NEW DELHI, Oct 5 - A multi-disciplinary action is the need of the hour for tackling climate change impact in the mountain areas especially in the Northeastern region.
This was the opinion of Prof NH Ravindranath of Centre for Sustainable Technologies, Indian Institute of Science, Bengalaru while responding to a question during the plenary session on Climate Resilient Agriculture held as part of World Sustainable Development Summit (WSDS) at India Habitat Centre in New Delhi on Wednesday. The programme was organised by The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI).
Expressing the need for better coordination among the stakeholders, Prof Ravindranath informed that the region is expected to face �severe impact� as mountains are �more vulnerable� to climate change and temperature rise.
Despite all the initiatives, temperature will cross 1.5 to 2 degree Celsius by 2025 as climate change is already happening here, he observed. �This will result in additional stress to our farmers. So suitable action is needed to address the issue�, he observed.
Prof Pramod Aggarwal, who leads the South Asia Regional Programme for CGIAR, a global agricultural research partnership, informed that several research activities on adaptation initiatives are taking place to tackle the situation in North East. �But it is not easy to spell out the steps to be taken up at this stage,� he added.
Highlighting the climate change impact on global perspective, he told the gathering that 32 to 39 per cent of crop yield are sensitive to climate and the temperature rising by 1 degree Celsius is likely to impact global food security as the tropical region is expected to face more heat.
�So, it is important to develop climate smart villages besides scaling up the adaptation options. We need to have much better evidence and knowledge to tackle the issue besides encouraging incentive mechanisms�, he added.
In his presentation, David Butler of Ireland talked about tackling climate change impact through adaptation activities in livestock. Livestock production could be a smart model in tackling the issue, he said and informed that Ireland�s milk production is on the rise.
Distinguished fellow of TERI, S Vijay Kumar, in an interaction in the media colloquium told the journalists from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Cameroon, India, Nepal and Sri Lanka, that India�s scheme such as Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) could be helpful in achieving sustainable development goal of the country including the issue of tackling climate change.
