“Our vulnerability to extreme rainfall has also increased as changes in land use and forest cover have altered the drainage patterns,” he adds.
Only one-third of the region is under natural vegetation, and much of this is degraded.
Glaciers are shrinking, even as warmer winters are leading to an increase in the frequency of snow avalanches in the western Indian Himalayas, posing a risk to the people of the region, many of whom are living at the threshold of natural disasters.
Also, pollution and solid waste management remain the biggest challenges in the Ganga basin, as well as in almost all the other major river basins in the country.
Maharashtra, which is one of the country’s most industrialised states, also has the most number of polluted river stretches (49).
For example, the Ganga-Brahmaputra basins have the highest number of freshwater turtle species in the world, amongst river basins.
The Sunderbans: A critically endangered ecosystem With rising sea levels posing a challenge to coastal communities all along the subcontinent, the world’s largest river delta along the eastern coast, the Sunderbans, stands as one of the most vulnerable regions to emergent threats posed by climate change.
Ramana Murthy, director, NCCR A recent report from the National Centre for Coastal Research, Chennai, points out that the West Bengal coast along the Sunderbans is the most vulnerable in the country to coastal erosion and has lost the maximum amount of land to sea—roughly 99 sq.
“The point is when we do not account for the geological volatility and ecological fragility of this region, are we not increasing vulnerabilities?
“While tourism is important for the economy of the island, the government should keep in mind the conservation of fragile ecology, unique biodiversity and culture of the islands.”