DST Supported Research track the impact of climate change in India, Suggest ways to tackle this global problem

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Tweet Text: .@IndiaDST supports various research to trace climate change impact in India to build the capacity against this global problem.
@iitbombay @iitmadras @IITKgp @iitdelhi
Watch this video to know about excellence centres in Climate Studies:

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Indian Researchers are tracing the impact of climate change on the country while looking for new ways to track the global problem.

Various research supported by the Department of Science and Technology are helping to improve the projection of climate, its impact, and vulnerability to prepare India for the future.

But before we discuss how these researches will support India’s battle against climate change research, we first need to know what do they tell us about alarming conditions of climate change in India.

Recently, In a study conducted by the Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology, some Dehradun-based researchers found that small-sized glaciers in Sikkim are melting at a higher magnitude as compared to other Himalayan regions.

Researchers from the same institute have also discovered that black carbon from agricultural burning & forest fire may influence the melting of Gangotri Glacier.

Moreover, A team of Scientists from IIT Kanpur also found that aerosols like black carbon and dust, which makes the Indo-Gangetic Plain one of the most polluted regions of the world, have led to increased incidents of high rainfall events in the foothills of the Himalayan Region.

In another work supported by DST, an IISc research showed that a planetary wave from the North Atlantic is capable of derailing the Indian monsoon on which the Indian economy is heavily dependent.

Building Capacity against Climate Change

To keep focussing on this area of research, Centres of excellence in Climate Change in four Indian Institute of Technologies – Delhi, Bombay, Kharagpur and Madras, are working on improving climate projection models to make them more comprehensive and accurate.

*What have these excellence centres found so far?

These centres have contributed to significant improvements to the base model, moving towards the development of the India Centric Climate Model (ICCM).

Securing the Indian Coasts Against Climate Change

At IIT Madras, the DST Centre for Excellence in Climate Change Impact on Coastal Infrastructure and the Adaptation strategies is developing suitable climate change adaptation measures for coastal infrastructure and utilization of water resources.

A technique, known as the “pseudo global warming method”, has been adapted and successfully used for the prognostic understanding of how cyclones originating in the Bay of Bengal would behave in the near future (2025) and in the far future (say, 2075) under different RCP scenarios.

Alarmingly, it is predicted that cyclone damage potential will increase in future.
And it is here, that this strategic knowledge is essential to understand the adaptation of coastal infrastructure, water resources management in coastal areas and preparedness of coastal communities for extreme events in the future.

Climate Change effects in Himalayan Regions

As part of future outlays, State Climate Change Cells in the 12 Himalayan States are undertaking vulnerability assessment, training programmes, public awareness, and institutional capacity building in climate change science, impacts, and adaptation.

(https://dst.gov.in/sites/default/files/IHCAP_Climate%20Vulnerability%20Assessment_30Nov2018_Final_aw.pdf )

This brought the first-ever Pan-Himalayan vulnerability profile map covering the 12 IHR States developed under the common framework which has been accepted by different stakeholders for climate adaptation planning in the Indian Himalayan Region.
Under a Common Framework, some eight eastern states have been identified to be the most vulnerable to climate change.

In other big development, Scientists from the Indian Institute of Geomagnetism (IIG) have found that Information frozen in magnetic minerals can forecast climatic changes faster & more accurately.

National Plan on Climate Change

As part of the National Action Plan on Climate Change, the Department of Science & Technology is coordinating and implementing two national missions on climate change.

These Missions are – National Mission for Sustaining the Himalayan Ecosystem and National Mission on Strategic Knowledge for Climate Change. They are implemented through a cluster of programmes that are supporting climate change research.

To build India’s capacity against climate change, over 1000 scientists, experts, and 200 institutions in the country are training research students to find newer ways to track and assess this global problem.

Not only this, international collaborations are helping to shape this capacity such as one between The Government of India and the Government of Switzerland as Indo-Swiss Joint Committee for Scientific and Technological Cooperation.

All these efforts reflect India’s commitment towards building a stronger nation that can stand solid against the effects of climate change.

That is all in this segment, stay tuned for more updates!