'Chaotic' Monsoons are Going to Threaten Indian Farmers

 'Chaotic' Monsoons are Going to Threaten Indian Farmers

         Indian monsoons are likely to become stronger and more erratic if global warming continues unchecked, threatening farming and incomes across the region, researchers said on Wednesday.

        Monsoon rains will likely increase by about 5% for every degree Celsius of warming, found the study of more than 30 state-of-the-art climate models from around the world, published in the journal Earth System Dynamics.

       "What is really on the line is the socio-economic well-being of the Indian subcontinent," said co-author Anders Levermann, a climate scientist at Germany's Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research and New York's Columbia University.

        "A more chaotic monsoon season poses a threat to the agriculture and economy in the region and should be a wake-up call for policy makers to drastically cut greenhouse gas emissions worldwide."

        Governments are lagging behind in implementing the 2015 Paris Agreement, which aims to hold the rise in average global temperatures to "well below" 2 degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels, and preferably 1.5C.

         Temperatures have already risen by more than 1C since pre-industrial times, and scientists warn further increases risk triggering tipping points that could render swathes of the globe uninhabitable, devastate farming and drown coastal cities.

(Hindustan Times)