Page - 1

Introduction

Climate change, considered by a large section of the global scientific community as the gravest environmental threat of the twenty-first century, threatens the Earth's environment, and consequently its agricultural systems and food security.

Global warming, in other words climate change, has been accepted by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), an UN body, as an established fact, with far reaching consequences.

The temperature balance on Earth is maintained by equilibrium between heating by incoming solar radiation and cooling through reflection of heat by Earth's surface and atmosphere back to space. However, certain greenhouse gases (GHGs) such as carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide and halocarbons absorb some amount of the reflected radiation, producing the 'greenhouse effect'. This is a natural, life sustaining process on Earth; however anthropogenic processes have increased the proportion of GHGs, especially carbon dioxide since the Industrial Revolution. The hypothesis (now largely proven) is that this increase in carbon dioxide has caused global warming.

According to estimates, the past 100 years have been the warmest on meteorological records. Scientific models indicate that by 2100 A.D., global temperatures would rise by 1.4 to 5.8 degrees C, depending on the model/parameters used. Sea level rise, a consequence of global warming would range between 14 and 88 cm by 2100, causing flooding in low lying areas and certain island nations, displacing large populations. Rainfall patterns would change, and the frequency and intensity of El Nino events would increase.

Natural disasters such as droughts and floods are likely to ravage the Earth. South East Asia, Southern Africa, the Mediterranean and Central Asia would be affected by droughts, whereas floods would result in East Africa and Latin America. Agriculture would be severely affected, with crop yields decreasing by as much as 20% in parts of Asia, Africa and Latin America. The brunt of the effects of climate change would be borne by the developing world, as the impacts of the phenomenon would be unevenly distributed.

Under the circumstances, the magnitude of the problem calls for a wide range of policy responses and strategies at the local, regional, national and global level. Two basic response strategies advocated by the UNFCCC (United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change) are: Mitigation and Adaptation. Mitigation aims at limiting climate change by GHG emission reduction and by enhancing sink opportunities, while adaptation aims to alleviate the adverse effects through a wide range of system specific actions. Although an effective policy framework would include both mitigation and adaptation, adaptation has emerged as an urgent policy priority.

• «Previous
• 1
• 2
• 3
• 4
• 5
• 6
• Next »

* Contributed by: -
Suddhachit Mitra, is a research (M. Phil) student of Management at the West Bengal University of Technology, Kolkata.