 |
Climate Change How will it effect South Asia? How will it effect water supplies and agriculture?
This stunning aerial view shows the rugged snow covered peaks of a Himalayan mountain range in Nepal. The seventh-highest peak on the planet, Dhaulagiri, is the high point on the horizon at the left while in the foreground lies the southern Tibetan Plateau of China. Credit: Expedition 1, ISS, EOL NASA Climate Change in South Asia: A Precursor for Conflict? Nick Robson, Op-ed, South Asian Strategic Stability Institute, London, June, 2007. The world is today at a tipping point in many areas, global warming, peak oil, rapidly growing population levels and rapidly rising energy demand. The global environmental situation facing the entire international community over the balance of this century and beyond is fraught with danger. There is a growing realization that achieving energy and climate security is at the core of future global challenges, with implications that go well beyond their traditional policy spheres. Given the possibilities for conflict created by the changes in the global climate, whether it is over petroleum, uranium, refugee flows, fresh water or food, it rapidly becomes apparent that in South Asia, given its high population levels and the endemic poverty, that the possibilities for conflict are overwhelming. Better Management of Indus Basin Waters
The Resource Gap - A World Bank Publication
Only a small quantity of water is left to mobilizing but Pakistan can get much more value from the existing flows. Groundwater accounts for almost half of all irrigation requirements. There is clear evidence that groundwater is being over-exploited yet thousands of additional wells are being put into service every year. Depletion is now a fact in all canal commands. Furthermore, there are serious and growing problems with groundwater quality,a reality that is likely to get worse because there are 20 million tones of of salt accumulating in the system every year.Read Article (pdf)
UN warns it cannot afford to feed the world : July 15 2007 22:01 By Javier Blas and Jenny Wiggins in London Rising prices for food have led the United Nations programme fighting famine in Africa and other regions to warn that it can no longer afford to feed the 90m people it has helped for each of the past five years on its budget. The World Food Programme feeds people in countries including Chad, Uganda and Ethiopia, but reaches a fraction of the 850m people it estimates suffers from hunger. It spent about $600m buying food in 2006. So far, the WFP has not cut its reach because of high commodities prices, but now says it could be forced to do so unless donor countries provide extra funds. Josette Sheeran, WFP executive director, said in an interview with the Financial Times: “In a world where our contributions are holding fairly steady, this [cost increase] means we are able to reach far less people.” She said policymakers were becoming more concerned about the impact of biofuel demand on food prices and how the world would continue to feed its expanding population.
The Potential Socio-Economic Effects of Climate Change: A Summary of Three Regional Assessments, Nairobi: UNEP 1991. Scientists believe that mankind‘s greenhouse gas emissions may raise temperatures and change rainfall patterns in Southeast Asia. According to computerized General Circulation Models GCMs) , the mean annual near-surface temperature of the earth will rise by 1.5 - 4.5 C over the next 100 years. Scientists recognize that, while GCMs can offer global climate forecasts, they are still unable to generate climate scenarios at the regional level. Nevertheless, to assist policy-makers who must start preparing national climate change response strategies, researchers have begun to use the global results of GCMs to conduct studies on the likely socio-economic impacts of climate change on particular regions, such as Southeast Asia. SINGAPORE - Southeast Asia is possibly one of the most vulnerable areas in the global-climate-change scenarios now being put forward by scientists. Many of the region's estimated 500 million people live in either low-lying river deltas or far-flung islands that will be inundated if waters rise significantly. Some idea of the damage that climate change could cause over time was witnessed in the tsunami that inundated and destroyed coastal settlements on Indonesia's Sumatra island in December 2004. While the tsunami was a sudden shock that came without warning, it gave a geographic perspective to what could be anticipated under model scenarios of a more gradual increase in sea and river-delta water levels caused by climate change. Climate Change Will Devastate South Asia 18 April, 2007 The Hindu By Daphne Wysham & Smitu Kothari A final draft of a report leaked from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) to the authors lays out shocking scenarios for India and the rest of South Asia. The summary for policy makers that was released by the IPCC on Friday is a call for urgent action globally. While shocking, the fuller final draft version of the Second Working Group of the IPCC's Fourth Assessment Report, which may be watered down before final publication, makes for even more sobering reading: It lays out in explicit detail what lies ahead for India and the rest of Asia. It also presents an opportunity for the country to take the lead in defining a more secure and sustainable future for itself. Here are some of the devastating consequences detailed in the provisional February 16, 2007, IPCC report on Asia: Sea levels will rise by at least 40 cm by 2100, inundating vast areas on the coastline, including some of the most densely populated cities whose populations will be forced to migrate inland or build dykes — both requiring a financial and logistical challenge that will be unprecedented. In the South Asian region as a whole, millions of people will find their lands and homes inundated. Up to 88 per cent of all of Asia's coral reefs, termed the "rainforests of the ocean" because of the critical habitat they provide to sea creatures, may be lost as a result of warming ocean temperatures.
These Documents are in Adobe PDF Forma, click here to downloadAdobe Reader Links United Nations Environment Program E3G.Org Change Agents for Sustainable Development Climate Change Links - You will be taken to an external web site New Scientist Magazine’s Special Report on Climate Change Climate Change: Changing Our World- A climate Change Blog with topical articles on climate change and global warming
|
