< Previous | Contents | Next >
♤ India is a land of mega-biodiversity, encompassing features from glaciers to deserts. However, climate change is posing grave threat to its ecosystems.
♤ Mountain ecosystems are hot spots of biodiversity. However, temperature increases and human activities are causing fragmentation and degradation of mountain biodiversity.
♤ The Himalayan Ecosystem is considered as the lifeline not only to India but also to our neighbouring countries such as China, Pakistan, Nepal, owing to the perennial rivers that arise out of the melting glaciers.
♤ It is home to the largest amount of glaciers after the North and the South Poles. However, climate change is threatening this life giver drastically.
♤ It is also predicted that there will be an increase in the phenomenon of Glacial Lake Outburst Floods (GLOFs) in the eastern and the central Himalayas, causing catastrophic flooding downstream, with serious damage to ‘life, property, forests, farms, and infrastructure’.
♤ The melting glaciers of the Himalayas have a serious impact given the fact that they give rise to the perennial rivers that further flourishes the agriculture.
♤ The Himalayan rivers are closely interlinked with the Indo-Gangetic Ecosystem, which is primarily an agricultural ecosystem, nearly 65-70% of Indians having agriculture as their primary occupation.
♤ The National Environment Policy, 2006 states that the Indian Desert Ecosystems (arid and semi-arid region) occupies 127.3 mha (38.8%) of the country’s geographical area and spreads over 10 states.
♤ The Indian desert fauna is extremely rich in species diversity of mammals and winter migratory birds.
♤ Recent studies have shown that deserts have shown signs of expansion, thus leading to a process called desertification.
♤ The climate patterns have altered the natural attributes of a desert region; for example the floods in the desert district of Barmer in Rajasthan in 2006.
♤ Coastal and Marine Ecosystem is one of the assets of India.
♤ The mangrove forests (wetlands) of the rivers and the coasts acts as carbon sink as well as a habitat for a unique and diverse species of plants and animals.
♤ The wetlands act as a natural barrier to flooding (that may be caused by the rising sea levels) and cyclones.
♤ The most explicit event in the perspective of climate change affecting the marine ecosystem is the example of coral bleaching.
♤ In the Peninsular India, even the rivers of the Peninsula are dependent on the monsoons, thus the Peninsular Ecosystem is basically a monsoon dependent ecosystem.
♤ India is heavily dependent on the monsoon to meet its agricultural and water needs, and also for protecting and propagating its rich biodiversity. Climate change is linked with the changing patterns observed in the monsoons of India.
Do you know?
Narcotic substances that are used for smoking purposes are called “fumitories,” and those that are used for chewing purposes are called “masticatories.”