A study to assess the impacts of climate change has highlighted the spread of malaria to newer areas, besides projecting a variable rate of change in agricultural production including losses in some crops and change in the composition of forest and net primary productivity. This was stated by Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar in a written reply in lok Sabha on Friday.
The study titled ‘Climate change and India: a 4x4 assessment — a sectoral and regional analysis for 2030s’ has been published by the Ministry of Environment and Forests. The assessment has been made in four climate sensitive regions of India — Himalayan region, Western Ghats, the coastal region and the Northeast region.
The study projects a variable rate of change in agricultural production including losses in some crops and changes in the composition of the forest and net primary productivity. Extreme precipitation events are likely to increase in all regions.
Water yield is project to increase in the Himalayan region whereas it is likely to be variable across the other three regions. Malaria is project to spread to new areas and threats of its transmission are likely to increase in duration,” the study said.
It also assessed impacts of climate change on four key sectors of Indian economy — agriculture, water, forest and human health.