The Hindu : Karnataka News : It will be warmer by 2030, says climate change report

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Karnataka

Karnataka

It will be warmer by 2030, says climate change report

Special Correspondent

Final report on climate change
it was prepared by experts

BANGALORE: The Karnataka Climate Change Action Plan (KCCAP) — a comprehensive report on the impact of change on the climate of the State, prepared by Bangalore Climate Change Initiative-Karnataka (BCCI-K) states that failure to protect the environment will impact forest area to the extent of 38 per cent by 2030 and most areas in the State will experience rise in temperature from 1.8 to 2.2 degrees Celsius.

The report was submitted to the Government by the former Chairman of the Legislative Council, B.K. Chandrashekar, on Wednesday. Additional Chief Secretary and Development Commissioner Meera Saxena received the report in the presence of Chairman of the Legislative Council D.H. Shankaramurthy.

With the Prime Minister's initiative to formulate a National Action Plan on climate change in 2008, all the State governments were asked to prepare State-level action plans; and the BCCI-K, spearheaded by Prof. Chandrashekar, brought together distinguished experts from several prestigious institutions to prepare the Karnataka Climate Change Action Plan. Scientists and researchers representing premier institutes, including Indian Institute of Science (IISc.), Centre for Study of Science, Technology and Policy (CSSTP),Institute for Social and Economic Change (ISEC) and the University of Agricultural Sciences were involved in preparing the report. The report has been prepared in close association with the ‘India Observatory' London School of Economics, led by the renowned economist and climate change expert Lord Nicholas Stern. World Bank has provided financial support for the study. The KCCAP that submitted its interim report in March, has now submitted its final report. The final report focusses on the climate variability, climate change projections, impact on forests, agriculture and water resources, assessment of socio-economic vulnerability and adaptive capacity and mitigation options in the energy sector.

Impact on forest area

The report reveals that the area under forest is marginally declining in the State, while the area under dense forests has declined by 8 per cent from 2001-2007. The forests of Uttara Kannada, Chikmagalur and Shimoga districts are particularly vulnerable to the projected climate change. Over all, around 38 per cent of the forest area is projected to be under impact of climate change by 2030. There is a long-term negative trend of about 6 per cent precipitation of rainfall in the last 50 years (1954-2004) and most of the areas of the State are projected to experience a warming ranging from 1.8 to 2.2 degrees Celsius. The rainfall variability is very high in Chickballapur, Chitradurga, Gadag, Kolar, Mandya and Tumkur districts and temperature will increase in Raichur, Bijapur, Gulbarga and Yadgir districts, the report shows.

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