A climate vulnerability index for India on the anvil

Why in news?
  • The Department of Science and Technology (DST) will be commissioning a study to assess the climate risks faced by States in India.
  • This follows an assessment of the global warming risks faced by 12 Himalayan States such as Assam, Arunachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand vulnerable to climate change.
More in news
  • Vulnerability index:
    (1) Researchers prepared a ‘vulnerability index’ of each of these States based on district-level data.
    (2) Vulnerability would be a measure of the inherent risks a district faces, primarily by virtue of its geography and socio-economic situation.
  • Eight key parameters:
    (1) percentage of area in districts under forests,
    (2) yield variability of food grain,
    (3) population density,
    (4) female literacy rate,
    (5) infant mortality rate,
    (6) percentage of population below poverty line,
    (7) average man-days under MGNREGA (Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act).
    (8) The area under slope > 30%.
  • Scaling of index:
    (1) On a scale ranging 0-1, 1 indicating the highest possible level of vulnerability.
    (2) At the top of the scale were Assam score 0.72 and Mizoram at 0.71.
    (3) Whereas Sikkim scores 0.42 was relatively less vulnerable.
  • Climate portal:
    (1) In this portal users can zoom in on any district in the country and get a sense of what kind of risks climate, socio-economic are present.
Source
The hindu




Posted by Jawwad Kazi on 15th Mar 2019
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