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Get Pass Pass. Home » People Development and Environment. Download Post as PDF. Table of Contents. The presence of pollutants or contaminants that disrupt the balance of nutrients in the soil is a growing concern.
Continue Reading in App. Next Post. More from testbook. Evidence indicates that parts of South Asia have become drier since the s with an increase in the number of droughts. Droughts have major consequences. Droughts are expected to be more frequent in some areas, especially in north-western India, Jharkhand, Orissa and Chhattisgarh. Crop yields are expected to fall significantly because of extreme heat by the s. Although it is difficult to predict future ground water levels, falling water tables can be expected to reduce further on account of increasing demand for water from a growing population, more affluent life styles, as well as from the services sector and industry.
Glaciers in the northwestern Himalayas and in the Karakoram range - where westerly winter winds are the major source of moisture - have remained stable or even advanced. On the other hand, most Himalayan glaciers - where a substantial part of the moisture is supplied by the summer monsoon - have been retreating over the past century. The Ganges will be less dependent on melt water due to high annual rainfall downstream during the monsoon season.
The Indus and Brahmaputra are expected to see increased flows in spring when the snows melt, with flows reducing subsequently in late spring and summer. Alterations in the flows of the Indus, Ganges, and Brahmaputra rivers could significantly impact irrigation, affecting the amount of food that can be produced in their basins as well as the livelihoods of millions of people million in the Indus basin, million in the Ganges basin, and 62 million in the Brahmaputra basin in the year Major investments in water storage capacity would be needed to benefit from increased river flows in spring and compensate for lower flows later on.
Rapid and unplanned urbanization further increases the risks of sea water intrusion. With India close to the equator, the sub-continent would see much higher rises in sea levels than higher latitudes. Sea-level rise and storm surges would lead to saltwater intrusion in the coastal areas, impacting agriculture, degrading groundwater quality, contaminating drinking water, and possibly causing a rise in diarrhea cases and cholera outbreaks, as the cholera bacterium survives longer in saline water.
Kolkata and Mumbai, both densely populated cities, are particularly vulnerable to the impacts of sea-level rise, tropical cyclones, and riverine flooding. Building codes will need to be strictly enforced and urban planning will need to prepare for climate-related disasters. Coastal embankments will need to be built where necessary and Coastal Regulation Zone codes enforced strictly. Even without climate change, world food prices are expected to increase due to growing populations and rising incomes, as well as a greater demand for biofuels.
Wheat: Recent studies shows that wheat yields peaked in India and Bangladesh around and have not increased since despite increasing fertilizer applications. Should current trends persist, substantial yield reductions in both rice and wheat can be expected in the near and medium term. Crop diversification, more efficient water use, and improved soil management practices, together with the development of drought-resistant crops can help reduce some of the negative impacts.
Climate-related impacts on water resources can undermine the two dominant forms of power generation in India - hydropower and thermal power generation - both of which depend on adequate water supplies to function effectively. To function at full efficiency, thermal power plants need a constant supply of fresh cool water to maintain their cooling systems.
The increasing variability and long-term decreases in river flows can pose a major challenge to hydropower plants and increase the risk of physical damage from landslides, flash floods, glacial lake outbursts, and other climate-related natural disasters.
Decreases in the availability of water and increases in temperature will pose major risk factors to thermal power gener ation. Many parts of India are already experiencing water stress. Even without climate change, satisfying future demand for water will be a major challenge. Urbanization, population growth, economic development, and increasing demand for water from agriculture and industry are likely to aggravate the situation further.
An increase in variability of monsoon rainfall is expected to increase water shortages in some areas. Improvements in irrigation systems, water harvesting techniques, and more-efficient agricultural water management can offset some of these risks. Climate change is expected to have major health impacts in India- increasing malnutrition and related health disorders such as child stunting - with the poor likely to be affected most severely.
Malaria and other vector-borne diseases, along with and diarrheal infections which are a major cause of child mortality, are likely to spread into areas where colder temperatures had previously limited transmission.
Heat waves are likely to result in a very substantial rise in mortality and death, and injuries from extreme weather events are likely to increase. South Asia is a hotspot for the migration of people from disaster-affected or degraded areas to other national and international regions. The Indus and the Ganges-Brahmaputra-Meghna Basins are major trans boundary rivers, and increasing demand for water is already leading to tensions among countries over water sharing.
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