Rising sea level threatens India's coastal areas

Zee News (India): The tranquil stretches of emerald green backwaters in Mumbai and Kerala are among several locales in the western and eastern coasts facing threat from the rising sea level due to climate change.  Deltas of the Ganga, Krishna, Godavari, Cauvery and Mahanadi on the east coast may also be threatened along with irrigated land and adjoining settlements, according to a Government report.

"It is estimated that sea level rise by 3.5 to 34.6 inches between 1990 and 2100 would result in saline coastal groundwater, endangering wetlands and inundating valuable land and coastal communities. The most vulnerable stretches along the western Indian coast are Khambat and Kutch in Gujarat, Mumbai and parts of the Konkan coast and south Kerala," says the report submitted to the UN.

The report -- India's Second National Communication to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change-- was prepared by multi-disciplinary teams and other stakeholders comprising more than 220 scientists belonging to over 120 institutions.

"The loss of these important economic and cultural regions could have a considerable impact in some states," it says....

Hans A. Rosbach shot this image of Kerala's backwaters, Wikimedia Commons, under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license