Environmental Issues and Concerns with Special Reference to North-East India

Transcription

1 Environmental Issues and Concerns with Special Reference to North-East India Krishna Upadhaya Department of Basic Sciences and social Sciences School of Technology North-Eastern Hill University, Shillong-22

2 There are a number of environmental problems and issues that cry out for our attention 1. Population Increase 2. Deforestation 3. Biodiversity Loss 4. Shifting Cultivation 5. Mining 5. Water Scarcity 6. Climate Change

3 Population The human population explosion is the root cause of all the environmental problems and issues Human Population: 7.6 billion; Addition 90 million people /year (Sources: htpp:\\future positive.synearth.net

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5 Sources:

6 India s Population growth

7 Northeast Population Dikshit K.R., Dikshit J.K. (2014) Population of the North-Eastern States of India. In: North- East India: Land, People and Economy. Advances in Asian Human-Environmental Research. Springer, Dordrecht

8 Deforestation: Forest cover change INDIA

9 Deforestation Forest cover change worldwide

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11 Forest cover in different states of northeast India 2005 States Arunachal Pradesh Geographica l area Very dense forest Moderately Dense forest Forest Cover Open forest Total forest Percentage of Geographical area 83, , Assam 78, , Manipur 22, , Meghalaya 22, , Mizoram 21, , Nagaland 16, , Sikkim 7, , Tripura 10, , Total 2,62,179 18,044 80,369 74,903 1,73, % of the country, Sources: FSI (2005) 66.7 % of its geographic area National average of 20.6%

12 24.2 % of the country, Sources: FSI (2018) % o of its geographic area National average of 21.6%

13 PLANT BIODIVERSITY 47,513

14 BIODIVERSITY LOSS PLANT DIVERSITY STATUS OF NORTH EAST INDIA The north east occupies about 7.7% of the total geographical area of the country and it is estimated that of about 17,926 flowering plants species in India approximately 50% ( 8500) Forest cover in different states of northeast India 66% of the total geographical area 730 orchids out of bamboo species out of 130 North East India is one of the richest repositories of Medicinal and Aromatic plants (MAP). 53 Forest subtypes out of 221 subtypes in India

15 Geographical position: It represents the transitional zone between the Indian, Indo- Burma Malaysian and Indo-Chinese regions Climatic conditions: Altitudinal variations: 50 to >4500 m asl

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18 Sources: Barik et al 2018.

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20 Fig a: Invasion hotspots in India delineated through intersection of ecoregions, multi-species ecological niche model consensus, and anthropogenic biomes. The delineated areas cover >50 percent area of various ecoregions, are climatically suitable for a large number of invasive alien species, and have signature of diverse anthropogenic activities. The boundary files on biodiversity hotspots were overlaid on the modelled invasion hotspots matches to portray the level of threat to these areas from invasive alien species. (Adhikari et al, 2015) Endanger the persistence of many resident and endemic species

21 Shifting cultivation: area under shifting cultivation

22 Forest cleared and burned for cultivation in Garo Hills, Meghalaya

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24 Mining: National Green Tribunal (NGT) Ban Unscientific mining (Rat hole mining) Deforestation and loss of Biodiversity Acid mine drainage (AMD), Aquatic life Health hazards, Respiratory problems, Suspended particulate matter NGT ban against rat-hole coal mining in Jaintia Hills, Meghalaya, 2014

25 Water Scarcity Physical water scarcity occurs when and where there is not enough water to meet both human demands and those of ecosystems to function effectively. Economic water scarcity is caused by a lack of investment in water infrastructure or insufficient human capacity to satisfy the demand of water in areas where the population cannot afford to use an adequate source of water.

26 Water deficits and contamination of existing water supplies threaten to be critical environmental issues in the future for agriculture production as well as domestic and Industrial uses 1 billion people lack access to clean water or adequate sanitation Water deficits and contamination will be one of the expensive problem in near future Credit: SURYA SEN / CSE Internet Pic

27 Climate Change Root cause of many of the disaster in near future Since climate is a major determinant of vegetation pattern, change in climate would alter the structure and function of forest ecosystems. Even with global warming of 1-2 C, most ecosystems and landscapes will be impacted through changes in species composition, productivity and biodiversity. These will impact millions of people s livelihood who depend on forest resources

28 (a) Annual surface temperature anomaly relative to mean, based on surface air measurements at meteorological stations and ship and satellite measurements of sea surface temperature. (b) Global map of surface temperature anomalies for 2007.

29 The trend in 2007 The global mean temperature anomaly during 2007 was 0.57 C (about 1 F) warmer than the mean, continues the strong warming trend of the past thirty years that has been confidently attributed to the effect of increasing human-made greenhouse gases (GHGs). The eight warmest years in the Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) record have all occurred since 1998, and the 14 warmest years in the record have all occurred since 1990.

30 The temperature trend Global Top 10 Warm Years Anomaly C Anomaly F

31 Sources: Indian Network for climate change assessment

32 : Increase in temperature ( C) for midterm ( ) compared to baseline (1975)

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34 Increase in rainfall (%) for midterm ( ) compared to baseline (1975).

35 Trends in climate change The warming trend observed ranges from 0.01 to C/yr and annual mean temperature is expected to increase by C by the middle of the century. The region is also predicted to experience milder winters with increase in precipitation (Sharma and Tsering 2009).

36 Expected changes of climate change Shift in forest types due to climate change - drier forests to wetter forests due to increased precipitation Vegetation ingression was noticed to higher altitudes areas that were previously under snow and ice (Panigrahy 2010) Increase in net primary productivity

37 Changes as listed below have been observed (IPCC 2002): - Changes in timing of biological events (phenology) have been observed for many species. -Many species have shown changes in morphology, physiology, and behaviour associated with changes in climatic variables. -Changes in species distribution -Increased frequency and intensity of outbreaks of pests and diseases

38 The north east India being the Himalayan and Indo-Burma hotspots are vulnerable to climate change because they are rich in endemic species with restricted distribution. Such species are likely to be more affected than other

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