working on a chapter in a U.N. overview of global warming due in 2014 said governments should take more account of how extremes of heat, droughts or floods could affect food supplies from seeds to consumers’ plates.
Across American agriculture, farmers and crop scientists have concluded that it’s too late to fight climate change.They are trying to adapt to it with new generations of hardier animals and plants specially engineered to survive, and even thrive, in intense heat, with little rain.
India is heading for a drought, in meteorological terms, for the fourth time in the past 11 years. The previous droughts during this period were in 2002, 2004 and 2009.
Last week Nasa scientist James Hansen linked climate change to extreme weather. His findings are topical, considering the ongoing widespread US drought, massive power outage in India, and historic flooding in China. Whether you believe the science behind climate change or not, these dreadful events rise above the sceptic’s eye.