MISS ROOHI JAVED
RESEARCH SCHOLAR OF ECONOMICS
R.G.P.G. College Meerut
E-mail:roohijaved@live.com
ABSTRACT
The atmosphere surrounding the earth is made up of nitrogen (78%), Oxygen (21%) and the remaining 1%, is made up of trace gases that include carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide. These gases also called greenhouse gases (climate change is primarily caused by the building up of greenhouse gases) act as a blanket and trap heat radiating from the earth and make the atmosphere warm. Beginning with the industrial revolution global atmospheric concentrations of these greenhouse gases have increased markedly as a result of human activities. The global increases in carbon dioxide concentration are due primarily to fossil fuel use and land use change, while those of methane and nitrous oxide are primarily due to agriculture. As a result we are witnessing global warming which is due to change in climate.
High resolution climate change scenarios for India suggest an increase of surface temperature by 2.5-5 degree Celsius& 20% increase in annual rainfall thus making wet regions wetter and dry regions more dry (Hadley Centre Regional Model 2). These changes will lead to impacts on cereal, vegetables and fruit crop production and a loss of 9-25% net farm revenue. Climate change will also pose a major risk to human health and safely, especially among poorer communities with high population densities in areas like river basins and low-lying coastal plains, which are vulnerable to estimate related natural hazards such as storms, floods, and droughts.
In developing countries like India, climate change could represent an additional stress on ecological and socioeconomic systems that are already facing tremendous pressures due to rapid urbanization, industrialization and economic development. With its huge and growing population, a 7500-km long densely populated and low-lying coastline, and an economy that is closely tied to its natural resource base, India is considerably vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. Vulnerability to climate change will mainly depend on economic position and infrastructure capacity of nations.
In pursuance of its voluntary actions to address climate change related concerns, India released its National Action Plan on Climate Change (NAPCC) on 30th June, 2008 and State Level Action Plan on Climate Change on 18th August, 2009. The National Action Plan stresses that maintaining a high growth rate is essential for increasing living standards of the vast majority of people of India and reducing their vulnerability of the impacts of Climate Change. Accordingly, the Action Plan identifies measures that promote the sustainable development while also yielding co-benefits for addressing climate change.
