Climate change to severely impact India: World Bank

New Delhi, June 20: A World Bank report on Wednesday said that global warming could lead to more droughts, water scarcity, extreme summer conditions, severe flooding and worrying food production levels in south Asia, including India.

The report said cities like Mumbai and Kolkata will witness a rise in sea level, tropical cyclones and river flooding while serious water scarcity will plague the Western Ghats.

North-western India, Pakistan and Afghanistan will see rise in the number of droughts and unseen hot summers will be coupled with extremely wet monsoons, the report added.

It said extremely wet monsoon conditions that have a chance of occurring every 100 years at the moment, are projected to occur every 10 years by the end of the 21st century. It also predicted an alarming rise in serious flood and tropical cyclones in the nest 25 years.

Muthukumar S Mani, senior environmental economist at the World Bank, released the report here. He said the ongoing onslaught of nature in Uttarakhand is a tragedy and although one can not link it with climate change at the moment, but such incidents will become normal as a result of climate change.

The World Bank said it was worrying to know that the poor will be most affected by the climate change. He said India should look for sustainable development renewable energies and better water management, among other things.

The report said that the temperature will se a rise by 2-2.5 degrees Celcius by the 2050s and it will see a reduction of water in the river basins of the Indus, Ganga and Brahmaputra. It said the crop production in India will reduce significantly by the 2040s due to the rise in global temperature.

OneIndia News