Introduction
I am from Varanasi, spiritual capital of India. It's a city on the banks of river Ganga. From irrigation to daily use, most of our water needs are dependent on the river. We have two big municipal units which pump water throughout the city and consume river water directly. We face strong temperature variation of 5-48°C . Ganga comes to our city after travelling 1000+ km which also brings all the rain water from other regions, which increases the risk of flooding, Rainfall has become very uncertain in our region, recently due to heavy rainfall over the region, water has entered into houses and fields near to banks.
Effect of Climate Change
Crop yield-Agriculture
Agriculture is the backbone of any economy and very sensitive to any climate change. Slight changes in humidity, temperature may lead to drastic situations like weeds, pests and diseases in the crops which heavily affect the crop yields. Agriculture is much diversified and in 70% of our total area(TJPRC,mar-2012,vol-2). We have two major seasons of crop Kharif and Ravi. Kharif crops are completely rain fed. Too much, too little or at wrong time may lay waste the whole year's efforts("Kharif_crop",Wikipedia). With increase in climate change conditions correct timing of monsoon has become very difficult to predict. Climatic parameters like precipitation, relative humidity and temperature variation play major role in deciding the yields. With increasing temperature and precipitation fluctuations crop yields are likely to decrease in coming years.
Hard Summers-Water problem
During month of May-June, summer is at its peak and maximum temperature reaches 45+ °C every noon. Every year hundreds of people die due to hot waves also called "Loo" in our local language. Ganga shrinks to minimum from average depth of 50 meters to 13 meters during this period. City suffers huge crisis of water, ground water also goes down and also not everyone has a boring or tube well. Major part of city population relies on municipal water supply. Government water supply is supposed to come two times in a day. But since they directly consume river water and pump it after processing, they are badly affected due to Ganga level going down. Water supply instead of twice in day it comes once in two-three days during these months.
Dwindling glacial sources with the increasing temperature, water will evaporate faster;
summers are likely to be more furious in coming years for us.
This is the graph(Ajit Tyagi,2010,p.29) showing max temperature increase over the years in India.
Adaptation
Modified crops
One way to adapt to increasing temperature and fluctuating climatic parameters is use of modified
crops that are more resistant to these changes. Modified crops can ensure sufficient crop yield without
putting much pressure on the pockets of farmers. These crops may also provide better resistance to
pathogens and microorganisms with the option of good nutrition.
Water conservation
Water conservation will play crucial role in adaptation process. It can satisfy both the agricultural and
daily needs if implemented properly.
Varanasi receives average annual rainfall of 1110 mm("Varanasi",wikipedia), Rainwater harvesting is
something that can be done around this which will help to meet the house hold needs.
During rainy season Ganga overflows from its average level. This water can be utilized through proper
canal system which distributes the water over other parts of the region which will furthermore decrease the flood risks as well as helps in irrigation.
Mitigation
Varanasi does not have many industries except small sugar and textile factories. Major portion of our carbon footprint comes from electricity consumption. As the electricity received by Varanasi is from coal thermal plants. In summer electricity demand is very high due to increase in use of water coolers and ACs, similarly in winters for water and room heaters. Switching to green sources of energy like using solar panels for electricity, solar water heaters will definitely results in reduction of carbon emissions.
One other major source of GHG emissions in Varanasi is cremation. We Hindus have this ritual to burn the body after death .It is believed that death at Varanasi brings "Moksha". Many people from all over India migrate to Varanasi during their old age. It means about 50-60 million trees cut every year, covering 1,500-2,000 sq. km of forest land.( Priyanka P. Narain,livemint.com) If India were to switch over entirely to electric crematoriums, estimates place the potential reduction in carbon emissions at about five million carbon credits. So any technology to make cremation's more environment friendly without hurting or affecting our traditional feelings will cut a great amount from our carbon foot print.
References:
S. D. Attri and Ajit Tyagi , CLIMATE PROFILE OF INDIA, Indian Network of Climate Change Assessment Ministry of Environment and Forests,01/2010
Sabita Madhvi Singh,Kailash Naryan,P.R.Maiti,Vigya Singh,Influence of Climate Change on Crop Yield, IJCSRIERD,Vol-2 Issue-1 03/2012
Varanasi , from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Varanasi
Kharif Crop from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kharif_crop
Carbon footprint from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carbon_footprint Priyanka P. Narain , India's cremated leave ashes, carbon footprint
from, http://www.livemint.com/Politics/fwrdpKpaEGCClulSyJXQPK/India8217s-cremated-leave-ashes-carbon-footprint.html
