Climate Change & Sustainable Development in India

Global climate change, being caused primarily by the building up of Greenhouse Gases (GHGs) in the atmosphere, is a serious environmental concern for the world community. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), established in 1988 by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), concluded in its Fourth Assessment Report, released in November 2007, that the fact of global warming is unequivocal and there is enough evidence to indicate that this is due to anthropogenic reasons. Recent years have been the warmest since 1860, the year from when regular instrumental records are available. India has always been subject to a large degree of climate variability. This is likely to be accentuated by climate change. As a part of voluntary actions to address climate change related concerns, India launched National Action Plan on Climate Change (NAPCC) on June 30, 2008. It stresses the need to maintain a high growth rate for improving living standards of the vast majority of people of India and at the same time to reduce their vulnerability to the adverse impacts of climate change. This book is an attempt to explain the impending perils of climate change and underscore the need for timely remedial measures to deal with the emerging crisis.