In the present context of environmental awareness, ‘Global Warming’ is the buzzwords that reverberate in every corner of our planet. It is a highly debated issue among environmental scientists & academicians. Though we are not fully aware about global warming but knowing or unknowingly we all, more or less are contributing to ‘global warming & climate change’. Rise in the average temperature near the surface of the earth is scientifically termed as global warming. As per the IPCC (Inter Governmental Panel on Climate Change) report the measured average atmospheric temperature near the earth’s surface rose by 0.740 Celsius during the last 100 years (1906-2005).11 out of 12 hottest years on record occurred between 1995-2006. We are living in the midst of constantly changing climatic conditions, largely a result of human interference and if allowed to continue can cause irreparable damage to the flora, fauna & human life. Global warming will have strong effect on the variability of rainfall, drought type of situation and rise in the sea level. The overall change in the natural characteristics of the earth for global warming continuously for a long time period is known as ‘climate change’. So, the climate change is a result of global warming. Climate change is definite if the globe becomes warm & warm.
Global warming and climate change can have serious effect on agriculture. Production & productivity of most of the crops may decrease due to increase in temperature and decrease in water availability. Quality of crops may also be detoriated. Increasing temperature will increase fertilizer requirement for the same volume of production & result in higher GHG emissions. Impacts of climate change arise from global warming in forest ecosystem is also very high. According to the IPCC reports, even with a modest global warming, most forest ecosystem will be impacted through changes in forest species composition, biodiversity & plant productivity. Plant flowering, bird arrival, date of breeding in flowering all will be affected from climate change. Forest dependent communities will also be affected from such impacts of climate change in forests. More than 30 million people of India are directly involved in gathering & trading non-timber forest products such as fruits, seeds, flowers, leaves, honey, gum etc. Any impact on forest biodiversity will have adverse implications for the livelihoods for forest dependent communities like tribal. Again critically endangered species of forest could become extinct for such type of change in natural setup. Again, one of the most important & visible indicators of climate change is the recession of glaciers and snow covers in many parts of the world. The Himalayan Glaciers feed seven of Asia’s greatest rivers including Ganga & Brahmaputra. They ensure water supply to about one billion people. Continuous melting down of glaciers in Himalayan region is expected to have serious consequences on bio-diversity, agriculture production, livelihood system of people. On the other hand coastal belts are more prone to the devastating impacts of global warming. Global assessment shows that 1 meter sea level rise can lead to welfare loss of $ 1,259 million, in India equivalent to 0.36% of GNP. Sundarbans, the group of 102 islands is located along the Bay of Bengal. The sea level around the Sundarbans is rising due to global warming & the islands are under threat of getting submerged. 2 of 102 islands have already submerged.
The need for cooperative global action to meet the challenge of climate change was recognized as early as two decades ago, when the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution in Dec 1988. But practical effort to address climate change began with the adoption of United Nations Frame work Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in 1992. The convention divided nations of whole world into two groups the industrialized and the developing countries. According to this Convention industrialized countries are responsible in GHG emission. This was followed by the 3rd session of UNFCCC held in Kyoto, Japan in 1997. According to this Kyoto Protocol all OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Developing) countries and other developing countries came into the agreement to reduce man made GHG emission by at least 5.2% below 1990 levels in the period 2008-2012. The Kyoto protocol has practically started some Clean Development Mechanisms & got nations & people talking about climate change. Kyoto Protocol was again followed by UNFCCC’s next session held at Bali in 2007. The Bali action plan has taken so many strategies to adaptation, mitigation & technological co-operation of global warming & climate change. The US base international body on global warming and climate change was also formed under the leadership of Dr. R. K. Pachauri in 1988.
Thus, both at international & national level so many efforts are going on to combat global warming & climate change, but what individually can be done is the strongest point of this peak time. Tremendous population pressure on limited resources should be stopped. We must not use soils for more production by using fertilizers. We should not use manufactured commodities and items above the minimum necessity level. Unnecessary use of commodities and items will require much production for which consumption of fuel & energy will rise. Unnecessarily we should not undertake any oil consuming activity. Bike & car driving habits should be reduced. Increased use of bicycles and public transport instead of personal cars will reduce GHG emissions. It will also improve air quality. Many Chinese and European political leaders ride bicycles to their offices but here in NE and India the scenario is different. Such type of activities should be reduced. We should try to cut down more demand for electricity. We should not keep water tap, light, and fan etc switch on unnecessarily. Saving of containers, bags and everything that can be used in future is must. To reduce oil consumption, food & other items should also be produced locally. Thus, Reuse, Recycle & Reduce type of strategy to be the best strategy to fight against global warming and it’s potential strongest threat of climate change.
Sri Trailokya Deka, Lecturer,
Patkai Christian College
