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By Aayushi Sharma
Climate change is having a significant effect on all natural ecosystems, but studies have found that the impacts are going to be far greater on the already-stressed ecosystems of the Eastern Himalayas. The Northeast region of India that falls under the Eastern Himalayas is witnessing a significant rise in extreme weather events in recent years pointing to the fact that climate change is increasingly making its impact felt in this biodiversity rich region of the country.
For example, from April to July this year, the northeastern region experienced 196 landslides, which is one-third of the 592 landslides recorded since 2017, according to data presented in Parliament. In response to a query by MP Kamakhya Prasad Tasa, Union Earth Sciences Minister Jitendra Singh informed the Lok Sabha that the Geological Survey of India has documented 592 landslides occurring between April 2017 and July 2024 across various northeastern states, affecting lives and infrastructure.
Evident impact of climate change
Northeast India is characterized by high rainfall, but climate change is causing significant alterations in precipitation patterns. The region has experienced a decline in annual rainfall by about 2% per decade. Furthermore, rainfall distribution has become erratic, with prolonged dry spells and intense rain events becoming more frequent. For instance, Assam faced severe floods in 2019 and 2020, with rainfall exceeding normal levels by 50% during the monsoon season, leading to extensive damage to life and property.
The increased intensity and unpredictability of rainfall have led to severe flooding and landslides in Northeast India. As reported in Parliament, 196 landslides were recorded from April to July in a single year, accounting for one-third of the 592 landslides reported since 2017. These events have caused significant damage to infrastructure, displaced communities, and resulted in loss of life. Assam, in particular, has been heavily affected, with annual floods becoming a recurrent disaster.
According to data presented in Parliament, the northeastern region experienced 28 landslides in 2017-18; 49 in 2018-19; 45 in 2019-20; 65 in 2020-21; 78 in 2021-22; 102 in 2022-23; 29 in 2023-24; and 196 so far in 2024-25. The Landslide Atlas released last year by the Indian Space Research Organisation’s National Remote Sensing Centre indicates that the Northwest Himalayas account for 66.5% of India’s landslides, followed by the Northeast Himalayas with 18.8% and the Western Ghats with 14.7%.
The effects of climate change are significant not only for ecosystem services but also for the overall water systems and related hazards. Despite the critical role of water and the potentially profound effects of climate change on it, there has been limited quantitative analysis of changes in water regimes in the Eastern Himalayas due to a lack of essential baseline data. Nonetheless, the hydrological systems in the Eastern Himalayas are highly sensitive to climate change, variability, and extremes, both seasonally and over longer periods. Changes in precipitation and temperature can substantially influence future water flow patterns.
Northeast India is a biodiversity hotspot, home to numerous endemic species of flora and fauna. Climate change poses a severe threat to this biodiversity:
- Species Migration: Changing temperatures and habitats are forcing species to migrate to higher altitudes. For instance, the red panda and other high-altitude species are being pushed further up into the mountains.
- Loss of Habitat: Increased temperatures and changing precipitation patterns are leading to habitat loss. Forests, which make up a significant portion of the region, are under threat from both climatic and anthropogenic pressures.
Water resources in Northeast India are being heavily impacted by climate change. The Brahmaputra River, one of the major rivers in the region, has seen fluctuating water levels due to erratic rainfall and glacial melt. This has serious implications for water availability for agriculture, drinking water, and hydroelectric power generation.
What does the Expert say?
Mrutyunjay Mohapatra, Director General of Meteorology of Indian Meteorological Department, recently said in an interview, “Along with the rest of the country, the North East is also facing the effects of climate change. The surface temperature is increasing and the rainfall is decreasing. The days under dry fall are increasing and the days of extreme weather conditions are increasing. Earlier, the region used to get light drizzles, while kept the temperature down. But now the days under light drizzle have decreased and heavy rainfall days are increasing. The heavy rainfall, on the other hand, is causing floods.”
Dr. Partha Jyoti Das, Head of Water, Climate and Hazard Division, Aaranyak told CFC India “Well, we have known for about the last three decades how climate change has been affecting the northeastern part of India. Climate agencies and scientists have been monitoring the trends in parameters like temperature, precipitation, extreme temperatures, and rainfall, the south-west and the north-east monsoon circulations, El-Nino, La-Nina, cyclones, and local storms, etc. and they have seen the signature of climate change everywhere.”
“The most significant trends are increasing maximum and minimum temperatures, and the heavy rainfall events being on the rise. The number of days experiencing high temperatures is increasing during the pre-monsoon and monsoon seasons leading to severe heat stress conditions due to extreme temperatures which was alien to this region even two decades back. Death of people due to heat extremes, which was rarely heard of in the last century, is common news nowadays. Record breaking temperatures experienced this summer, e.g., in May 2024 throughout the NE region are an indicator of how the normal thermal environment is changing in the region.
The heavy rainfall conditions, often turning into extreme rainfall events and cloud bursts, have generated more flash floods of late than before. The Brahmaputra Valley in Assam is suffering dearly from flash floods caused by rain extremes, especially in the foothill areas bordering our neighbouring hill states like Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Nagaland and countries like Bhutan, from where many of our fast moving rivers are flowing into the plains of Assam. Heavy rainfall also triggers more landslides in the hillslopes which contributes more sediment to the rivers flowing to Assam and thus causes rise in the bed level through bed deposition. This is a major reason why our rivers are flooding more with even relatively lower rainfall compared to the past. With more concentrated rainfall over smaller time intervals the floods have become more intense and frequent causing more loss and damage.
More incidence of lightning, forest fire and hail storms have been reported in recent years, which are also considered climate-induced disasters resulting in loss of forest, biodiversity, crops, dwelling houses and death of humans as wel asl wild animals.
What we really badly need is more reliable weather forecasts with early warnings about extreme rainfall, heat extremes and flooding. While flood forecasts are more available for the mainstream Brahmaputra and the Barak Rivers, we also need flood warnings for the tributaries of these rivers which cover more flood prone areas.” Dr. Das added.
References:
https://www.moes.gov.in/sites/default/files/LS-English-1567-31-07-2024.pdf
Image Sources:
Photo by Diana https://www.pexels.com/photo/muddy-river-after-rainfall-in-mountains-9170423/
Photo by Dibakar Roy
https://www.pexels.com/photo/blue-car-trying-to-drive-along-a-flooded-street-24797143/Photo by Pok Rae https://www.pexels.com/photo/roofs-of-residential-houses-in-flooded-town-6471946/
