Keywords Climate change—India Á Cities Á City output Á District domestic product Á Coastal cities Á Inland cities
JEL Classification O18 Á Q56 Á R11 Á R12
1 Introduction and Background
Ever since the Earth came into being there has been a climate system. The climate
of a place is the average weather that it experiences over a period of time. While
changes in the weather may occur suddenly and noticeably, changes in the climate
take a long time to settle in and are therefore less obvious. The Intergovernmental
Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) concluded in 2007 that warming of the climate
system is now “unequivocal,” based on observations of increases in global average
air and ocean temperatures, widespread melting of snow and ice, and rising global
average sea level (IPCC 2007). According to the National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) (2007) State of the Climate Report and the
National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s (NASA) (2007) Surface
Temperature Analysis, the eight warmest years on record since 1850 have all
occurred since 1998, with the warmest year being 2005.
According to the NOAA (2007) State of the Climate Report and the NASA
(2007) Surface Temperature Analysis:
• Since the mid 1970s, the average surface temperature has warmed about 1 °F.
• The Earth’s surface is currently warming at a rate of about 0.32 °F/decade or
3.2 °F/century.
Additionally (from IPCC 2007):
• The warming trend is seen in both daily maximum and minimum temperatures,
with minimum temperatures increasing at a faster rate than maximum
temperatures.
• Land areas have tended to warm faster than ocean areas and the winter months
have warmed faster than summer months.
One of the expected impacts of climate change on South Asia is a general
increase in both the mean minimum and mean maximum temperatures by 2–4 °C
(see Sharma et al. 2006). A 10–15 % increase in monsoon precipitation in many
regions, a simultaneous precipitation decline of 5–25 % in semi-arid and
drought-prone central India and a sharp decline in winter rainfall in northern India is
also projected (Ramesh and Yadava 2005).
280
K.S. Sridhar
JEL Classification O18 Á Q56 Á R11 Á R12
1 Introduction and Background
Ever since the Earth came into being there has been a climate system. The climate
of a place is the average weather that it experiences over a period of time. While
changes in the weather may occur suddenly and noticeably, changes in the climate
take a long time to settle in and are therefore less obvious. The Intergovernmental
Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) concluded in 2007 that warming of the climate
system is now “unequivocal,” based on observations of increases in global average
air and ocean temperatures, widespread melting of snow and ice, and rising global
average sea level (IPCC 2007). According to the National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) (2007) State of the Climate Report and the
National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s (NASA) (2007) Surface
Temperature Analysis, the eight warmest years on record since 1850 have all
occurred since 1998, with the warmest year being 2005.
According to the NOAA (2007) State of the Climate Report and the NASA
(2007) Surface Temperature Analysis:
• Since the mid 1970s, the average surface temperature has warmed about 1 °F.
• The Earth’s surface is currently warming at a rate of about 0.32 °F/decade or
3.2 °F/century.
Additionally (from IPCC 2007):
• The warming trend is seen in both daily maximum and minimum temperatures,
with minimum temperatures increasing at a faster rate than maximum
temperatures.
• Land areas have tended to warm faster than ocean areas and the winter months
have warmed faster than summer months.
One of the expected impacts of climate change on South Asia is a general
increase in both the mean minimum and mean maximum temperatures by 2–4 °C
(see Sharma et al. 2006). A 10–15 % increase in monsoon precipitation in many
regions, a simultaneous precipitation decline of 5–25 % in semi-arid and
drought-prone central India and a sharp decline in winter rainfall in northern India is
also projected (Ramesh and Yadava 2005).
280
K.S. Sridhar