Development, Malaria and adaptation to climate change: a case study from India
Date
2009-04-29Author
Garg, Amit
Dhiman, R. C.
Bhattacharya, Sumana
Shukla, P. R.
Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
India has reasons to be concerned about climate
change. Over 650 million people depend on climate-sensitive
sectors, such as rain-fed agriculture and forestry, for
livelihood and over 973 million people are exposed to
vector borne malarial parasites. Projection of climatic
factors indicates a wider exposure to malaria for the Indian
population in the future. If precautionary measures are not
taken and development processes are not managed properly
some developmental activities, such as hydro-electric dams
and irrigation canal systems, may also exacerbate breeding
grounds for malaria. This article integrates climate change
and developmental variables in articulating a framework
for integrated impact assessment and adaptation responses,
with malaria incidence in India as a case study. The climate
change variables include temperature, rainfall, humidity,
extreme events, and other secondary variables. Development
variables are income levels, institutional mechanisms
to implement preventive measures, infrastructure development
that could promote malarial breeding grounds, and
other policies. The case study indicates that sustainable
development variables may sometimes reduce the adverse
impacts on the system due to climate change alone, while it
may sometimes also exacerbate these impacts if the
development variables are not managed well and therefore
they produce a negative impact on the system. The study
concludes that well crafted and well managed developmental
policies could result in enhanced resilience of
communities and systems, and lower health impacts due to
climate change.
Collections
- Journal Articles [3677]