Ecology and Environment

The Himalayas' permanent ice cover is around 97,000 sq.km. with 12,930 sq.km. volume of ice and snow: 10-20 % are covered by glaciers and 30-40% are seasonal snowfalls. The Himalayan streams and rivers are fed by the melting of snow and ice of approximately 500 sq.km / year.

India has contributed immensely to the body of scientific research and analysis that underpins the understanding of the global impacts of climate change. There is, to a slightly lesser degree, an understanding of specific regional impacts. More needs to be done here, especially understinding micro-level impacts.

Sea level rise and decrease are ancient phenomena related to the geologic glacial/interglacial cycles. But since the 19th century and the industrial revolution, an acceleration of sea level rise has been observed through tide gauge measurements and satellite altimetry.

As observed by the United Nations Environment Program (GRID-Arendal) ice and snow are major components of the climate system. That is why human induced climate change can be first observed in Polar Regions where most of Earth's snow and ice are concentrated. In these areas global warming induces the progressive melting of ice and snow.

Altered frequencies and intensities of extreme weather, together with sea level rise, are expected to have mostly adverse effects on natural and human systems.

The earth is currently warming rapidly. And this warming is bringing about massive changes. Our glaciers are melting rapidly. The artic ice-shelf is breaking apart into pieces and threatens to modify the salinity of the oceans.

Current Science's paper on improvements made in greenhouse gases (GHG) inventory estimation

In the debate over global warming, many a time, there is an attempt to indicate that human contribution to the Greenhouse effect is on a very minuscule scale and is negligible when compared to the scale at which GHGs as a whole work.

A number of films on climate change are available on the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) store. These include:

The UN Panel on Climate Change is informing the world on what damage global warming can cause. But a recent study shows how temperature changes have already hit the global economy and Indian agriculture is suffering the brunt of it.