Some Facts

• Himalayan glaciers are melting at a rate of 33 to 49 ft. (10 to 15 m.) annually, and could be completely gone by 2035. The melting will initially cause the glacier-fed rivers of northern India, the Indus, Ganges and others, to swell and flood and then shrink to dangerouslv low levels. water levels are expected to drop by two-thirds and this will affect up to 500 million people living downstream.
• If greenhouse gas emissions continue to rise, by 2080, India will experience a rise in temperature of up to 70C, a decline in precipitation of up to three millimetres per day, and reduction in annual river runoff of up to 75 per cent.
• The per capita availability of water is expected to decline by over 30 per cent in the next four decades.
• India could lose 125 million tonnes of cereal crops, with a drop of over 25 per cent in wheat, particularly affecting north India. Rice yields could fall by 40 per cent and sowing seasons will be affected.
• Incidence of vector-borne diseases such as malaria and cholera will rise.
• Sea levels are expected to rise by 40 cm. by the turn of the century, flooding the homes of millions living in low-lying areas. In the event of a one metre sea-level rise, 5/764 sq. km. of/and in coastal areas of India is projected to be lost/ displacing approximately 7.1 million people by the end of the 21st century.
• India could lose 30 per cent of her flora and fauna including the
snow leopard/ Himalayan brown bear, lynx, Gangetic dolphin, and dugong among many others. Coral reefs will be wiped out. The deficit in soil moisture in deciduous forests such as Kanha and Pench will lead to a shift towards tropical dry forests and will affect the last remaining tigers. The flooding of mangrove forests such as the Sundarbans will also affect the royal Bengal tiger. Altered migratory patterns and increased forest fires would affect hundreds of species.
• The economic costs of global warming will be monumental- by some estimates India's GDP could drop by nine per cent/ largely due to submergence of low-lying coastal areas.
• Economic loss in urban areas such as Mumbai and Chennai would be phenomenal. Mumbai alone could lose up to 48 billion U.S. dollars due to potential submergence. Floods and droughts could spark unprecedented human migration towards cities, leading to greater pressure on the infrastructure and more urban sprawl.
• India is expected to have shorter monsoons and more intense downpours/ further increasing the likelihood of damaging floods especially as the intensity and frequency of cyclones in the Arabian Sea and the Bay of Bengal will increase.