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natural hazards and climate change in india

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Shubham Agrawal
Shubham Agrawal

This presentation discusses natural hazards and climate change in India. It notes that India's climate makes it highly susceptible to climate change and natural hazards. Some key points: - Natural hazards include floods, wildfires, earthquakes and drought. Climate change is increasing temperatures and altering rainfall patterns. - Impacts of climate change in India include increased temperatures, shifts to new climate zones, and more extreme weather events like flooding. - Climate change is exacerbating natural hazards and their effects on humans. The conclusion calls for advanced warning systems to reduce hazards' impacts.

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PRESENTATION ON NATURAL HAZARDS AND CLIMATE CHANGE IN INDIA
INTRODUCTION • Natural Hazards and climate change are fast emerging as the most defining challenges of the 21st century. India`s unique geo-climatic condition makes it highly susceptible to climate change and natural hazards. The country has observed significant anomaly in natural variability of temperature and rainfall patterns and has experienced more frequent and lethal hazards in recent decades.
WHAT IS NATURAL HAZARD A hazard is distinguished from an extreme event and a disaster. A natural hazard is an extreme event that occurs naturally and causes harm to humans – or to other things that we care about, though usually the focus is on humans (which, we might note, is anthropocentric).
TYPES OF NATURAL HAZARDS • Tornadoes • Hurricanes • Floods. • Wildfires. • Earthquakes. • Drought.
CLIMATE CHANGE IN INDIA • With respect to climate change, mean annual temperature has increased, with an increase of 0.56 degree Celsius per 100 years between 1901 and 2007. Unusual and unprecedented spells of hot weather are expected to occur far more frequently and cover much larger areas. Under 4°C warming, the west coast and southern India are projected to shift to new, high-temperature climatic regimes with significant impacts on agriculture. With built-up urban areas rapidly becoming “heat-islands”, urban planners will need to adopt measures to counteract this effect.
IMPACT OF CLIMATE CHANGE IN INDIA • Simulations indicate an all-round warming, associated with increasing greenhouse gas concentrations, over the Indian subcontinent. The rise in annual mean surface air temperature by the 2030s ranges from 1.7°C to 2.0°C. • There is considerable geographical variation in the magnitude of changes for both temperature as well as rainfall • Northwestern India is likely to become drier, while northeastern India is likely to become much wetter, The temperature increase in northwestern India is also much more than that in the northeast.
TYPES OF NATURAL HAZARDS • Avalanches and landslides. • Earthquakes. • Sinkholes. • Volcanic eruptions. • Floods. • Limnic eruptions. • Tsunami. • Blizzards.
CLIMATE CHANGE AND HAZARDS ARE INTERLINK • A CLIMATE CHANGE AND HAZARDS ARE INTERLINK number of experts link these current trends in extreme weather events with the increase in the global mean temperature. The CRED report states that there ‘there is increasingly conclusive evidence which confirms that global climate change will have an impact on the occurrence and magnitude of extreme events. These impacts are envisaged to increase human vulnerability to natural hazards, thus emphasizing the need for improved measures of preparedness in every part of the world’ (UN/ISDR, 2008/01). CRED report also surmises that the current trends are consistent with the predictions of IPCC AR4, in that Asia, and also West Africa are already suffering from more severe and frequent floods (Sapir, 2008). The future projections by IPCC AR4 also indicates that there is ‘increased confidence that some weather events and extremes will become more frequent, more widespread and/or more intense during the 21st century and impacts due to altered frequencies and intensities of extreme weather, climate and sea level events are very likely to change’ (IPCC, 2007c; Parry et al, 2007).
RECOMMENDATIONS • Integrated Risk Management Framework. • Adaptation and Mitigation • From Structural to Non Structural Mitigation • Future Climate Change-Hazards Scenarios- Impact Assessment • Climate Change/ Hazards Risk Indices (CCDRI) • Climate Change Modeling • Vulnerability Atlas. • Climate Change to ‘Climate Affairs’- a Multi Disciplinary Approach
• New Approach to Vulnerability • Development as a Tool for Reducing Risk. • Logical Approach to the Hazards Management Cycle • Centre- State Relations, Policy Issues. • Command and Control • International Cooperation • Climate Change: Need for Single Authority.
CONCLUSION • Natural hazards are balancing templates of the terrestrial system. These geo- physical events reoccur periodically to maintain the equilibrium between internal and external environment of the Earth. Before evolution of man, these events occurred threatening only prevailing flora and fauna but millions of years later, the human`s interaction with nature and their associated vulnerabilities towards these events transformed natural hazards into hazards. Climate has always been linked with hazards, so far, through climate variability manifesting in extreme weather events such as cyclones, storms, floods, droughts, heat waves, windstorms etc., with potential for catastrophic loss of human lives, damage to infrastructure and environment. • Although natural hazards are beyond the control of human being, however, their impacts can be reduced by setting up of advanced warning systems.

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natural hazards and climate change in india

  • 1. PRESENTATION ON NATURAL HAZARDS AND CLIMATE CHANGE IN INDIA
  • 2. INTRODUCTION • Natural Hazards and climate change are fast emerging as the most defining challenges of the 21st century. India`s unique geo-climatic condition makes it highly susceptible to climate change and natural hazards. The country has observed significant anomaly in natural variability of temperature and rainfall patterns and has experienced more frequent and lethal hazards in recent decades.
  • 3. WHAT IS NATURAL HAZARD A hazard is distinguished from an extreme event and a disaster. A natural hazard is an extreme event that occurs naturally and causes harm to humans – or to other things that we care about, though usually the focus is on humans (which, we might note, is anthropocentric).
  • 4. TYPES OF NATURAL HAZARDS • Tornadoes • Hurricanes • Floods. • Wildfires. • Earthquakes. • Drought.
  • 5. CLIMATE CHANGE IN INDIA • With respect to climate change, mean annual temperature has increased, with an increase of 0.56 degree Celsius per 100 years between 1901 and 2007. Unusual and unprecedented spells of hot weather are expected to occur far more frequently and cover much larger areas. Under 4°C warming, the west coast and southern India are projected to shift to new, high-temperature climatic regimes with significant impacts on agriculture. With built-up urban areas rapidly becoming “heat-islands”, urban planners will need to adopt measures to counteract this effect.
  • 6. IMPACT OF CLIMATE CHANGE IN INDIA • Simulations indicate an all-round warming, associated with increasing greenhouse gas concentrations, over the Indian subcontinent. The rise in annual mean surface air temperature by the 2030s ranges from 1.7°C to 2.0°C. • There is considerable geographical variation in the magnitude of changes for both temperature as well as rainfall • Northwestern India is likely to become drier, while northeastern India is likely to become much wetter, The temperature increase in northwestern India is also much more than that in the northeast.
  • 7. TYPES OF NATURAL HAZARDS • Avalanches and landslides. • Earthquakes. • Sinkholes. • Volcanic eruptions. • Floods. • Limnic eruptions. • Tsunami. • Blizzards.
  • 8. CLIMATE CHANGE AND HAZARDS ARE INTERLINK • A CLIMATE CHANGE AND HAZARDS ARE INTERLINK number of experts link these current trends in extreme weather events with the increase in the global mean temperature. The CRED report states that there ‘there is increasingly conclusive evidence which confirms that global climate change will have an impact on the occurrence and magnitude of extreme events. These impacts are envisaged to increase human vulnerability to natural hazards, thus emphasizing the need for improved measures of preparedness in every part of the world’ (UN/ISDR, 2008/01). CRED report also surmises that the current trends are consistent with the predictions of IPCC AR4, in that Asia, and also West Africa are already suffering from more severe and frequent floods (Sapir, 2008). The future projections by IPCC AR4 also indicates that there is ‘increased confidence that some weather events and extremes will become more frequent, more widespread and/or more intense during the 21st century and impacts due to altered frequencies and intensities of extreme weather, climate and sea level events are very likely to change’ (IPCC, 2007c; Parry et al, 2007).
  • 9. RECOMMENDATIONS • Integrated Risk Management Framework. • Adaptation and Mitigation • From Structural to Non Structural Mitigation • Future Climate Change-Hazards Scenarios- Impact Assessment • Climate Change/ Hazards Risk Indices (CCDRI) • Climate Change Modeling • Vulnerability Atlas. • Climate Change to ‘Climate Affairs’- a Multi Disciplinary Approach
  • 10. • New Approach to Vulnerability • Development as a Tool for Reducing Risk. • Logical Approach to the Hazards Management Cycle • Centre- State Relations, Policy Issues. • Command and Control • International Cooperation • Climate Change: Need for Single Authority.
  • 11. CONCLUSION • Natural hazards are balancing templates of the terrestrial system. These geo- physical events reoccur periodically to maintain the equilibrium between internal and external environment of the Earth. Before evolution of man, these events occurred threatening only prevailing flora and fauna but millions of years later, the human`s interaction with nature and their associated vulnerabilities towards these events transformed natural hazards into hazards. Climate has always been linked with hazards, so far, through climate variability manifesting in extreme weather events such as cyclones, storms, floods, droughts, heat waves, windstorms etc., with potential for catastrophic loss of human lives, damage to infrastructure and environment. • Although natural hazards are beyond the control of human being, however, their impacts can be reduced by setting up of advanced warning systems.