The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), 2001 and 2004 report said that the atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) concentration has risen from 280 ppm (parts per million) in pre-industrial periods to about 390 ppm today. It also records the escalation in global surface temperature from 1.1°C to 6.4°C range. The Earth has become much warmer since the Industrial Revolution.
The Fourth Assessment Report of the IPCC 2014, has revealed long term effects of climate change primarily due to GHGs emissions like CO2, methane, and nitrous oxide. Deforestation, shifting cultivation, water pollution, and mining and industrialization are worsening the situation. So, is global warming for real? Yes! Some of its consequences are as follows.
- Volatile abiotic stresses in plants have left only 3.5 per cent of the global land area unaffected. Abiotic stresses are environmental factors that can affect a plant’s development through heat, cold, drought, salinity, heavy metals toxicity, etc.
- Abiotic stress has reduced crop production by nearly 70 per cent.
- Rising annual temperatures have reduced crop production area in sub-Saharan Africa, Caribbean, India, and northern Australia.
- Since 1997, about 10 million ha has been affected due to drought and caused death of many tree species.
- Saline soil covers around 1 billion ha worldwide with about 82.3 million ha in South Asia alone. Hence, total cultivable land will plummet 50 per cent if soil salinity continues.
Let’s analyze the picture close home, in India:
- Rapid deforestation in the Himalayas is threatening the Indo-Gangetic belt with floods and droughts.
- About 1/5th of India’s total area is exposed to frequent floods. The Gangetic Plains, Brahmaputra Valley, Eastern Coastal plain and western Rajasthan (Indira Gandhi Canal command area) are under strong pressure of waterlogging.
- Kolkata and Mumbai are ‘potential major hotspots’ for flooding and sea-level rise.
- A total of 142 districts across Gujarat, Rajasthan, Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, and Tamil Nadu are affected by soil salinity.
- About 32 per cent of the total land, or about 2/3rd of the agricultural land, in India is drought-affected.
- The 2013 Uttarakhand floods and landslides, the 2015 Chennai flood, and the 2016 drought conditions are direct impacts of climate change.
- There are visible vegetation-shift patterns in the North-East, Himachal and Western Ghats, along with declining biodiversity.
- The yak, house sparrow, Indian bustard, Red Panda, Nilgiri Tahr, Red Sandalwood, Musli, Malabar mahogany, Ebony, etc., are now endangered species.
Although these events might sound dismal but we can mitigate global warming by taking accountability and implementing strict laws.
