Mapping vulnerability to multiple stressors: climate change and globalisation in India
Student name: Mr Kuntal Singh
Guide: Dr P K Joshi
Year of completion: 2012
Host Organisation: TERI University
Abstract: Climate change has been known to have detrimental impacts on a country’s resources and
population. Agriculture, which is the main sources of livelihood in rural India and ensures the
food security of the country, would bear the maximum brunt of extreme climatic events. Hence
vulnerability mapping of Indian agriculture towards climate change could serve as an effective
step to identify areas with high vulnerability and low adaptive capacity. But such climate change
studies cannot be done in isolation to other economic developments. Apart from climatic factors,
many institutional barriers and government policies can dictate a region’s agriculture
productivity. Hence it becomes imperative to do a vulnerability assessment that takes into
account other driving factors which could increase an area’s vulnerability. The study covers
entire India for the three Census Years 1991, 2001 and 2011. Climate change and economic
globalisation stresses are mapped at district level. These double exposed districts are in need of
immediate policy interventions since they fall in the category of lowest adaptive capacity and
high climate change and globalisation vulnerability.
Keywords: Vulnerability mapping, Agriculture, climate change, economic liberalisation, double
exposed
