River linking could alter rainfall, hit monsoons, warns expert

"There is a major disruption of ecosystem. In view of climate change there is a possibility of change in pattern of rainfall," V. Rajamani, an emeritus professor of the Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, said on the sidelines of a programme.

He was addressing students on climate change in India at a lecture organized by Indian National Science Academy (INSA) and West Bengal Academy of Science and Technology, at the Indian Institute  of Chemical Biology here.

Rajamani, who has repeatedly expressed his reservations about the project, explained: "You may be damming a river, but the river might not have water if you don't return the water to the sea."

“The marine water system will be disturbed and the physical process for the rainfall will be affected. You may not even get the monsoon.”

The ambitious ILR initiative which received a boost by the Narendra Modi-led government has 30 river-linking projects under its ambit and includes both peninsular and Himalayan rivers.

Union Water Resource, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation Minister Uma Bharti has recently said ILR will raise irrigation capacity and will be taken up on mission mode.

However, Rajamani sounded a word of caution.

"Natural system works with natural laws' give and take. How do you know it works? Americans are regretting they went for technology and now they are realising it is not working and now we are doing the same thing," Rajamani said.

Source: Chhattisgarh Hindi News and MP Hindi News

Climate change threatens global health security: UNEP

"Climatic changes also affect temperatures and regional climates, the conditions on which, for instance, in the continent of Africa, mosquitoes may spread from one region to another," Achim Steiner, executive director of the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) said on Friday.

The UNEP chief spoke ahead of Sunday's release in Copenhagen of the Fifth Assessment Report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

"Diseases will move as the world warms and we may in many parts of the world indeed see either the return or the arrival of diseases that in recent times have simply not occurred in those regions," he said.

That development, he said, will add "extra stress to the health infrastructure, the health system and ultimately the health and well-being of these populations in those countries".

Awareness of the link between climate and health has prompted environmental scientists to forge closer links with international bodies focused on health, Steiner said.

"That is why my colleague, Margaret Chan, who heads the World Health Organisation, convened a meeting in Geneva on climate change and health," he said.

"And her conclusion was that a climate agreement in Paris is not just only a climate change agreement, it is also a global health agreement, because clearly the connection between environmental change arise from global warming and greater health risk factors is very direct in many different respects," Steiner said.

Source: MP News in Hindi and Chhattisgarh Hindi News