GLOBAL CLIMATE CHANGE AND ROLE AND RESPONSE OF MAN IN CLIMATE CHANGE

Global Climate Change

Climate change is the most important global environmental challenge facing humanity with implications for food production, natural ecosystems, fresh water supply, and health. The earth’s climate system has demonstrably changed on both global and regional scales since the pre-industrial era. The warming of the climate system is now evident from the observations of increases in global average air and ocean temperatures, widespread melting of snow and ice, and rising global average sea levels.

Role of Human Activities (GLOBAL CLIMATE CHANGE AND ROLE AND RESPONSE OF MAN IN CLIMATE CHANGE)

The evidence shows that most of the warming (of more than 0.10 C per decade), observed over the last 50 years, is very likely due to human activities. These include transportation, generation of electricity, production of cement, steel, plastics, and other materials, and household cooking. Burning of fossil fuels for these activities and deforestation releases carbon dioxide, which is one of the key gases that cause global warming. Some other gases that contribute to warming include methane, nitrous oxide, and chlorofluorocarbon.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), an international body of over 3,000 experts, projects that the global mean temperature may increase between 1.8 to 4 degrees Celsius by 2100. More importantly, a warming of about 0.2 degrees Celsius per decade, almost double the annual increase for the last 50 years, is projected for the next two decades.

Such temperature increases have led to drying in parts of Southern Asia including India.  The unprecedented increase is expected to have severe impacts on the global hydrological system, ecosystems, sea level, crop production, and related processes. The impacts would be severe in the tropics, which mainly consist of developing countries, including India.

VULNERABILITY DUE TO CLIMATE CHANGE

Forest ecosystem– They are highly vulnerable to climate change. According to the IPCC reports, even with a modest global warming of 1-20 degrees Celsius. Most forest ecosystems will be impacted through changes in forest species composition, biodiversity, and plant productivity. Some scientific literature suggests that the unprecedented warming observed in recent decades has already impacted forest ecosystems such as a poleward and upward shift in ranges of plant, insect, bird, and fish species. Further, plant flowering, bird arrival, and dates of breeding and flowering are observed to be occurring earlier than before in the seasons.

Loss of Livelihood– The local communities have large dependencies on forest ecosystems for the economy. The change in particular, loss of biodiversity, is likely to adversely affect the plant species that produce fruits, flowers, nuts, leaves, and other valuable products and many of the species may have extinct leading to the loss of livelihoods of millions of forest-dependent communities.

Climate change could b cause irreversible damage to unique forest ecosystems and biodiversity rendering several species extinct. Forest ecosystems require a long response time to adapt to climate change. Climate is projected to change at a faster rate than the capacity of the forest ecosystems and plant species to adapt. Thus, it is necessary to develop and implement technologies and strategies to reduce the vulnerability of forest ecosystems to changing climate, but there has been little research on this front.

Impact on Himalayas- Climate change and its effects are now in almost every part of the world. Critical ecosystems and livelihoods are being affected by extreme weather events. Impacts on high mountain systems, including glacial retreat, could be among the most directly visible signals of global warming. Other changes include sea level rise in the past century.

Severe Threat – The Himalayan ecosystems are one of the most fragile ecosystems in the world with a wide and diverse range of habitats and floral and faunal values. However, the region’s ecosystems are currently under severe threat due to the rapid expansionist approach of humans and related developmental activities. The changes in climate variability have led to a rapid retreat of mountain glacier systems, which are considered the lifeline of river basins and ecosystems.

Impact on agriculture- Climate change is likely to threaten all life forms on earth including plants and animals. The degree of sensitivity will however, vary from one species to the other. Changes in temperature and precipitation patterns will affect several weather-sensitive sectors like agriculture, forest water resources and coasts.