Recent trends and impacts of climate change in North-Eastern region of India - A review

Abstract

The economy of North-Eastern (NE) region of India predominantly depends on farming, where only 12% of geographical area is available for cultivation out of which more than 85% is rain fed. Climate change has become a major concern in agriculture today, as farmers in many regions are struggling to cope with changing temperatures and rainfall pattern. Moreover, extreme weather situations like droughts, floods, heat and cold waves pose serious threat to food security, especially for small and marginal farmers. This review paper discusses the climate change in North-Eastern India based on the available climatic data from various published sources. Most of the analysis was performed on time series meteorological data recorded at different locations across the states of North-Eastern India namely, Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Sikkim, Nagaland, Meghalaya, Manipur, Mizoram and Tripura. The increase in mean annual maximum temperature varied from 0.1°C per decade in Imphal (Manipur) to about 1.4°C per decade in Jharnapani (Nagaland). The changes were significant for all the states, except Sikkim. This region is one of the highest rainfall receiving regions of the world, but during February-March it faces water scarcity. The rainfall is projected to increase in 57 districts out of 78 districts, with some districts expected to experience almost 25% more rainfall than usual. The North-Eastern region of India has experienced notable changes in the pattern of major climatic variables such as rainfall and temperature. Average temperatures are projected to increase in almost all the districts of the region while annual rainfall is also reported to increase in almost 3/4th of the districts. The climate-induced natural disasters like drought, flood and hailstorms are the major threats of climate change and the incidence of these natural disasters are increasing in the recent years over the region.