South Asian affected with the change in climate

Isha Sahni

We have all known that the global warming at large has affected rainfall, cropping patterns,livelihoods of the people across the world. But are there any alternatives that people could take whose livelihoods are being challenged by the effects of climate change?

In recent times, an initiative was taken by the counties Britain and Canada to study and tackle the ever growing and severe effects of climate change in region of South Asia, in collaboration with TERI and Jadavpur University in India and similar institutes in neighboring countries of Pakistan and Bangladesh.

International Development Research Centre (IDRC) of Canada and Department for International Development (DFID) of United Kingdom have launched a research programme to “take a fresh approach to understanding climate change and find ways to adapt” in some of the hot spot regions.

The programme has been named Collaborative Adaptation Research Initiative in Africa and Asia (CARIAA). The programme is a seven-year Canadian dollar 70 million research initiative and aims to to study the effects of climate change in three major hot spots — semi-arid regions, river deltas and Himalayan river basins.

According to a report in IANS, K.S. Murali, senior programme officer with IDRC said “We try to understand what are the different scenarios that can happen with one degree rise in temperature, with a two-degree rise in temperature.”

An example of this is, like in the hot stop semi-arid regions of Madhya Pradesh, where the rainfall hovers between 300-700mm an year, rise in temperature can badly hit cropping patterns, said the researcher.

Semi-arid areas are dominated generally by dry land and agriculture is rain fed, or dependent on rainfall. “If the rain becomes erratic, or the area receives less rain, or it is not distributed equally, the cropping pattern is affected badly and cultivation is hit. Not just the summer temperature, the winter temperature too gets affected, and there is high rate of evaporation,” he said.

Not only the hot spots but the regions where the river meets the ocean and the coastal estuaries are also being studied to check the effects of climate change on river deltas and other water bodies. This includes the Sundarbans mangrove forest shared between the two countries India and Bangladesh.

Estuaries have very high productivity in the form of marine life and support the ecosystem.

“There is fear that climate change will lead to rise in sea temperature and in sea levels, which could lead to submergence of small islands over time. This could affect the Sundarbans too,” he added.

A very important spot being noticed for the climate change are the Himalayan river basins.

The Ganga and Brahmaputra rivers would be affected by snow melting. High temperatures will make the glacier snow melt faster. This will lead to more water flowing down the river, leading to flooding. The faster disappearance of glaciers is also of concern,” he added.

“We try to understand how a degree rise in temperature can affect the hydrology of mountain rivers, the flow of the Ganga and the Brahmaputra. This will help predict river flow, how it will affect cropping and productivity and what alternatives can be offered to the locals,” he said.

According to Murali, IDRC and DFID along with the partner organisations in the area try to address the climate change issues in tandem with the local people, the local communities, NGOs and policy makers. “Our aim is to benefit the people in solving the situation.”

The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) of India is involved in the study of climate change in Himalayan river basins. The Jadavpur University is involved in the study of deltas, while the Indian Institute for Human Settlements is working in the field of semi-arid areas. These institutes are working in partnership with institutes in Bangladesh and Pakistan to address the issues of climate change.