Climate Change: Its Impact and Adaptation in India with Special Reference to Andhra Pradesh

Climate change is a significant threat to India’s climatic condition and agricultural sector, and ultimately, it affects the economic condition. India’s population is enormous, and many people are economically dependent on agriculture. A comprehensive review has been done in this paper, where the trend of climate change, the regional impact of climate change, the impact of climate change on agriculture, various adaptation strategies or plans, and national planning across India are discussed. For the different national reports, peer-reviewed journals and institutional studies are reviewed. The last 118 years’ (1901-2018) climatic data reveal that the average temperature has increased 0.6°C per century, and it has accelerated in recent decades. The minimum temperature has increased mainly during the months of post-monsoon and winter. The precipitation pattern has a significant variation, and that is increased in regional basis. Andhra Pradesh is suffering at a huge rate from different climatic parameters, like severe cyclones, floods, droughts, etc. These regional trends are increasing and decreasing at different rates. Many extreme events occur in India, and their frequency and intensity are increasing day-by-day. The agricultural sector is highly vulnerable, and this situation significantly impacts the ecosystem. By 2100, many papers indicate the potential for increased agricultural emergencies and a possible 4-10% decrease in yield rates. Not only agriculture, but also water scarcity has arisen, and experts are projecting different problems regarding agriculture, water, etc., using different models. Therefore, the Indian government has launched different national action plans (NAPCC) and many climate change-related adaptation strategies (SERP’s Community Managed Sustainable Agriculture (CMSA), Andhra Pradesh Farmer-managed Groundwater Systems (APFAMGS)) to address the situation and survive. But there are many regional-based coordination gaps in India. To protect the Indian socio-economic and environmental scenario, many researches is necessary, but some states (Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, etc.) are aware of that, where a tremendously vulnerable Northeast region is indifferent about the situation. After discussing all these issues, this paper recommends some suggestions that a strong collaboration with stakeholders is needed for climate resilience.