Climate Change: Bleak Future Ahead

India may face a severe food crisis by 2030 as a result of climate change. A recent report by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) has predicted that food production in India may drastically come down and the threat of starvation will increase if appropriate  steps are not taken at once to avert the impending danger. Neighbouring countries will also face similar situations as global warming will cause rise in sea levels, depletion of groundwater, among other issues. Further, the average temperature in this part of the world is expected to rise by 2.4 Celsius, which may adversely affect food grain production. As per the estimate presented in the report, India’s food production may witness a decline of 16 per cent, which would increase the number of people at risk of hunger by 23 per cent. With very little time left to effectively combat the situation, India will have to increase food reserves adequately to avoid starvation. But increasing food reserves is just a short-term solution. To feed the populace continuously, more steps should be taken to tackle the shortage of food grains. It requires a combined effort by all concerned. At local levels, all efforts should be made to prevent the depletion of ground water levels by encouraging farming of food items which do not require much water. It should be noted that this part of the planet gets sufficient rains and as a result the trend here is to grow grains which require a huge quantity of ground water. As climate change will affect average yearly rainfall, it will become more difficult to indulge in such practices in the future. So, it is time now for us to look for alternative yields to turn a hostile climate situation in our favour.

The efforts at the local level should be supported by regional and international parties. Global warming is not related to a particular place or country; it threatens to destroy the ecology of the entire planet. The unabated rise of the global temperature will make this world uninhabitable for human beings. The situation demands all nations to work in unison so that everyone is protected and benefited. In this regard, the most important step is technology transfer. The developed nations have invented a number of new technologies to negate the impact of global warming in farming. These technologies should be shared with developing nations too, at the earliest to create a big impact against climate change. Advanced nations should realise that new technologies may offer safety for the time being, but ultimately everything will come to naught if other parts of the world continue to suffer from this menace called global warming. As 2030 is knocking at our door, a sincere and whole-hearted effort should be made to keep hunger away. The need of the hour is to adopt strategic agriculture and horticulture policies keeping the alarming situation in mind. New avenues should be discovered and incorporated with traditional methods of farming along with making all other possible efforts to prevent climate change. Otherwise, the future truly looks bleak.

Source: Eastern Mirror