Global Warming in India
A Sacred River Endangered by Global Warming - 6/17/07
Recent reports by scientists say the Ganges is under even greater threat from global warming. According to a U.N. climate report, the Himalayan glaciers that are the sources of the Ganges could disappear by 2030 as temperatures rise.
The shrinking glaciers also threaten Asia's supply of fresh water. The World Wildlife Fund in March listed the Ganges among the world's 10 most endangered rivers. In India, the river provides more than 500 million people with water for drinking and farming.
The immediate effect of glacier recession is a short-lived surplus of water. But eventually the supply runs out, and experts predict that the Ganges eventually will become a seasonal river, largely dependent on monsoon rains.
"There has never been a greater threat for the Ganges," said Mahesh Mehta, an environmental lawyer who has been filing lawsuits against corporations dumping toxins in the Ganges. He is now redirecting his energies toward the melting glaciers. "If humans don't change their interference, our very religion, our livelihoods are under threat."
Mehta and other environmentalists want to see the Indian government here enforce strict reductions of greenhouse gas emissions, the primary cause of climate change.
Helping India Prepare For Impact Of Global Warming - 4/15/07
Growing concern over the potential impact of global warming has spurred action from Louisiana to India. Worries over increasing temperatures, melting polar ice caps and a lack of non-damaging fuel sources are slowly but surely beginning to affect policy at the international level.
The potential repercussions of climate change on regional and global economies, public health, available water supplies and ecosystem services could be devastating. This is particularly true for developing countries, which tend to be ill-equipped for such changes.
Robert Twilley, associate vice chancellor of research and economic development at LSU, director of the Coastal Systems and Society Initiative and professor of coastal sciences, recently joined an international science team tasked with helping India, one of the countries facing the most dramatic consequences of world climate change.
The team is developing an environmental observation system for India to help reduce risks and provide clear policies to guide the many coastal regions of the continent.
India has one of the most populated coastal communities in the world with approximately 500 people per mile of coastline, compared to the U.S., which has approximately 30 people per mile. The country has historically experienced severe coastal threats, such as tsunamis, monsoons and cyclones in these areas of high population density.
India Faces Global Warming Disaster - 10/9/06
Millions of people in Asia-Pacific region, including India, could be forced from their homes and suffer increasing disease, cyclones and floods caused by global warming, scientists warned on Monday.
The report, commissioned by a coalition of environmental, aid, church and development groups, analyses predictions of temperature increases of up to two degrees Celsius by 2030 and up to seven degrees by 2070.
Scientists blame global warming on greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide, produced mainly by the burning of fossil fuels including coal and oil, for causing rising temperatures worldwide.
The CSIRO says that remaining below the generally accepted threshold for "dangerous" climate change of about two degrees Celsius would require global greenhouse gas emissions to be reduced by 30-55 percent below 1990 levels.
Changing patterns of temperature and rainfall would also cause a shift in the distribution of dengue and malaria-carrying mosquitoes, likely exposing millions more people to such diseases by the end of the century.
