ecosystems in India, the land use (agriculture), forests, and animal husbandry are
strongly interlinked together. Therefore, un-sustainability in any one of the branch
leads to unsustainable development and consequences appear in terms of unsustainable resource flow among the different branches of the ecosystems, pollution,
overexploitation of the natural resources, biodiversity/habitat loss, and migration
from rural to semi-urban and urban areas. Hence, it can be foreseen that the high
demand for resource will deteriorate the ecosystem quality and reduction of
resource supply required for sustainable land use. To maintain the equilibrium
between sustainable land use development and resource availability, additional
scientific and technical efforts require toward developing adapted cultivation
strategies and techniques to keep the crop yield in a balance with the growing
population, depleting resources and vulnerability of land use-related practices to
climate change (Nautiyal 2010). It has been stated that unfavorable climatic conditions are one of the most serious hurdles to sustainable land use development in
India (Swaminathan 1999). Research on the identification of issues related to climate change and consequently the evaluation of current land use ecosystems and
resource use efficiency are therefore necessary to provide a conceptual framework
for actions in this respect.
Developing countries like India already face social, economic and environmental
stresses and resource constraints that limit their ability to adapt to climate change
(IPCC 2001, 2007; WBGU 2009). In contrast producers from developed countries
have the physical, technical, and economic resources to moderate or adapt to, the
impacts of climate variability on food production system (Fischer et al. 2005;
Challinor et al. 2007). In country like India consistent production from the agriculture sector is inherently sensitive to variability in climate as largely the
production-related activities depend directly on rainfall. Therefore, climate is key
driver to food security and irregularity in climate which certainly influencing the
production practices, promoting the migration (mostly the male population) from
rural to urban areas to seek employment/jobs to fulfil their family requirement
(Findley 1994; Henry et al. 2004; Nautiyal and Kaechele 2008, 2009). Forced
migration hinders development in many ways, i.e., by increasing pressure on urban
infrastructure and services, by undermining economic growth; by increasing risk of
conflicts for the resources, (Brown 2008) and migration also has consequences on
gender-related issues as this pose a tremendous work pressure on women in rural
sector which ultimately influences the health of the rural people (Kalkstein and
Smoyer 1993; Meze-Hausken 2000) and education of the children in rural societies.
Therefore, a study that will focus on impact of climate change on socio-ecological
setup and predict the land use and climate scenario is important to undertake in
different agro-ecological zone of India for better policy formulation, innovations for
land use resource management.
There are several studies/reports available at national and global level (McCarthy
et al. 2001; IPCC 2001, 2007; Klein et al. 2004; Warren et al. 2006; Stern 2006;
Haberl et al. 2006; He et al. 2006; Fuessel 2007 Halsnæs and Verhagen 2007;
Hellden 2008; Li et al. 2008; Vavruset et al. 2008; Nautiyal and Nayak 2009, 2010;
Arndt et al. 2010; Bauer and Scholz 2010; Nath and Bahera 2011) that deals with
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S. Nautiyal and R. Schaldach
strongly interlinked together. Therefore, un-sustainability in any one of the branch
leads to unsustainable development and consequences appear in terms of unsustainable resource flow among the different branches of the ecosystems, pollution,
overexploitation of the natural resources, biodiversity/habitat loss, and migration
from rural to semi-urban and urban areas. Hence, it can be foreseen that the high
demand for resource will deteriorate the ecosystem quality and reduction of
resource supply required for sustainable land use. To maintain the equilibrium
between sustainable land use development and resource availability, additional
scientific and technical efforts require toward developing adapted cultivation
strategies and techniques to keep the crop yield in a balance with the growing
population, depleting resources and vulnerability of land use-related practices to
climate change (Nautiyal 2010). It has been stated that unfavorable climatic conditions are one of the most serious hurdles to sustainable land use development in
India (Swaminathan 1999). Research on the identification of issues related to climate change and consequently the evaluation of current land use ecosystems and
resource use efficiency are therefore necessary to provide a conceptual framework
for actions in this respect.
Developing countries like India already face social, economic and environmental
stresses and resource constraints that limit their ability to adapt to climate change
(IPCC 2001, 2007; WBGU 2009). In contrast producers from developed countries
have the physical, technical, and economic resources to moderate or adapt to, the
impacts of climate variability on food production system (Fischer et al. 2005;
Challinor et al. 2007). In country like India consistent production from the agriculture sector is inherently sensitive to variability in climate as largely the
production-related activities depend directly on rainfall. Therefore, climate is key
driver to food security and irregularity in climate which certainly influencing the
production practices, promoting the migration (mostly the male population) from
rural to urban areas to seek employment/jobs to fulfil their family requirement
(Findley 1994; Henry et al. 2004; Nautiyal and Kaechele 2008, 2009). Forced
migration hinders development in many ways, i.e., by increasing pressure on urban
infrastructure and services, by undermining economic growth; by increasing risk of
conflicts for the resources, (Brown 2008) and migration also has consequences on
gender-related issues as this pose a tremendous work pressure on women in rural
sector which ultimately influences the health of the rural people (Kalkstein and
Smoyer 1993; Meze-Hausken 2000) and education of the children in rural societies.
Therefore, a study that will focus on impact of climate change on socio-ecological
setup and predict the land use and climate scenario is important to undertake in
different agro-ecological zone of India for better policy formulation, innovations for
land use resource management.
There are several studies/reports available at national and global level (McCarthy
et al. 2001; IPCC 2001, 2007; Klein et al. 2004; Warren et al. 2006; Stern 2006;
Haberl et al. 2006; He et al. 2006; Fuessel 2007 Halsnæs and Verhagen 2007;
Hellden 2008; Li et al. 2008; Vavruset et al. 2008; Nautiyal and Nayak 2009, 2010;
Arndt et al. 2010; Bauer and Scholz 2010; Nath and Bahera 2011) that deals with
564
S. Nautiyal and R. Schaldach