India to Release Its1st Assessment on Climate Change

India will soon release its first assessment report on the impact of climate change on four sectors, including agriculture and water, in the country's four climatic hot spots like the Himalayas and the North East. The first 4x4 assessment report will be released on November 16. Prepared by Indian Network of Climate Change Assessment, it will assess the impact of climate change on four sectors of the economy - agriculture, water, health and forests -- in the four regions of the country. The four climatic regions are the Himalayas, Coastal India, the Western Ghats and the North East. North-East region is most important as it has the country's 25 per cent of forest cover and will be most severely affected due to climate change. The report has been prepared by INCCA comprising about 220 scientists from 120 research institutions across the country. The report on four sectors has come almost six months after Ramesh released the country's greenhouse gas (GHG) emission data India: Greenhouse Gas Emissions 2007 which said the country's emissions grew by 58 per cent during 1994 to 2007. By announcing the latest emission data, India became the first developing country to publish such updated numbers which reflects of its strong domestic actions and is likely to strengthen the country's negotiating positions at the UN meet on climate change at Cancun this month-end. On the need for the 4x4 assessment report, the country is faced with a serious threat of climate change, so we need to know what would be the impact of such changes in the middle term, like by 2030, and not wait for reports that are predicting for 2050 or later. India has already announced its intention to reduce its emission intensity of the GDP by 20-25 per cent by 2020, while pursuing inclusive growth.