Climate Change in South Asia

Abstract

South Asia, is home to over one fifth of the world's population and is known to be the most disaster prone region in the world. The high rates of population growth, and natural resource degradation, with continuing high rates of poverty and food insecurity make South Asia one of the most vulnerable regions to the impacts of climate change. In general, past and present climate trends and variability in South Asia can be characterized by increasing air temperatures and there is an increasing trend in the intensity and frequency of extreme events in South Asia over the last century. Temperature projections for South Asia for the twenty-first century suggest a significant acceleration of warming over that observed in the twentieth century. Recent modelling experiments indicate that the warming would be significant in Himalayan Highlands including the Tibetan Plateau and arid regions of Asia. An increase in occurrence of extreme weather events including heat wave and intense precipitation events is projected in South

Farmers' responses to climate change impact on water availability: insights from the Indrawati Basin in Nepal

“…The impact will be more pronounced at lower elevations, where the prevailing temperature is already high. The increase in temperature will have a marked negative impact on those crops which are already being grown close to their temperature tolerance threshold (Sivakumar & Stefanski, 2011).…”

“…The productivity of most crops has either remained constant or gradually increased over the past 10 years (2002 -z2012), with the exception of wheat and to a lesser extent spring maize, which show a small decline ( Figure 7). Sivakumar and Stefanski (2011) calculated that a 0.5 8C rise in winter temperature could reduce wheat yield by 0.45 t/ha in India because wheat is already being grown close to its temperature tolerance threshold. They noted that a temperature rise of more than 2.5 8C could lead to a significant decrease in yields of non-irrigated wheat and rice, and that this could lead to a loss in farm-level net revenue of 9 -25%.…”

“…In addition, the coping capacity of the rural poor is low, especially in marginal areas, and there is a need to mainstream good practices for climate change adaptation into sustainable development planning. (Sivakumar & Stefanski, 2011). This article is intended to contribute to the growing body of knowledge on such practices and to help fill the knowledge gap by assessing the impact of climate change on water resources and community-managed irrigation systems in the Indrawati River basin in Nepal and identifying feasible adaptation measures to enhance farmers' coping strategies.…”

Agricultural innovation and adaptation to climate change: empirical evidence from diverse agro-ecologies in South Asia

“…The smallholder farmers in South Asia face several issues in agriculture livelihoods and climate change adds another layer of complexity to already existing challenges in agriculture production systems (Gitz and Meybeck 2012).With around one fourth of global population (FAO 2013) and 40% of the world's malnourished children and women ), South Asia is one of the most vulnerable regions to the impacts of climate change (Sivakumar and Stefanski 2011). Despite various stresses and shocks such as rainfall variability, droughts, floods and cyclones (Bhattacharyya and Werz 2012;WorldBank 2009;Cruz et al 2007) and with longer-term stresses such as population increases and the degradation of natural resources among others (Sivakumar and Stefanski 2011), farmers in South Asia are constantly seeking ways and measures to adapt to multiple stressors including climate change (Ojha et al 2013).…”

“…Despite various stresses and shocks such as rainfall variability, droughts, floods and cyclones (Bhattacharyya and Werz 2012;WorldBank 2009;Cruz et al 2007) and with longer-term stresses such as population increases and the degradation of natural resources among others (Sivakumar and Stefanski 2011), farmers in South Asia are constantly seeking ways and measures to adapt to multiple stressors including climate change (Ojha et al 2013).…”