Climate change will lead to many changes in global development and security especially energy, water, food, society, job, diplomacy, culture, economy and trade. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) defines climate change as: “Any change in climate over time, whether due to natural variability or as a result of human activity.” Global climate change has emerged as a key issue in both political and economic arenas. It is an increasingly questioned phenomenon, and progressive national governments around the world have started taking action to respond to these environmental concerns. This book discusses the issue of food and water security in India under the context of climate change. It provides information to scientists and local government to help them better understand the particularities of the local climate. It offers insight into the changes to natural ecosystems which have affected the local Indian population. Climate change is one of the biggest challenges to Indian society. It can lead to serious impacts on production, life and the environment. Higher temperatures and sea level rise can lead to flooding and cause water salinity problems which bring about negative effects on agriculture and high risks to industry and socio-economic systems in the future.

Among global environmental issues, climate change has received the largest attention of national and global policy makers, researchers, industry, multilateral banks and NGOs. Climate change is one of the most important global environmental problems with unique characteristics. It is global, long-term (up to several centuries) and involves complex interactions between climatic, environmental, economic, political, institutional and technological pressures. It is of great significance to developing countries as all the available knowledge suggests that they, and particularly their poorer inhabitants, are highly vulnerable to climate impacts. The projected warming of 1. 4 to 5. 8° C by 2100 and the related changes in rainfall pattern, rise in sea-level and increased frequency of extreme events (such as drought, hurricanes and storms) are likely to threaten food security, increase fresh water scarcity, lead to decline in biodiversity, increase occurrence of vector-borne diseases, cause flooding of coastal settlements, etc. Recognizing the potential threat of severe disruptions, the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development was organized in 1992 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil to begin to address ways to reduce these impacts, which led to the formulation of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. This Convention and the subsequent Kyoto Protocol recognize “the common but differentiated responsibility” of developing and industrialized countries in addressing climate change. Developing countries thus have a unique role to play in formulating a sound, reasoned, and well informed response to the threat of climate change.

The aim of this book is to provide information to scientists and local government to help them better understand the particularities of the local climate. Climate change is one of the biggest challenges to society. It can lead to serious impacts on production, life and environment on a global scale. Higher temperatures and sea level rise will cause flooding and water salinity problems which bring about negative effects on agriculture and high risks to industry and socio-economic systems in the future. Climate change leads to many changes in global development and security, especially energy, water, food, society, job, diplomacy, culture, economy and trade. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) defines climate change as: “Any change in climate over time, whether due to natural variability or as a result of human activity.” Global climate change has emerged as a key issue in both political and economic arenas. It is an increasingly questioned phenomenon, and progressive national governments around the world have started taking action to respond to these environmental concerns.

Ending poverty and stabilizing climate change will be two unprecedented global achievements and two major steps toward sustainable development. But the two objectives cannot be considered in isolation: they need to be jointly tackled through an integrated strategy. This report brings together those two objectives and explores how they can more easily be achieved if considered together. It examines the potential impact of climate change and climate policies on poverty reduction. It also provides guidance on how to create a “win-win†? situation so that climate change policies contribute to poverty reduction and poverty-reduction policies contribute to climate change mitigation and resilience building. The key finding of the report is that climate change represents a significant obstacle to the sustained eradication of poverty, but future impacts on poverty are determined by policy choices: rapid, inclusive, and climate-informed development can prevent most short-term impacts whereas immediate pro-poor, emissions-reduction policies can drastically limit long-term ones.

Contributed articles on climate change.

This book presents a variety of climate change impact and mitigation strategies for different environments in India. These include fractional snow cover change in the Himalayan region, and the impact of frequent cyclonic storms on land use and land cover changes along coastal areas. The book explores watershed, surface water, and hydrologic conditions for urban storm water drainage, as well as trend analysis of precipitation, and a statistical approach to detect rainfall trends. The book starts with a critical review of climate change diplomacy, adaptation and mitigation strategies in South Asian countries. It also covers the role of natural gas in energy security. There are chapters pertaining to farmer’s perception on the impact of climate change, as well discussion on land use change and ecological implications. Many geographical areas are covered including; the Mahananda River Basin, Pindar Basin, Kumaun Himalaya, the Upper Tapi River Basin, Southern Kerala Districts, Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka State, Telangana State, Tamil Nadu State, to name a few.

This open access book discusses the impact of human-induced global climate change on the regional climate and monsoons of the Indian subcontinent, adjoining Indian Ocean and the Himalayas. It documents the regional climate change projections based on the climate models used in the IPCC Fifth Assessment Report (AR5) and climate change modeling studies using the IITM Earth System Model (ESM) and CORDEX South Asia datasets. The IPCC assessment reports, published every 6–7 years, constitute important reference materials for major policy decisions on climate change, adaptation, and mitigation. While the IPCC assessment reports largely provide a global perspective on climate change, the focus on regional climate change aspects is considerably limited. The effects of climate change over the Indian subcontinent involve complex physical processes on different space and time scales, especially given that the mean climate of this region is generally shaped by the Indian monsoon and the unique high-elevation geographical features such as the Himalayas, the Western Ghats, the Tibetan Plateau and the adjoining Indian Ocean, Arabian Sea, and Bay of Bengal. This book also presents policy relevant information based on robust scientific analysis and assessments of the observed and projected future climate change over the Indian region.