India threatened by changes to the monsoon: Greenpeace

Mumbai, June 4, 2009 (IANS) The Indian monsoon, the country’s lifeline, will be significantly affected by climate change, says a report released by the NGO Greenpeace on the eve of World Environment Day.

The report, Monsoon Wager: Climate change and the Indian Monsoon, says climate change could bring about significant change to the intensity, geographic distribution and inter seasonal breaks in the monsoon, which would have enormous social consequences.

The lives of millions of Indians, farmers, city dwellers, even those trading on the Mumbai Sensex, depend on the monsoon. The unprecedented flooding that Mumbai experienced in 2005 is estimated to have caused a direct loss of about Rs.450 crore,” said Vinuta Gopal, Climate and Energy campaigner of Greenpeace.

“Mumbai and India cannot allow the delicate balance of the monsoon to be thrown awry; we cannot afford to adapt if the monsoons are impacted, we simply have to stop that from happening.

To drive home the point, eight Greenpeace activists hung an 80-foot banner on the Mumbai-Thane bridge Thursday. “Dr Manmohan Singh, Save our Monsoon”, it read.

Compiling recent climate science findings, the report pointed out: “The predictions made by the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) in the 4th Assessment Report suggest that warming is likely to be above the global average for South Asia, with an increase in summer precipitation and an increase in the frequency of intense precipitation in some parts.

“The report states that more extreme rainfall and winds may result from tropical cyclones. Though the rainfall would increase by an overall 20 percent in the summer monsoon, it will not be spread evenly across the country.”

Siddharth Pathak, Climate and Energy Campaigner, Greenpeace, said: India has not been a historical contributor to the problem of climate change, but it has a lot to lose from the effects that climate change will have on its land and people.

“Given that the science calls for drastic action to prevent a climate catastrophe, even developing countries such as India cannot afford to ignore the situation and need to move away from a business as usual carbon intensive growth path.

Greenpeace demanded that the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh put Indias climate policy on track and urge other world leaders to do the same. The climate summit to be held in Copenhagen in December needs to come up with an agreement that will save the planet. The longer the climate negotiators delay the greater the threat to Indias one billion inhabitants. With only six months to go, time is running out, added Pathak.