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To assess the impact of climate change in India and to undertake regional projects to recognize and develop adaptation strategies, India and Britain have announced five new projects. This was announced at the first Indo-UK Programme on Climate Change Impacts & Adaptation-Phase II workshop held recently.
This is the 2nd phase of a collaborative research programme that follows a major assessment of the impacts of climate change on India, carried out by Britain's department for environment, food and rural affairs (DEFRA) and the Indian ministry of environment and forests. The programme launched mainly studied the impact of climate change in varied areas such as on water resources, agriculture, forests, industry, sea level and human health.
The projects to be taken up during the second phase aim to develop improved scenarios to predict the impacts of climate change for India up to 2050. Special emphasis will be on looking at the impacts of climate change on water resources, agriculture and forestry, and the socio-economic effects of climate extremes.
Two regional projects will be developed in Orissa and Madhya Pradesh to assess impacts and vulnerability and develop adaptation options for agriculture, forestry, water resources and heat waves. Britain has made commitment that it will contribute 500,000 pounds to conduct the second phase of the study.
David Warrilow, head of climate science & international evidence, department of energy and climate change (DECC), UK, said in a workshop "Climate change will pose increasing threats across the world. India, in common with many developing countries, is particularly vulnerable to changing patterns of rainfall, including droughts and floods and other extreme events. These projects will help India to assess the risks of climate and develop adaptation strategies."
The five projects are:
- Linking Water and Agriculture in River Basins: Impacts of Climate Change - to be carried out by Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi;
- Development and Dissemination of High Resolution Climate Change Scenarios for India - to be carried out by Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology, Pune;
- State-level Vulnerability and Adaptation Assessment, Madhya Pradesh - to be carried out by Development Alternatives, New Delhi;
- State-level Vulnerability Assessment and Adaptation Strategies, Orissa - to be carried out by Winrock International India; and
- Socio-Economic Impacts of Climate Extremes - to be carried out by Indian Institute of Management, Ahmadabad.
The Economic Times
May 12, 2009
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