Question : Impact of Climate Change

(a) whether Britain‘s earth observation community is linking with Indian experts to assess the impact of climate change and the associated green house gas emission on agriculture in the Indo-Gangetic Plains;

(b) if so, the details thereof along with the main focus area of the project;

(c) the advantage India is likely to get out of this study;

(d) whether the project is funded by the UK-India education and research initiative and the Ministry and if so, the details thereof; and

(e) the time by which the study will be started and completed?

MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY AND MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF EARTH SCIENCES
(SHRI.Y. S. CHOWDARY)

(a) & (b): Yes Madam. The Department of Science and Technology, Government of India, and the British Department of Business Innovation and Skills have agreed to facilitate a network linking researchers from University of Leicester and IIT, Kanpur, through a joint project combining expertise from Earth observation, in-situ observations and land surface modeling. The primary aim of this project is to better understanding of the sensitivity of agricultural productivity in the Indo-Gangetic Plain (IGP) to climatic disturbances in environmental conditions.

(c) In view of reports that Indian sub-continent will see a significant rise in mean temperature and an increased possibility of climate extremes, the project implementation will result in better our understanding of regional vulnerabilities, such as IGPand in development of appropriate adaptation strategies for dealing with future climate variability and change.

(d) & (e): Department of Science & Technology, Government of India, and the British Department of Business Innovation & Skills have agreed to extend financial support for this project commencing 2017 for a 3 year period.

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