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A
Report on International Workshop on “Climate Change and its Impact on Flora in
the South Asia Region”
(Organized during March
9-12, 2008 at the National Botanical Research Institute, Luckinow, India
Worldwide, temperatures
have risen by 0.6°C over the past 40 years and are predicted to rise by 2–6°C
over the next century. Precipitation patterns have also changed – some places
are receiving more rain than they did in the past, some places less. Evidence of
climate change is evident through the shrinking glaciers, lengthening of
mid-to-high-latitude growing seasons, pole-ward and altitudinal shifts of
plants, decline of some plant populations, earlier flowering of trees etc.
Natural systems are vulnerable to climate change and some will be irreversibly
damaged due to the limited adaptive capacity, the examples are mangroves, boreal
and tropical forests, prairie wetlands, native grasslands and biodiversity.
Besides many human systems are also sensitive like the water resources,
agriculture (esp. food security), forestry, coastal zones and marine systems.
Plant responses to climate
change depend upon – species and cultivars, soil properties, pests and
pathogens, the direct effect of pollutants - CO2, O3,
methane etc. on plants, interactions between pollutants, air temperature,
water stress, mineral nutrition, air quality and adaptive responses.
South Asian countries
including India show a wide range of variation in climate, altitude and
physiography. There is considerable divergence of opinion about the magnitude of
climate change predicted for this region and its effect on plants. Both climate
models and observational studies give conflicting and hazy pictures of the
effect of climate change on vegetation. The assessment of impacts of projected
climate changes on natural ecosystems is not based on accurate scientific
modeling or field studies at regional level.
Taking this in view, the
“International Workshop on Climate Change & its Impact on Flora in the South
Asia Region” was organized jointly by National Botanical Research Institute
(NBRI), Lucknow, India and South Asia Co-operative Environment Programme
(SACEP), Colombo, Sri Lanka during March 9-12, 2008 at NBRI. NBRI, a constituent
laboratory of the Council of Scientific & Industrial Research (CSIR, Government
of India), is a leading R&D Institute in the field of plant sciences. SACEP is
an intergovernmental organization, established in 1982 by the Governments of
various countries of South Asia to promote and support protection, management
and enhancement of environment in the region. About 139 scientists, experts and
researchers from various parts of India and South-Asian countries viz.,
Bangladesh, Bhutan, Maldives, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Nepal and Afghanistan
participated in the workshop.
The workshop was aimed to
provide an international forum for serious scientific discussion and
deliberation to develop projections on climate change and its impact on the
flora in various countries of South Asia.
The workshop was
inaugurated on 9th March 2008 by Dr. Rakesh Tuli, Director NBRI and
patron of the workshop, who while welcoming the delegates/participants from
different countries, introduced the theme of the workshop. He emphasized the
requirement of accurate assessment of impacts of projected climate change on
natural ecosystem, through scientific modeling and field studies. He further
added that the workshop was to provide an ideal platform to initiate
interdisciplinary work among experts in South Asia to pool their resources,
knowledge and information related to climate change, and develop appropriate
strategic action to assess the impact of climate change on flora and vegetation
of South Asian region. Dr. Arvind Anil Boaz, Director General, SACEP in his
inaugural address enlightened on the issues of vulnerability and adaptation in
the context of bio-diversity, agriculture and forestry brought by climate
change, regardless of efforts to reduce emissions of green house gases. He hoped
that the workshop would develop strategies for regional research and development
of South Asian information network for enhancing the preparedness for global
climate change and encouraging the mutual cooperation in the South Asian
countries.
Prof. N.H. Ravindranath,
of Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, gave an overview of the Climate
Change, the highlights of the Fourth Assessment Report of IPCC (IPCC, 2007). He
said “The South Asia region inhabited by about five million people will be most
affected by adverse climate change”. Elaborating further Prof. Ravindranath said
that there had been a consistent rise in the green house gas emission especially
between 1970 and 2006. As a result of this, North West India, Pakistan, Nepal
would see more warming conditions, which would be detrimental for the vegetation
of the region. In his key note address he said that the climate change would
also adversely affect the bio-diversity. Prof. C.K. Varshney, former Dean,
School Of Environmental Sciences, JNU, New Delhi, gave a comprehensive account
of the impact of climate change on the plant response at species level,
community level, agriculture and food security and ecosystem services. According
to him, ozone (tropospheric) is also an important secondary pollutant due to the
GHGs and should not be ignored, as this is a strong phytotoxic agent.
The workshop was divided
in seven sessions starting from the climate change scenario in different
countries where all participating countries expert gave their country
presentation.
Dr. J.S. Pandey, Scientist
National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (NEERI) gave the overview
of the Global Climate Change and its Environmental Impacts. He stressed that the
impacts can be due to temperature gradients; soil, land and forest degradation;
perturbations in water supply and demand; aberrations in flooding patterns,
desertification; rising sea-levels, etc. He categorized some issues and research
areas, which require closer look and analysis e.g., population dynamics,
land-use changes, trans-boundary air pollution, environmental management and
international interactions. Country presentations were made by Mr. Saeed Abrahim
Sherzai from Afganistan, Mr. Lohzang Dorji from Bhutan, Mr. Ibrahim Naeem from
Republic of Maldives, Prof. Sant Bahadur Gurung from Nepal, Dr. Raja Khalid
Hussain from Pakistan and Mr. M.A.A.M. Jayarathna from Sri Lanka. All the
speakers emphasized the extent of greenhouse gas emission and the effect on
agriculture, forest and marine flora in their countries.
The second session
concentrated on the effect of climate change on the biodiversity. The
deliberations focused on the impacts from climate change and disruption of
ecosystems such as Himalayan region, marine biota, desert conifer family and
evergreen forest of Western Ghats leading to tremendous loss of biodiversity.
Dr. Baban Ingole, Scientist from National Institute of Oceanography, Goa
expressed his views on the impact of increased anthropogenic activities on
Marine Biota through case studies on the marine flora and fauna. Prof J.P.N.
Rai, G.B. Pant University of Agriculture and Technology, gave his views on the
changes that will occur in Agro-biodiversity due to Climate Change. Dr. Rashmi
Srivastava and Ms. Anumeha Shukla from Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeobotany,
Lucknow, showed the changes in the carbonized woods collected from the desert
and river basin regions due to prevailing environmental conditions.
A session focused on
Forestry sector with special reference to carbon sequestration. Prof. S.P Singh,
Vice Chancellor, H.N.B. University, Uttarakhand enlightened about the
vulnerability of high Himalayas and the remedial steps to manage alpine forests
and meadows in a sustainable way to reduce the effect of global warming. He
pointed out methods to give economic incentives to community’s efforts to
protect ecosystem health. Mr. Sandeep Tripathi, Secretary of the Indian Council
of Forestry Research and Education, Dehradun, expressed his views on the role of
forests in Climate Change especially in GHG reduction and thus mitigation. He
further stressed on devising appropriate mitigation and adaptation strategies
under Land Use, Land Use Change and Forestry (LULUCF) sector. He expressed his
concern for the CDM (Clean Development Mechanism) Projects in forestry sector,
which can provide relatively low cost opportunities to combat climate change.
Dr. Uma Melkania of Department of Environment Sciences, G.B. Pant University of
Agriculture & Technology, Pantnagar expressed her view on the Carbon
sequestration potential in Forest Ecosystem through the studies undertaken in
the Tarai region of Uttarakhand.
In the session on climate
change and agricultural sector, renowned scientist Dr D.C. Uprety, from Indian
Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi delivered lectures on “Rise in
atmospheric CO2 and its impact on crop productivity”. He gave a good
account of the innovation approaches, for conducting long-term experiments to
study the response of crop plants to the elevated CO2, He further
informed about the results of the experiments conducted with Free Air CO2
enrichment (FACE) technology and open Top Chambers (OTCs) on Brassica, rice and
wheat. Advisor in the Ministry of Science Technology and Earth Science. Dr.
Akhilesh Gupta, through his lecture, informed about the prevailing weather
condition especially high temperature on the decrease in agriculture yield. An
example of this can be seen in the fact that preliminary evidences indicate that
decrease in rice yields, in Indo-Gangetic plains is associated with a slight
rise in minimum temperature. Dr. Prabhat K. Gupta from National Physical
Laboratory (NPL), New Delhi gave a good account of climate change, GHG Emission
and Agriculture: Indian and South Asian efforts for Quality Data to meet Future
Challenges. Dr. P. Krishnan presented the results on simulation standards of
rice yield and methods of adaptation under Climate Change Scenario using the
models of ORYZA1 and INFOCROP- rice experimenting in eastern India. The results
suggest that the limitation on rice yield imposed by high CO2 and
temperature can be mitigated, at least in part, by altering the sowing time and
selection of genotypes that possess a higher tolerance of spikelet fertility at
high temperature. Dr. Chhemendra Sharma from National Physical Laboratory, New
Delhi, gave an overview of the impact of climate change on Agriculture sector
and requirement to develop/ enhance appropriate adaptation technologies and
measures.
The other highlights of
the Workshop were deliberations by experts on environmental issues related to
climate change like effect on Sunderbans’ mangrove by Prof. Joyshree Roy,
Jadhavpur University, Kolkata. According to the reports, tidal flats,
agriculture land, mangrove forest, declined over time, while abandoned
aquaculture ponds , degraded mangrove, salt marshes have increased. Over a
period of one decade mangrove area has declined in Sunderbans from 420 hectares
(1987) to 212 hectares (1997). The importance of mangroves should be promoted
through economic valuation of mangroves, leading to increased levels of
reforestation and conservation. In his observation on sea level rise along the
Coast of the North Indian ocean, Dr. A.S. Unnikrishan, Scientist at National
Institute of Oceanography, Goa observed that the sea level rise trends obtained
in all the stations (except Diamond Harbour) along the north Indian ocean coasts
are found to be consistent with global estimates, with an average of about 1.30
mm/year.
The presentation of Prof.
M.N.V. Prasad of University of Hyderabad, dealt with the impact of Climate
change phenomena on soil and plants with specific examples of ionic stress,
metallomics, brackish or estuarine and wetland ecosystems and biogeochemistry of
trace elements under climate change stress phenomena.
Prof. A.S. Raghubanshi,
Botany Department, BHU, Varanasi gave a good account of the approaches to assess
ecosystem response to climate change through Equilibrium models and Dynamic
Global Vegetation Models, He expressed concern about the reliable data and
suggested to take direct field measurement data which can be model calibrated by
non-linear inversion method.
Other important matters
discussed during the workshop were coasts of north Indian Ocean, carbon
sequestration and carbon trading opportunities and Free Air CO2
Enrichment Technology (FACE) to assess the effect of CO2 and
temperature rise on crop plants.
The outcome of the
Workshop was a “Lucknow Statement on the effect of global climate changes on
South Asian Flora and Regional action plan”. The statement highlights the
development of strategic plan for promoting education, research and extension,
for knowledge based assessment, monitoring, preparedness and mitigation of
climate change effects on flora in South Asian Countries.
A project proposal “Impact
of Climate Change on Flora: A South Asian Initiative” for a coordinated action
programme was developed, with the objectives to enhance capacity building,
floral vulnerability assessment and adaptation/mitigation strategies. The
project has been forwarded to SACEP Sri Lanka for seeking funds from
International Organizations. The workshop concluded with thanks to the
participants and especially experts from India and South Asian Countries by the
Organizing Secretaries - Drs. R.D. Tripathi and Nandita Singh of NBRI. |
