6
N. Roy et al.
region and associated thermal radiation, and indicated that the great pluvial flood
disaster in Chennai and its surroundings was a resultant of the swarms in the north
Sumatra oceanic region (Akilan et al. 2017). Again in July–August 2018, 42% more
rain than expected during the monsoon months of July and August caused a shift in
the behaviour of Periyar river and its basin in Kerala state of India which the landscape could not adjust causing the worst flooding in nearly a century. Hundreds of
people died, and at least a million had to be evacuated whereas thousands of cattle,
calves, buffaloes, goats, dogs also lost lives (NDMA 2018; Vijayan 2018). As per
the records of India’s Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, extreme
weather events have taken away as many as 2405 human lives in the year 2018 alone
(The Weather Company 2019). As such, climate variations has been recognized as
a risk multiplier that disproportionately burdens the poorest and most vulnerable as
evident from some of the natural disasters cited as above. Therefore, possible aversion, adaptation and mitigation of extreme natural events necessitate the immediate
understanding of the footprints of climate change over natural disaster profile (Sami
et al. 2016).
For instance, various climate models used to predict the macro- and meso-level
scenarios have not been validated at local level in order to understand their practical implementation (Nautiyal 2011). In comparison to macro level studies, there
is considerable gap in data so far as micro level studies are concerned. Very strong
and dynamic case studies are also lacking at micro level. But, for effective and
informed planning at the macro-level, a better understanding of micro-level perception is imperative (Singh et al. 2018). But, several models predicting national and
regional level scenarios do not usually consider micro variables such as environmental resources, socio-economic factors and policy aspects, including land availability,
local climatic conditions, labour and capital, subsidies, nature conservation strategies etc. This micro-macro paradox indicates that even if affirmative action works
and achieves direct impact, yet the changes might seem unstoppable (van der Berg
2011). This is the case for the historical loss of biodiversity that is now increasingly
seen as a human caused mass extinction, and for the increasing pollution of our environment with chemical substances, which endanger human health and the health of
our habitat (van den Berg and Cando-Noordhuizen 2017). In particular, micro level
research needs to be undertaken in relation to biodiversity, health, natural resource
management, land use and land cover development, adaptation and the development
of socio-ecological systems for facilitating holistic adaptation and mitigation activities (Nautiyal 2011). In this process, it becomes imperative to connect knowledge
institutions with field based developmental agencies to address such challenges with
local institutional arrangements by empowerment and imparting skills to local communities with appropriate and scalable technological interventions and strong social
engineering component (Agarwal 2013).
Sustainable use of natural resources and their conservation strategies require
interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary thinking (IPCC 2014; Feulner 2015). In this
endeavor and to address the above issues and challenges, contributions were invited
for present knowledge product from stakeholders, scholars, policy makers, academia
and students cutting across the disciplines to portray a large variety of theoretical
N. Roy et al.
region and associated thermal radiation, and indicated that the great pluvial flood
disaster in Chennai and its surroundings was a resultant of the swarms in the north
Sumatra oceanic region (Akilan et al. 2017). Again in July–August 2018, 42% more
rain than expected during the monsoon months of July and August caused a shift in
the behaviour of Periyar river and its basin in Kerala state of India which the landscape could not adjust causing the worst flooding in nearly a century. Hundreds of
people died, and at least a million had to be evacuated whereas thousands of cattle,
calves, buffaloes, goats, dogs also lost lives (NDMA 2018; Vijayan 2018). As per
the records of India’s Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, extreme
weather events have taken away as many as 2405 human lives in the year 2018 alone
(The Weather Company 2019). As such, climate variations has been recognized as
a risk multiplier that disproportionately burdens the poorest and most vulnerable as
evident from some of the natural disasters cited as above. Therefore, possible aversion, adaptation and mitigation of extreme natural events necessitate the immediate
understanding of the footprints of climate change over natural disaster profile (Sami
et al. 2016).
For instance, various climate models used to predict the macro- and meso-level
scenarios have not been validated at local level in order to understand their practical implementation (Nautiyal 2011). In comparison to macro level studies, there
is considerable gap in data so far as micro level studies are concerned. Very strong
and dynamic case studies are also lacking at micro level. But, for effective and
informed planning at the macro-level, a better understanding of micro-level perception is imperative (Singh et al. 2018). But, several models predicting national and
regional level scenarios do not usually consider micro variables such as environmental resources, socio-economic factors and policy aspects, including land availability,
local climatic conditions, labour and capital, subsidies, nature conservation strategies etc. This micro-macro paradox indicates that even if affirmative action works
and achieves direct impact, yet the changes might seem unstoppable (van der Berg
2011). This is the case for the historical loss of biodiversity that is now increasingly
seen as a human caused mass extinction, and for the increasing pollution of our environment with chemical substances, which endanger human health and the health of
our habitat (van den Berg and Cando-Noordhuizen 2017). In particular, micro level
research needs to be undertaken in relation to biodiversity, health, natural resource
management, land use and land cover development, adaptation and the development
of socio-ecological systems for facilitating holistic adaptation and mitigation activities (Nautiyal 2011). In this process, it becomes imperative to connect knowledge
institutions with field based developmental agencies to address such challenges with
local institutional arrangements by empowerment and imparting skills to local communities with appropriate and scalable technological interventions and strong social
engineering component (Agarwal 2013).
Sustainable use of natural resources and their conservation strategies require
interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary thinking (IPCC 2014; Feulner 2015). In this
endeavor and to address the above issues and challenges, contributions were invited
for present knowledge product from stakeholders, scholars, policy makers, academia
and students cutting across the disciplines to portray a large variety of theoretical