A senior researcher from Indian Institute of Science (IISC) Bangalore has predicted that climate change in next four decade will affect 20 percent of the Western Ghat, which is a bio diversity hot spot. IISC’s forest and bio diversity assessment team head, H N Ravindranath has feared that the there will be more forest fire. The researcher also feels that there will be pest attack and diseases, dwindling the cover forest.
Western Ghat is a 1600 km long forest corridor running through states of Gujarat, Maharashtra, Goa, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala. The worries for Western Ghats are added with the earth temperature expected to rise by one degree Fahrenheit. Ravindranath said that incessant rains coupled with climate change will worsen the situation in this bio diversity hotspot. After a much long monsoon season, Goa had witnessed incessant rains for the month of October and November thus affecting huge agricultural crops. IISC has forwarded the report to Union Minister Environment and Forest Jairam Ramesh. The researchers have said that such climate changes are not good for sustainability of the existing varieties. The report predicts that the existing vegetation will be replaced by a new forest type, suitable to the new climate that will take place over decades and centuries. However, the researcher said that it will impact birds and other animals.
When asked, environmentalist Rajendra Kerkar claimed that the ever increasing population along with development has been the main reason for climatic change. “We our self, slowly and steadily are destroying the green beauty in the name of development or modernisation,” he stated.
As researcher, Ravindranath has suggested that the global emission of green house should come down to save the phenomenon from being happening, Kerkar also feels that there should be long term measures to tackle these critical issues, which are related to our own survival.