Climate condition changes to cost India almost 3% of GDP: World Bank report

The World Bank (WB) aired caution for India on Thursday, June 28, by saying in a report that change in climate conditions could cost India 2.8 per cent of her GDP and hit the living standards of nearly half of its billion-plus population by 2050 since the average annual temperatures are likely to go up by 1-2 per cent in the next three decades, PTI reported.

The WB report, titled 'South Asia's Hotspots: The Impact of Temperature and Precipitation Changes on Living Standards', warned that India's average temperature is predicted to go up by up to 3 degrees if corrective measures are not taken soon, PTI added. The report even said that the temperature could go up 1-2 degree Celsius even if measures recommended by the Paris climate agreement of 2015 are abided by.

"Rising temperatures and changing monsoon rainfall patterns from climate change could cost India 2.8 per cent of GDP and depress the living standards of nearly half the country's population by 2050," PTI quoted the report as saying.

The WB report said almost half of South Asia's population, including that in India, lives in "vulnerable areas" and will be hit by declining living conditions that could be attributed to declining agricultural production, lower productivity and health issues.

The states in India's central, northern and north-western parts are most vulnerable to the transformations in average temperature and rainfall, the report added.

The central Indian states of Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh are likely to the two biggest affected ones and could see a decline in the living standards of the people there by more than 9 per cent, the report said, adding Rajasthan, UP and Maharashtra following close.

In terms of districts, seven out of 10 most hit districts will be in the Vidarbha region in eastern Maharashtra.