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Climate Change and Food Security in South Asia pp 3–12Cite as

Climate of South Asia and the Human Wellbeing

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Abstract

South Asia is a large landmass of 642 million hectares (Mha) and comprising of diverse climates. The population of about 1.62 billion distributed in eight countries is strongly impacted by the climate. The Indus Valley Civilization of Harappa and Mohenjodaro vanished because the rainfall declined from 400 to 800 mm/year between 2500 and 2000 BC to less than 200 mm/year in 1700 BC. The fall of Indus civilization is also attributed to degradation of soil and water resources and to flooding of Indus caused by deforestation of the gallery forest. The rapid decline in population of South Asia between AD 1000 and 1700 was also attributed to meteorological drought. The present population of 1.62 billion is drastically influencing the regional and global climate by deforestation, land use conversion and biomass burning, and fossil fuel combustion. There has been a significant anthropogenic warming in Asia since 1950s. The problem is confounded by the acceleration of economic development jeopardizing natural resources which are already under stress by the Asian Brown Cloud, caused by soot and aerosol can strongly impact monsoons. The biomass, especially animal dung, must be used as a soil amendment rather than a source of energy and household fuel. The fate of 10,000 or so of the Himalayan glaciers also depends on the human-induced climate change. Thus, adaptation to climate change is essential, in which conversion to a judicious land use and widespread adoption of recommended soil/water/crop/vegetation management practices are important strategies. Building soil/ecosystem/social resilience is important to weathering the weather.

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Abbreviations

AI:

Aridity Index

D:

Dryness ratio

ET:

Evapotranspiration

Gg:

Giga gram (billion gram)

Gt:

Giga tonnes (billion tonnes)

L:

Latent heat of water

Mha:

Million hectares

Myr:

Million years

P:

Precipitation

R:

Radiation energy

SA:

South Asia

SOM:

Soil organic matter

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. The Ohio State University, 2021 Coffey Road, 210 Kottman Hall, Columbus, OH, 43210, United States

    Rattan Lal

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  1. Rattan Lal
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Correspondence to Rattan Lal .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Coffey Rd 2021, COLUMBUS, 43210-1043, Ohio, USA

    Rattan Lal

  2. Div. Agricultural Meteorology, World Meteorological Organization, avenue de la Paix 7bis, Geneve, 1211, Switzerland

    Mannava V.K. Sivakumar

  3. , Dept. of Soil, Water and Environment, University of Dhaka, Dhaka, 1000, Bangladesh

    S.M.A. Faiz

  4. , Dept. of Soil, Water and Environment, University of Dhaka, Dhaka, 1000, Bangladesh

    A.H.M. Mustafizur Rahman

  5. OARDC Piketon Station, Shyville Road 1864, Piketon, 45661, USA

    Khandakar R. Islam

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Lal, R. (2010). Climate of South Asia and the Human Wellbeing. In: Lal, R., Sivakumar, M., Faiz, S., Mustafizur Rahman, A., Islam, K. (eds) Climate Change and Food Security in South Asia. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-9516-9_1

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