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Climate change and forests in India: adaptation opportunities and challenges

Murthy, IK and Tiwari, Rakesh and Ravindranath, NH (2011) Climate change and forests in India: adaptation opportunities and challenges. In: Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change, 16 (2, Sp.). pp. 161-175.

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Abstract

Climate change is projected to lead to shift of forest types leading to irreversible damage to forests by rendering several species extinct and potentially affecting the livelihoods of local communities and the economy. Approximately 47% and 42% of tropical dry deciduous grids are projected to undergo shifts under A2 and B2 SRES scenarios respectively, as opposed to less than 16% grids comprising of tropical wet evergreen forests. Similarly, the tropical thorny scrub forest is projected to undergo shifts in majority of forested grids under A2 (more than 80%) as well as B2 scenarios (50% of grids). Thus the forest managers and policymakers need to adapt to the ecological as well as the socio-economic impacts of climate change. This requires formulation of effective forest management policies and practices, incorporating climate concerns into long-term forest policy and management plans. India has formulated a large number of innovative and progressive forest policies but a mechanism to ensure effective implementation of these policies is needed. Additional policies and practices may be needed to address the impacts of climate change. This paper discusses an approach and steps involved in the development of an adaptation framework as well as policies, strategies and practices needed for mainstreaming adaptation to cope with projected climate change. Further, the existing barriers which may affect proactive adaptation planning given the scale, accuracy and uncertainty associated with assessing climate change impacts are presented.

Item Type: Journal Article
Publication: Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change
Publisher: Springer
Additional Information: Copyright of this article belongs to Springer.
Keywords: Adaptation; Barriers; Climate change; Forests; India
Department/Centre: Division of Mechanical Sciences > Centre for Sustainable Technologies (formerly ASTRA)
Date Deposited: 03 Mar 2011 09:34
Last Modified: 03 Mar 2011 09:34
URI: http://eprints.iisc.ac.in/id/eprint/35800

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