India working out moves to address climate change

NEW DELHI: At a time when the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is about to complete synthesis report on climate change worldwide, India seems to be working out ways to assess pitfalls of the phenomenon.

The ministry of earth sciences is formulating a plan to involve scientists from all over India in a concerted effort to address the issue. Taking cue from the IPCC, Teri has already tied up with the British government for downscaling results on the economic and environmental impacts of climate change in India.

And there are grim experiences elsewhere. According to the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO), Kenya���s gross domestic product fell by 16% in just three years due to excessive drought, while Mozambique���s GDP declined 23% due to floods.

IPCC warned that global warming would impact India in many ways because of its long coastline and low latitudes. Drought, low precipitation, high temperatures and melting of glaciers are expected to be rampant. WMO has also said that Himalayan glaciers are among those already severely impacted by warming.

Agriculture would be the most vulnerable to climate change, said IPCC chairman RK Pachauri, adding that more research is required. IPCC cautioned last Friday that 11 of the last 12 years rank among the 12 warmest years in the instrumental record of global surface temperature.

The country���s R&D programmes may also see some focus on climate change studies. This was conveyed by T Ramasami, secretary, department of science and technology. He said that the ministry has sought a five-times increase for funding R&D in the 11th five-year plan. The ministry is working on a proposal to set up an institute of environmental technologies.

Such an institute could come up with techniques to mitigate adverse climate changes. IPCC has hinted at cheaper methods to mitigate such climate changes, details of which could be released by the third working group in November. The ministry also proposes to work with the seven-year research and development framework programme of the British government that would include work on climate change-related research.