CLIMATE CHANGE & IMPACTS

Change is the law of nature. Everything in the world changes and so

does climate. The concept of climate change has been transforming
along with the development of climatology. Climate is commonly
defined as the weather averaged over a long period. The standard
averaging period is 30 years. Although the words weather and
climate sounds similar, the differences exist between the terms from
the perspective of space and time.

“any change in climate over time, whether due to natural

variability or as a result of human activity” (IPCC, 2001a).

“climate change refers to a change in climate which is attributed

directly or indirectly to human activity that alters the composition
of the global atmosphere and which is in addition to natural
climate variability observed over comparable time period”
(IPCC, 2001a).

 Concept Of Macro and Micro Climate:

Macro Climate:

The climate of a larger area such as a region or a country. Thus macro

climate refers to the climate at the scale of a large geographic region.
For example, tropical climate, sub-tropical climate etc.

Modification of macro climate:

 Human activities may unintentionally alter world or global
climates.
 Changes in the chemical or physical composition of the
atmosphere.
 Change in direct heating (rural area, urban, smart city, slum area)
and
 Changes in surface characteristics.
Modifying micro climates:
 Human being have the capacity to manage microclimates
for the benefit of themselves, their animals and cultivated
plants.
 Small acts like removal of vegetation change the albedo of
the land surface.
 Buildings that are designed for control of their internal
climates also affect the micro climate in their vicinities.
 Roads are commonly drier than adjacent land, have a
lower albedo.
 The effects of factories, parks, swamp drainage.
Improving micro climate through design:
 Reduced costs of winter heating
 Reduce summer overheating and the need for colling
 Maximise outdoor comfort in summer and winter.
 Encourage growth of plants
 Provide a better visual environment in spaces around
buildings.
 Modify of meso climate:
Improving meso climate:
 Source of climate change:
Do you know climate change had happened many a times
on the Earth’s history since itsorigin? Then, you must be
thinking that why we are making so much hue and cry
about this. This is because climate change in today’s
context is anthropogenic or in simpler term created by
human activities.
The sources or the causes for climate change could be
grouped into two:
 Natural and
 Anthropogenic

Natural Source Of Climate Change:

Some of the factors mentioned below are responsible for long term
climate change whereas others are responsible for short term climate
change. Major natural sources of climate change aresolar variability,
changes in Earth’s orbit and tilt, plate tectonics and biological
evolution. ( See table 1)

Table 1. Showing the natural source of climate change

This happens due to variation

in solar energy output. You
Solar Variability
might have read that the
energy output of the sun varies
 slightly over time. This has
been measured by the data
obtained through satellite.
Changes in Earth’s Orbit and It normally shifts from almost a
Tilt circular to elliptical orbit. This
has led to changes in the tilt of
Earth’s axis between 21.8 and
24.4 degrees.As a result of which
there has been change in the
planet’s solar energy budget.
Over time, portions of it drifted
apart, gradually forming the
Plate Tectonic continents and ocean basins
existing today. The redistribution
of land mass and ocean area has
had a major effect on global
climate.
This natural process took place
mainly during the evolution of
photosynthetic organism. The
Biological Evolution gradual shift in the atmospheric
concentrations from carbon
dioxide and methane to nitrogen
and oxygen took place because
photosynthetic organisms
 consumed carbon dioxide and
generated oxygen.

Climate Change due to Anthropogenic Activities:

Today’s climate change is primarily due to anthropogenic activities.

But, do you know how we have arrived on such conclusion? There
was lots of scientific research that took place over the last two
hundred years that helped in concluding about the present climate
change is due to anthropogenic activities.

 Climate changes and its impact:

1. CLIMATE CHANGE & IMPACT ON GENDER AND

HUMAN HEALTH:

As per a report of World Health Organisation (WHO), 12.6 million

lives are compromised each year by preventable ecological risk
factors. The report further ascertained that climate change is expected
to cause approximately 2,50,000 additional casualties per year due to
malnutrition, malaria, diarrhoea and heat strokes between the
year 2030 and 2050. It is likely to increase the expenses of billions of
dollars for the recuperation of human health. The scenario is more or
less similar in Asian and Indian perspective with the effects ranging
from extreme weather conditions to variations in the incidence of
vector-borne diseases.
A number of slums and human settlements located on hills and flood-
prone areas are subjected to periodic natural calamities that adversely
impinge on human health. These congested peri-urban settlements
with inadequate government services also becomes a potential
breeding ground for a plethora of disease hosts (e.g., rats, mice,
cockroaches, flies) and infectious microorganisms, thereby
challenging the resident population's vulnerability. The communities
surrounded by these poverty stricken belts also become more
susceptible to episodic pandemics (WHO Commission on Human
Health and Environment, 1992).

Table 2. Drop in living standards as a result of climate change

State Drop in living standard (in

percentages)
Chhattisgarh 9.4
Madhya Pradesh 9.1
Rajasthan 6.4
Uttar Pradesh 4.9
Maharashtra 4
Jharkhand 4.6
Haryana 4.3
Punjab 3.8
Andhra Pradesh 3.4
All India 2.8
Source: World Bank Report, South Asia’s Hotspots.
All of these factors affect the physiological mechanisms of human
adaptation for the better survival and ultimately lead to poor living
and health conditions among the population. These conditions are
magnified with the people with low income as they have lesser
capability to cope with. Though, there is impact of increasing
temperature to everyone, the most vulnerable are the poor people.

Table 3 Environmental changes and infectious diseases in human

beings

Enviromental Diseases Pathways

Changes
Malaria, Breeding sites for
Dams, irrigation
Schistosomiasis mosquitoes, Snail
Helminthiasies host habitat – human
contact Larval
contact due to moist
soil
Agricultural Malaria Crop insecticides,
intensification vector resistance
Cholera Sanitation, hygiene,
Urban crowding
Dengue water contamination,
Leishmaniasis water collecting trash
Malaria Crop insecticides,
Deforestation
Visceral vector resistance,
Leishmaniasis Sand-fly vectors
 Reforestation Lyme disease Tick hosts, outdoor
exposure
Ocean warming Red tide Increase in toxic
algal blooms
Rift valley fever Breeding sites for
High precipitation
Hantavirus mosquitoes, Increase
pulmonary disease in rodent food,
habitat abundance
Source: Wilson. 2001

(a). Indirect Impacts of Climate Change on Human Health:

Now let us get acquainted with the indirect impacts of climate change
on human health. These are in the form of diseases such as infectious
diseases, vector and water-borne diseases and algal blooms.

Differential Impacts of Climate Change on Different Sections of

Society:

Gender Wise:

Women are more likely to be affected adversely by climate change

than men. Their vulnerability is further increased due to their social
and economic status which limits their ability to adapt to the altering
climatic conditions. Pregnant women are in particular more prone to
malaria than non-pregnant women by virtue of various physiological
changes, like increased temperature of exhaled breath and heat
dissipation. The condition renders pregnant ladies to be more
alluring to malaria carrying mosquitoes, making them particularly
vulnerable to malaria.

AGE WISE:

Like children, elderly population are also vulnerable to the risks and
challenges posed by the changing climate around the globe. With the
increasing biological age, people have to confront several challenges
including declining physical and mental wellbeing, higher risks of
health related disabilities, loss of financial stability and security and
ultimately sudden or painful demise.

Social and Economic Status Wise:

In the eastern parts of India and Bangladesh, having predominantly

higher arsenic contamination of groundwater, inundations resulting
from severe downpour or oceanic calamity compounds the trials and
tribulations of socially and economically deprived sections of the
society.

Mental Health and Well-Being:

All these unanimously result in awful agricultural losses in terms of

crop productivity, which ultimately leads to increased distress to
farmers. Those farmers who are not able to cope with these hardship,
they are taking extreme steps and ultimately suicide.

High Infant and Maternal Mortality rates and Climate Change:

Climate sensitive diseases already place an enormous burden on

child health. Higher rates of low-birth-weight infants were observed
for mothers exposed to the environmental risks of air pollution,
tobacco smoke or various chemicals. Children, particularly in poor
countries, have made the least contribution to the greenhouse gases
that are causing climate change, yet they are among the most
vulnerable to the resulting health risks and will be exposed longer to
the health consequences of a degraded natural environment

2. CLIMATE CHANGE AND IMPACT ON AGRICULTURE AND FOOD

SECURITY:

Climate change can affect agriculture through their direct and indirect
effects on the crops, livestock, soils and pests. The potential impacts
of climate change on different sectors of agriculture are presented in
the Table …

Table 4. Potential Impacts of Climate Change on Different Sectors

of Agriculture

Sector Impact
 Carbon dioxide fertilization
effect: Increase in ambient CO2
concentration is beneficial since
it leads to increased
photosynthesis in several crops,
especially those with C3
Crops
photosynthetic pathway such as
wheat and rice, and decreased
evaporative losses.
 Yields of major cereals crops,
especially wheat are likely to be
reduced due to decrease in grain
filling duration, increased
respiration, and / or reduction in
rainfall/irrigation supplies.
 Yield Reduction in rainfed
crops is ascribed to erratic
monsoonal rainfall and increased
crop water demand.
 Increase in extreme weather
events such as floods, droughts,
cyclones and heat waves will
adversely affect agricultural
productivity.
 Increase in Pest and disease
outbreak on account of rapid
pathogen transmission and
increased host susceptibility.
 Threat to Agricultural
biodiversity due to the global
changes in the climate related
parameters like temperature,
rainfall and sea level.
  Irrigation water demand would
increase with rise in
temperature and
Water
evapotranspiration rate.
 The water balance in different
parts of India will be affected
and the quality of groundwater
in the coastal region will be
affected more due to intrusion
of sea waters.
 Organic matter content, which
is already quite low in Indian
soils, would become still lower.
Soil
 Rise in soil temperature will
increase N mineralization, but its
availability may decrease due to
increased gaseous losses through
processes such as volatilization
and denitrification.
 Change in rainfall volume and
frequency, and wind may alter
the severity, frequency and
extent of soil erosion.
 Sea level rise may lead to sea
 water ingression in the coastal
areas, turning them less suitable
for conventional agriculture.
 Climate change and associated
phenomena will affect fodder
production and nutritional
security of livestock.
Live Stock  Changes in rainfall pattern may
also influence vector population
during wetter years, leading to
large outbreaks of diseases.
 Climate change is likely to
aggravate the heat stress in dairy
animals, adversely affecting their
reproductive performance.
 Increasing temperature of sea
Fishery
and river water is likely to affect
breeding, migration and harvests
of fishes.
 Impacts of increased
temperature and tropical
cyclonic activity would affect the
capture, production and
marketing costs of the marine
 fish.
Source: Aggarwal et al. (2009) and Pathak et al., 2012

Food Security

The term “food security” initially was used to describe whether a

country had access to enough food to meet dietary energy
requirements (Pinstrup-Andersen, 2009). The concept of food
security evolved and the definition agreed upon at the World Food
Summit in 1996 is that food security exists when all people, at all
times, have physical and economic access to sufficient safe and
nutritious food to meet their dietary needs and food preferences for
a healthy and active life (Barrett, 2010).

By adopting traditional and modern breeding methods, the plant

breeders are in constant urge to increase the potential crop yield.
Nevertheless, the farmers are not in a position to achieve the potential
yield of crop plants. There exists a yield gap between actual yield and
potential yield. The yield gap is a function of biotic and abiotic stress
in agro-ecosystem. The agricultural crop production will increase, if
the yield gap is narrowed down. Unfortunately, the yield gap is
widening due to change in climate and consequent impact on the
components of agro-ecosystems.

3. IMPACT OF CLIMATE CHANGE ON FISHERIES:

Climate change driven “rising ocean temperature”, and “ocean

acidification” are reported to affect the aquatic ecosystem including
the distribution and productivity of fish species. Eventually, climate
change affects the sustainability of fisheries and livelihood of fishing
community. Also, climate change affects the carbon sequestration
potential of marine ecosystem. Ocean acidification affects the marine
organisms such as oysters, corals, and shrimps. Impacts on fish
distribution, and productivity have cascading effect on marine food
web.

Climate change is also affecting fresh water aquaculture. This is due

to sea level rise and intrusion of saline water in the fresh water. Apart
from this, fishing communities living along the coast are more
vulnerable to extreme weather events like cyclones and tsunamis in
terms loss of life and livelihoods.

As far as India is concerned, mainland India has about 6100 km long

coastline and total Indian coastline would be of about 7517 km if
we add to this the coastline of Andaman and Nicobar Island in the
Bay of Bengal and Lakshadweep Islands in Arabian Sea.

4. IMPACT OF CLIMATE CHANGE ON FOREST AND

BIODIVERSITY:

Climate is probably the most important determinant of vegetation

patterns globally and has significant influence on the distribution,
structure and ecology of forests. Several climate–vegetation studies
have shown that certain climatic regimes are associated with
particular plant communities or functional types. It is therefore logical
to assume that changes in climate would alter the configuration of
forest ecosystems.

India is a mega-biodiversity country where forests account for about

20% (64 million ha) of the geographical area. With nearly 200,000
villages classified as forest villages, there is obviously large
dependence of communities on forest resources. Thus, it is important
to assess the likely impacts of projected climate change on forests and
develop and implement adaptation strategies for both biodiversity
conservation and the livelihoods of forest dependent people.

Case Studies 1. Drought tolerant species provides ‘biological

insurance’
Field study conducted in Panama by Bunker et al., 2005 concluded
that biodiverse ecosystems are likely to show greater resilience to a
drying climate as the presence of several drought tolerant species
provides ‘biological insurance’ to counter the loss of other species.
(Source: https://www.birdlife.org/projects/6-biodiversity)

5. IMPACT OF CLIMATE CHANGE ON FORCED

MIGRATION:

Climate change has potential to cause migration which includes

migration within the country and migration from outside the country.
The migration within the India may occur due to climate change
induced effects like drought, low agricultural productivity,
desertification, etc. It is reported that about 3 lakh labourers migrate
every year from drought prone Bolangir district, Western Odisha
(Deshingkar 2003).

For instance, the vulnerability of Bangladesh to climate change is one

of the prime reason for out-migration. Myers (2002) argues that
“climate refugees from Bangladesh alone might outnumber all current
refugees worldwide. He projected that 26 million refugees will come
from Bangladesh”.

6. IMPACT ON NATURAL ECOSYSTEM:

Rising temperatures, shifting rainfall patterns and increasing humidity

affect the transmission of diseases by vectors and through water and
food. Vectorborne diseases currently kill approximately 1.1 million
people a year.

The global climate is now changing faster than at any point in human
civilization, and many of the effects on health will be acutely felt. The
most severe risks are to developing countries, with negative
implications for the achievement of the health-related goals and for
health equity. Many of the major killer diseases transmitted by water
and contaminated food, and by insect vectors are highly sensitive to
climatic conditions and weather extremes.

7. IMPACT ON SOIL CHARACTERISTICS:

The soil is an integral part of the environment. The lithosphere,

hydrosphere, atmosphere, and biosphere are environmental
compartments that overlap and are intimately associated in the
ecosystem.

As per the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), there are

several natural and human-made mechanisms affecting the global
energy balance and force changes in Earth’s climate. . Therefore, what
happens in soil should have a profound impact on not only soil quality
but also ecosystem health. The soil is a dynamic system in which
continuous interaction takes place between soil minerals, organic
matter, and organisms. Each of these three major soil components
influences the physicochemical and biological properties of terrestrial
systems.

Table 5. Climate change effects on soil processes (Pareek, 2017).

S. Climatic variable Effects

N.
Loss in SOC
Decrease in labile pool of
1 Increasing temperature
SOM
Decrease in moisture content
Increase in mineralization rate
Soil structure destruction
Loss of SOM
Increase in WUE
2 Increase CO2
More availability of carbon to
soil microbes
 Increase in soil respiration rate
Increase in soil moisture
content
3 Fluctuations in rainfall Surface runoff and erosion
(Increase/decrease/scattered) increased
Nutrient leaching acceleration
Increased volatilization loss
Increase in productivity in arid
zones