COIMBATORE: Meteorologists on Tuesday stressed on the need to preserve natural resources while increasing food production that was inevitable to meet the requirements of an ever-growing population of the country.
"The depletion of natural resources will lead to several environmental hazards that will in turn trigger climate change in the long run," one of the experts said.
India's population growth rate, they pointed out, was higher than that of many developed countries and as such over exploitation of land and water resources are prevalent across the country. "The country's population is growing at a rate of 1.5% and is higher than China's 0.7%," said the deputy director general of meteorology at the Indian Meteorological Department, S B Thampi.
"So, we will have to double our food production over the next 40-50 years and it has to be done in such a way that natural resources do not get depleted," he said while speaking at the national symposium on climate-driven food production systems and the resulting agrometeorological interventions held at the Tamil Nadu Agricultural University (TNAU) on Tuesday.
Thampi also urged the people to tray organic farming and drip irrigation, which might be expensive initially but beneficial in the long-run. "This is to reduce soil degradation, greenhouse gas emissions and depletion of water. Not many people known that 60% of the water usage in the country is for irrigation," he added.
Depletion of natural resources, the senior meteorologist said, would lead to climate variability and climate change. "Many people confuse between climate change and climate variability. Climate change is defined as a mean change or statistical deviation in temperature, humidity, wind patterns and aerosol content over a long period. Sudden delays in rainfall, droughts and cyclones are only variations," Thampi explained.
"Climate change can occur over a period of three to four decades due to a multitude of reasons, including orbital change and solar activity changes, among others. We can't do anything about it except adapt, but we can stop changes due to human interferences," he said.
The meteorologist admitted that there was a change in climate conditions in the state but he said a specific figure cannot be given. "The quality of the satellite images and calibration was different four decades back. Though we do see a change, it does not mean much," Thampi said.
