{"id":2668,"date":"2014-03-31T11:58:45","date_gmt":"2014-03-31T11:58:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/india\/?p=2668"},"modified":"2021-12-01T12:39:12","modified_gmt":"2021-12-01T12:39:12","slug":"india-faces-food-shortages-and-development-setbacks-due-to-climate-change-new-un-report","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/india\/en\/press\/2668\/india-faces-food-shortages-and-development-setbacks-due-to-climate-change-new-un-report\/","title":{"rendered":"India faces food shortages and development setbacks due to Climate Change: New UN report"},"content":{"rendered":"

New Delhi | March 31, 2014 | As the new Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report \u2013 released today in Japan \u2013 set off warning bells across the world, Greenpeace India urged Indian leaders to take cognizance of the warning in the report, and accelerate clean and safe energy transition.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The IPCC said climate change impacts are already widespread across all continents and oceans and rapidly worsening. The report states that in Asia, this climate chaos can bring about floods, heat-related mortality, and drought and water related food shortage. For an agro-based economy like India that depends largely on monsoons, this can be disastrous.<\/p>\n

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The report also states that climate change will have a negative impact on wheat yields in South Asia. Global food production is reducing slowly, and IPCC chairperson, RK Pachauri has even said that in some parts of the world, the much-touted green revolution has reached a plateau.<\/p>\n

Also an increase in riverine, coastal, and urban flooding can lead to widespread damage to infrastructure, livelihoods, and settlements, in Asia. This might mean likely impact on cities such as, Mumbai and Kolkata in India and Dhaka in Bangladesh. But how bad it will get hinges on near-term choices.<\/p>\n

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The dangers of climate change are real, have been clearly spelt out by the IPCC Working Group II report titled \u2018Climate Change 2014: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability\u2019. \u201cIt clearly shows that continuing on the path of coal and high carbon emissions will hurt India\u2019s development and economy eventually and all that had been gained in improving the standard of living in the country will be negated. In a matter of few days India will vote again and the new government cannot be unmindful of India’s vulnerability to climate change impacts,\u201d says Arpana Udupa, campaigner, Greenpeace India.<\/p>\n

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The recent hailstorms in parts of Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh which destroyed crops such as wheat, harbhara, cotton, jowar, onions etc in over 12 lakh hectares of land, and consequent farmer suicides, \u00a0points towards IPCC\u2019s prediction of erratic precipitation patterns. The IPCC had earlier predicted a possible decrease in overall rainfall but an increase in extreme weather events. \u201cWith the latest report predicting severe impact on wheat, the new Indian government will have to take positive steps to mitigate the problem,\u201d says Udupa.<\/p>\n

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However, the IPCC report also provides some hope when it states that limiting warning below 2 degree Celsius would reduce many key risks to medium or low level. \u201cThe new government should speedily act to bring about a clean energy transition and strengthen adaptation, looking at the mitigation and adaptation benefits in every scheme, starting from energy,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

The IPCC report found that climate change is a growing threat to human security, as it exacerbates food and water vulnerabilities and indirectly increases the risks of migration and violent conflicts.<\/p>\n

\u201cOil rigs and coal power plants are weapons of mass destruction, loading the atmosphere with destructive carbon emissions that don’t respect national borders. To protect our peace and security, we must disarm them and accelerate the transition to clean and safe renewable energy that\u2019s already started,\u201d said Jen Maman, peace adviser at Greenpeace International.<\/p>\n

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Greenpeace demands that the new Indian government should come to the climate summit of UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in September with serious offers that will help the world and India itself to achieve a clean and safe energy transition.<\/p>\n

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Notes:<\/strong><\/p>\n

For a detailed briefing on the IPCC’s findings: http:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/international\/Global\/international\/briefings\/climate\/2014\/IPCC-WGII-Key-Findings.pdf<\/a><\/p>\n

The full report can be accessed here: http:\/\/www.ipcc.ch\/report\/ar5\/wg2\/<\/a><\/p>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n \t\t\t

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