BANGALORE: There will be a serious risk of severe ill-health in the country soon. The risk of mortality and morbidity is also going to go up during periods of extreme heat, a major consequence of the ongoing climate change. 

"Climate change is certain to impact human health adversely. Many diseases which were only heard of will now start affecting the community at large," said H N Ravindranath, Centre for Sustainable Technologies, Indian Institute of Science. 

Warming, drought, flooding and precipitation are some of the very obvious changes which will be visible in the years to come, said experts gathered at the deliberation session at the Divecha Centre for Climate Change, IISC recently. Experts discussed the findings of the Inter- governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Working Group II (WG-II) findings released on March 31 this year. 

They said that local changes in temperature and rainfall have caused some change in the distribution of some water-borne illnesses and with reduced overall food production, the Indian population will only be more vulnerable. 

"Climate change will lead to increase in ill-health in many regions, especially in the developing countries with low income," said Aromar Revi, director, Indian Institute for Human Settlements, Bangalore. And to prepare for such 'risks' countries need to introduce a new set of policies to supplement the existing policies, felt experts. 

"But that calls for a huge funding. The big question is where the money will flow in from considering that developing countries need to build an extra set of policies to mitigate risks," said Purnamita Dasgupta of the Institute for Economic Growth, New Delhi. 

Many terrestrial, freshwater and marine species have shifted their geographic ranges, seasonal activities, migration patterns, abundance and species interaction in response to the ongoing climate change.

Please share

s.s.venkateshwar

A&N islands