Eastern states including Odisha most vulnerable to climate change: Experts

Bhubaneswar: Around 100 districts of the eastern states of the country, including Odisha, are most vulnerable to climate change, as per a vulnerability assessment study carried out by IISc Bangalore along with IIT Mandi and IIT Guwahati and supported by the Department of Science & Technology.

“Out of 100 most vulnerable districts in the country, 70% of them are in five states of Eastern India– Assam, Bihar, Jharkhand, Arunachal Pradesh and Odisha,” said Dr Akhilesh Gupta, Senior Advisor and Head, Policy Coordination & Programme Management (PCPM) Division, and a climate change expert at the Department of Science and Technology (DST).

“As projected by the recent Working Group-I report of IPCC, the global temperature which has already increased to 1.1 degree Celsius above the pre-industrial era level is likely to further increase to 1.5 degree Celsius in the next 2 decades. India too is expected to experience greater impact of global warming in the time to come. There may be an increase in frequency, severity and duration of heat wave. Monsoon may become more erratic. There may be more frequent droughts and floods. The Indian seas may witness more sea-level rise. There has already been increase in sea level in the last two decades. The tropical cyclones may also increase in number. With the increase of carbon dioxide content in the oceans, the sea water may become more acidic, and so on,” he said.

“Next two decades are going to be very crucial. IPCC’s working group report gives the starkest of warnings for global climate impacts. The two-degree rise in global temperatures may come earlier than expected. It may have a huge impact on India, especially on agriculture, health and water security. India is confronted with a challenge of addressing such impacts,” he added.

“Science and technology is a major tool to fight the menace of climate change. Of late, hazards are not happening in isolation but in combination with two or more. There is urgent need to put in place a multi-hazard warning system, along with better coordination at inter-agency, inter-ministerial and Centre-State levels. India made some excellent progress in climate action both in adaptation and mitigation areas. The Climate Change Programme of DST made some excellent progress which helped in upscaling the climate research in the country,” he pointed out.

(Note: This story is a part of ‘Punascha Pruthibi – One Earth. Unite for It’ awareness campaign by Sambad Digital)