National Climate Vulnerability Assessmen

Q Why is it in News?  

The Department of Science and Technology has released a report titled ‘The Report Climate Vulnerability Assessment for Adaptation Planning in India Using a Common Framework’.

Q What can be defined as Climate Risk?  

• Climate-related extremes, such as heat waves, droughts, floods, cyclones, and wildfires, reveal significant vulnerability and exposure of some ecosystems and many human systems to current climate variability.
• Differences in vulnerability and exposure arise from non-climatic factors and from multidimensional inequalities often produced by uneven development processes. These differences shape differential risks from climate change.
• According to The Germanwatch Global Climate Risk Index-2019, India was ranked 5^th out of 181 countries, implying an extremely high exposure and vulnerability.

Q What is objective of this report?  

• It identifies the most vulnerable states and districts in India with respect to current climate risk and key drivers of vulnerability.
• It aids in prioritizing adaptation investment, developing and implementing adaptation programs.
• The assessment is unique as it uses a common framework across the states & union territory to make them comparable thereby empowering the decision-making capabilities at the policy and administrative levels.
• Some key indicators for the assessment include percentage of population living below the poverty line; income share from natural resources; the proportion of marginal and small landholdings, women’s participation in the workforce; density of healthcare workers etc.
• It is part of the capacity building programme under the two missions of the National Action Plan on Climate Change (total 8 missions).
  • National Mission on Sustaining the Himalayan Ecosystem (NMSHE)
  • National Mission on Strategic Knowledge for Climate Change (NMSKCC).

Q What are key findings of the report? 

• Highly Vulnerable States: It identified Jharkhand, Mizoram, Orissa, Chhattisgarh, Assam, Bihar, Arunachal Pradesh, and West Bengal as states highly vulnerable to climate change.
• Lower-middle Vulnerable States: Himachal Pradesh, Telangana, Sikkim and Punjab.
• Low Vulnerable States: Uttarakhand, Haryana, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Nagaland, Goa and Maharashtra.
• Highly Vulnerable Districts: Among all states, Assam, Bihar, and Jharkhand have over 60% districts in the category of highly vulnerable districts.
  • Vulnerability scores in all the districts of India lies in a very small range. It shows that all districts & states are somewhat vulnerable with respect to current climate risk in India.

Q What is the Significance of the Findings?

• The assessments can be used for India’s reporting on the Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) under the Paris Agreement.
  • NDCs embody efforts by each country to reduce national emissions and adapt to the impacts of climate change.
• These assessments will help support India’s National Action Plan on Climate Change.
• It will contribute to the development of more targeted climate change projects and will support the implementation of the State Action Plans on Climate Change.
• It will help in developing adaptation projects for the Green Climate Fund, Adaptation Fund and funds from multilateral and bilateral agencies.
• It will also benefit climate-vulnerable communities across India through development of better-designed climate change adaptation projects.