Abstract
Most of the area in the South Asian region, namely, Afghanistan, Bangladesh,Bhutan, Nepal, Pakistan, Maldives, Sri Lanka and India, lie in temperate and tropical regions that is influenced predominantly by the monsoons. The physiography of the region is diverse ranging from the Himalayas in the North, the long coast line, a vast desert and tropical forests with rich biodiversity reserve. In the recent years, huge losses have been incurred due to climate related hazards (see Box One) and recovering from such shocks has not been easy as socio-economics of the region is characterized by large population and high levels of poverty and unequal development within the countries mainly due to the non-attainment of its development goals such as eradication of poverty, universal education and a sustainable environment.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
REFERENCES
Aggarwal PK, Mall RK. Climate Change and Rice Yields in Diverse Agro-environments of India. II: Effects of Uncertainties in Scenarios and Crop Models on Impact Assessment. Climate Change. 2002;52:331–343.
Barnett TP, Adam JC, Lettenmaier DP. Potential Impacts of a Warming Climate on Water Availability in Snow-dominated Regions. Nature. 2005;438:303–309.
Bhattacharya S, Sharma C, Dhiman RC, Mitra AP. Climate change and malaria in India. Current Science. 2006;90(3):369–375.
Chaudhury SK, Gore JM, Ray KCS. Impact of Heat Waves in India. Current Science. 2000;79:153–155.
Biswas R, Pal D, Mukhopadhyay SP. A Community-Based Study on Health Impact of Flood in a Vulnerable District of West Bengal. Indian Journal of Public Health. 1999;43:89–90.
Broadus, J., 1993. Possible impacts of, and adjustments to, sea-level rise: the cases of Bangladesh and Egypt. In: Climate and Sea Level Change: Observations, Projections and Implications. R.A. Warrick, E.M. Barrow and T.M.L. Wigley. Cambridge, Mass.: Cambridge University Press.
Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), 2003. Interlinkages between Biological Diversity and Climate Change: Advice on the Integration of Biodiversity Considerations into the Implementation of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate and Its Kyoto Protocol. CBD Technical Series No. 10.
Cline William, R., 2007. Global Warming and Agriculture: Impact Estimates by country. Centre for Global Development, 2007. (http://www.cgdev.org/content/ publications/detail/14090)
Gosain AK, Rao S, Ray B, Debajit,. Climate change impact assessment on hydrology of Indian river basins. Current Science. 2006;90(3):346–353.
Goswami, B.N., Venugopal, V., Sengupta, D., Madhusoodanan, M.S. and Xavier, Prince K., 2006. Increasing Trend of Extreme Rain Events Over India in a Warming Environment. Science (www.sciencemag.org), December 2006, Vol. 314.
Government of Andhra Pradesh, 2004. Report of the State Level Committee on Heat Wave Conditions in Andhra Pradesh State. Government of Andhra Pradesh, Revenue (Disaster Management) Department. Hyderabad, India.
Mehra, Rakesh, 2009. Climate Change Agenda for Delhi: 2009-2012. Government of National Capital Region Delhi.
Hales, S., Edwards, S. and Kovats, R.S., 2003. Impacts on Health of Climate Extremes. In: Climate Change and Human Health: Risks and Responses (eds.) A.J. McMichael, D.H. Campbell-Lendrum, C.F. Corvalan, K.L. Ebi, A. Githeko, J.D. Scheraga, and A. Woodward., World Health Organization Geneva:.
IPCC. Climate Change 2001: The Scientific Basis. Contribution of Working Group II to the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change: Cambridge University Press; 2007a.
IPCC. Climate Change 2001: Impacts. Adaptation and Vulnerability. Contribution of Working Group II to the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change: Cambridge University Press; 2007b.
Kalra, N., Chakraborty, D., Ramesh, P.R., Jolly, M. and Sharma, P.K., 2007. Impacts of Climate Change in India: Agricultural Impacts. In: Final Report, Joint Indo- UK Programme of Ministry of Environment and Forests, India, and Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA), United Kingdom. Indian Agricultural Research Institute (Unit of Simulation and Informatics), New Delhi.
Lal M, Singh KK, Rathore LS, Srinivasan G, Saseendran SA. Vulnerability of Rice and Wheat Yields in Northwest India to Future Changes in Climate. Agricultural and Forest Meteorology. 1998;89:101–114.
Lal M. Global Climate Change: India’s Monsoon and its Variability. Journal of Environmental Studies and Policy. 2003;6:1–34.
Lal M, Singh KK, Srinivasan G, Rathore LS, Naidu D, Tripathi CN. Growth and Yield Responses of Soybean in Madhya Pradesh, India, to Climate Variability and Change. Agricultural and Forest Meteorology. 1999;93:53–57.
Milly PCD, Dunne KA, Vecchia VA. Global Pattern of Trends in Streamflow and Water Availability in a Changing Climate. Nature. 2005;438:347–350.
NAPCC. National Action Plan on Climate Change. Government of India, New Delhi: Prime Minister’s Office; 2008.
NATCOM. India’s Initial National Communication to the UNFCCC. Government of India, New Delhi: Ministry of Environment and Forests; 2004.
Nicholls RJ, Lowe JA. Climate stabilization and impacts of sea-level rise. In: Schellnhuber HJ, Cramer W, Nakicenovic N, Wigley T, Yohe G, editors. Avoiding Dangerous Climate Change. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press; 2006.
Ravindranath NH, Joshi NV, Sukumar R, Saxena A. Impact of climate change on forests in India. Current Science. 2006;90(3):354–361.
Rupa Kumar K, Sahai AK, Krishna Kumar K, Patwardhan SK, Mishra PK, Revadekar JV, Kamala K, Pant GB. High-resolution climate change scenarios for India for the 21st century. Current Science. 2006;90(3).
Unnikrishnan AS, Rupa Kumar K, Fernandes SE, Michael GS, Patwardhan SK. Sea level changes along the Indian coast: Observations and projections. Current Science. 2006;90(3):362–368.
Nicola, Ranger, Hallegatte, Stéphane, Bhattacharya, Sumana, Murthy, Bachu, Satya Priya, Dhore, K., Rafique, Farhat, Mathur, P., Naville, Nicolas, Henriet, Fanny, Herweijer, Celine, Pohit, Sanjib and Jan Corfee-Morlot, 2009. A Preliminary Assessment of the Potential Impact of Climate Change on Flood Risk in Mumbai. Submitted for publication in the Special Issue on Cities and Climate Change of The Journal on Climatic Change.
Revi A. Climate Change Risk: An Adaptation and Mitigation Agenda for Indian Cities. Bellagio, July: Global Urban Summit; 2007. 2007.
World Bank, 2009. South Asia Region – Towards a climate change strategy. http: //siteresources.worldbank.org/SOUTHASIAEXT/Resources/Publications/448813-
United Nations Population Division, 2007. World Urbanization Prospects: The 2007 Revision Population Database. United Nations Population Division, Department of Economic and Social Affairs (http://esa.un.org/unup/p2k0data.asp).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2010 Capital Publishing Company
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Bhattacharya, S. (2010). Key Vulnerabilities of Human Society in South Asia to Climate Change and Adaptation Issues and Strategies. In: Mitra, A.P., Sharma, C. (eds) Global Environmental Changes in South Asia. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-9913-7_11
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-9913-7_11
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-1-4020-9912-0
Online ISBN: 978-1-4020-9913-7
eBook Packages: Earth and Environmental ScienceEarth and Environmental Science (R0)