ADB Sheds Light On True Cost of Climate Change
ADB Sheds Light On True Cost of Climate Change
A study by the Asian Development Bank has bad news for India Inc and the rest of the nation. Climate change and global warming will take their toll on the national exchequer and the revenue pies as well. Flooding of hill regions is set to rise in coming years, as per the study released by ADB.
Flooding of hilly regions in India is only likely to increase in coming years, a study by the Asian Development Bank has predicted. Lives and livelihoods will be threatened even further by global warming induced climate change. The report entitled “Assessing the Costs of Climate Change and Adaption in South Asia” indicated water-related hazards will come in step with every dent that climate change makes to Mother Earth.
Between the years 1990 and 2008, around 750 million people in South Asia were impacted by at least one natural disaster and this led to 230,000 deaths. Extreme weather events caused floods and landslides which took a heavy toll in turn.
The ADB report makes no bones about the fact that climate change will be extremely destructive in India. Melting glaciers have caused natural disasters and increased the likelihood of the same in the Himalayan region.
Northern states such as Uttarakhand have been facing massive floods and loss of lives and the ADB study clearly predicts that the frequency of such floods is set to rise. The high frequency of floods can dent the economy too apart from taking human lives. If the loss of lives is not a sufficient deterrent for India Inc to stop protesting against green restrictions, maybe the “money”factor might prove motivating. For those to whom it is all about the money, ADB estimates that there will be significant losses to the economy as a result of climate change.
One of the biggest threats faced by rice crop has become climate change. The ADB report has predicted that countries like India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh will suffer the most due to decline in rice production of as much as 23% by 2080. Due to the rising population which then results in decline in the arable land area and reduces farm output, the decline should convince India Inc of the need to heed global warming and climate change, if the Indian PM's recent slogan “zero effect, zero defect” still is not having its intended effect.
If mitigating factors are not in place, this loss could rise to 8.8% of the GDP by the year 2100. Climate change can eat into as much as 9% of the South Asian economy every year till the end of the century is reached if fossil fuels continue to be used at their current pace, ADB maintains. So, if the activists, ecologists and NGOs aren't getting through, may be these numbers will be sufficiently alarming for India Inc to wake up.
The report a;sp holds that 6 nations-Bhutan, Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Sri Lanka and the Maldives are set to lose an average of 1.8% of the annual GDP increasing to about 8.8% by the year 2100. Rather than relying on “other-worldly” solutions, India Inc and the government need to focus on combating climate change through concrete measures before the wake up calls cease to come and it is too late.
