CLIMATE CHENGE IMPACTS: IPCC

CLIMATE CHENGE IMPACTS: IPCC

TOPIC: Environment

Context- Temperatures may hit ‘unsurvivable’ levels if emissions are not cut: IPCC

Concept-

Impacts of Climate Change As per IPCC sixth assessment report:

• Climate change and rising demand mean about 40 percent of people in India will live with water scarcity by 2050 compared with about 33 percent now.
• Both the Ganges and the Brahmaputra river basins will also see increased flooding as a result of climate change, particularly if warming exceeds 1.5° C.
• In India, rice production can decrease by 10 to 30 per cent and maize 25 to 70 per cent.
• India, which, according to the report, is the most vulnerable country in Asia in terms of crop production.
• Rice, wheat, pulses coarse cereal yields could fall almost 9 percent by 2050. Also continued climate change will cause a decline in the fisheries output.
• Referring to wet-bulb temperatures, a measure of heat and humidity, A wet-bulb temperature of 31° C is extremely dangerous for humans and 35° C unsurvivable for more than about six hours, even for fit and healthy adults resting in the shade.
• Water scarcity: By mid-21st Century, the international transboundary river basins of Amu Darya, Indus, Ganges and inter-State Sabarmati-river basin in India could face severe water scarcity.
• According to the report, high levels of warming could cause a global GDP decline of 10-23 per cent by the end of the century, compared to a world without warming.