Their fears are accentuated by the fact that climate change in the hills and the plains would affect people and environment in myriad ways, and existing studies are inadequate to guide possible ways to combat impact of extreme weather events like floods or drought.

It is believed that Assam cannot do without a comprehensive action plan, including mitigation strategies, as a major part of its population is engaged in rain-fed agriculture, and its biodiversity too would be seriously threatened by perturbations in the weather systems over a long period.

Speaking exclusively to The Assam Tribune, senior academic Prof Abani Kumar Bhagabati of Gauhati University, who has extensive experience in agricultural geography of Assam, revealed that a long-term perspective was needed to understand and then respond to the possible impact of climate change.

“There is a great need to comprehend the complexity of the issues... to realise the linkages at the local and regional level. Sound scientific understanding should be the basis to build an action plan,” he noted.

Referring to the projected rise in temperature if carbon emissions did not fall in the next decades, he said that the rising mercury would for sometime result in more water flow in the Himalayan streams feeding the Brahmaputra. As the glaciers retreated, the flow would fall and in such a situation agriculturists in the Brahmaputra valley could see a shortage of water. This problem would be more pronounced in the winter, when there are hardly any rains in the region.

He pointed out that climatic variations could hit the poor and marginal farmers the most as most of them work on small patches of land, which when affected will destroy their sole source of livelihood. The poor farmers are also among those with the least access to information about climate change.

Dr Bhagabati, who recently surveyed the Bhabar Terai region stretching across the northern boundary of the state, said that climate change could further harm the sensitive ecological zone. Already vast tracts of forests of the region have been degraded or destroyed leading to a situation that they no longer act as a barrier to slow down the flow of water to the Brahmaputra.

The senior academic informed that forestation in a large scale appeared to be the necessary response to reduce effects of climate change in Assam. Apart from lowering the carbon footprint, it could help stabilise the soil, which took thousands of years to build up.

During a recent tour of parts of Assam, Sundarlal Bahuguna, the noted environmentalist also expressed his anguish over deforestation in the sub-Himalayan region. Speaking to this correspondent he said that it would be suicidal for the people of the Northeast if the region continued to lose its forest cover at the present rate.

Bahuguna emphasised that forest loss must be compensated by planting more saplings not just for environmental reasons but to provide food, fodder and fibre to local communities with scarce livelihood opportunities.

According to Pijush Dutta of WWF-India, reports from the high altitude regions of Arunachal and Bhutan indicate that the weather in recent years has become more unpredictable. Further climatic changes taking place in the regions could create hazards as a number of streams emerge from there and reach the foothills where human settlements have proliferated. He underlined the need for more studies, which could pinpoint the vulnerable areas, where mitigation strategies could be implemented.