Over 60% of India's districts prone to floods and drought: Report

Over 85% of such districts, prone to drought risk, are in Bihar, Assam, Jharkhand, Odisha, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Chhattisgarh, Kerala, Maharashtra, Uttarakhand and Haryana.

New Delhi: Over 60% of Indian districts are high climate risk zones prone to flood and drought, the two commonest natural hazards, says a new assessment report that provides guidance to the governments on districts where urgent actions are needed.

The report identifies 91 districts as “very high” drought risk and 188 as “high” risk. Over 85% of such districts are in Bihar, Assam, Jharkhand, Odisha, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Chhattisgarh, Kerala, Maharashtra, Uttarakhand and Haryana.

Similarly 51 districts are “very high" flood risk while 118 have been categorised as "high" risk. The vulnerable regions include Assam, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Gujarat, Odisha, and Jammu and Kashmir.

Alarmingly, 11 districts including five from Assam and three from West Bengal along with Patna (Bihar), Alappuzha (Kerala), and Kendrapara (Odisha), are at "very high" risk for both floods and droughts, necessitating immediate interventions.

“We have calculated climate risks by taking into account natural hazards like flood and drought, people’s exposure and their socio-economic vulnerability. The report tells how much and where the resources are to be allocated,” Anamika Barua, a researcher from Indian Institute of Technology, Guwahati and one of the lead authors of the report told DH.

On north and central Karnataka districts facing high drought risks, she said the number of wet days had been going down over the last 20 years.

The researchers said for the first time an Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change framework was applied to assess the climate risks for districts, going beyond vulnerability. The assessment was done for 698 districts, of which 459 were found to be at risk.

Factors like population density, people’s socio-economic conditions and infrastructures like road network – needed for fast movement during a crisis – have been factored into while deciding on the climate risk of a particular district.

“This report provides a comprehensive framework for policymakers, enabling them to devise targeted solutions that consider the distinct needs of each region,” said N H Ravindranath, a retired professor at the Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru, who was an advisor to the project.

Supported by the Department of Science and Technology and Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation, the report was prepared by researchers from IIT Guwahati, IIT Mandi and the Centre for Study of Science, Technology, and Policy, Bengaluru. It was released in Guwahati on Friday.

They worked in partnership with scientists and officials from 20 states who shared data and provided state-specific inputs. In addition, 50 years of meteorological and agriculture data between 1970 and 2019 were used for the assessment.

“Risk indices, rankings, and maps support the preparation of adaptation projects, enhancing the credibility of funding proposals for national and international agencies, particularly in identified hotspot districts,” the researchers said.

The report comes at a time when human activities, principally through emissions of greenhouse gases, have unequivocally caused global warming, with the global mean surface temperature reaching 1.1°C above 1850–1900 levels in the decade 2011–2020.

The global greenhouse gas emissions have continued to increase, with unequal historical and ongoing contributions. This has increased the frequency of extreme weather events.