PUNE: There is not much need to worry as climate change will not have a major impact on the Indian monsoon, R R Kelkar, former director general of the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said on Wednesday.
Kelkar was delivering a lecture at the Mahratta Chamber of Commerce, Industries and Agriculture (MCCIA) environment forum's third meeting. He was speaking on the topic Climate change and its implications for India'.
"Climate change has so far had no impact on the average rainfall in India. In the future, too, rainfall will not reduce, but increase if climate change does has any impact on it," he observed.
"People should not get unduly worried about the scary picture painted about global warming," Kelkar added. "Even if an increase in sea levels takes place due to climate change, it will not be very large. Between 1878 and 1994, sea levels went up only by 7.4 cm in the coastal areas near Mumbai."
Global warming was not an unusual phenomenon here, Kelkar said, adding that it has occurred four times in the planet's history. "The only worry is the unprecedented increase in carbon dioxide levels, which was not seen in the previous instances of global warming," he said, adding that steps are required to reduce carbon dioxide emissions.
