Uttarakhand - Department of Land Resources

already constrained due to mountainous terrain, low temperatures and short growing
seasons, with climate change compounding these factors.
Impact on energy supply and demand: With over a billion people, India today only
produces 660 billion KWh of electricity and over 600 million Indians, a population
equal to the combined population of USA and EU, have no access to electricity, and
limited access to other clean, modern fuels such as LPG and kerosene (GoI, 2007).
The expansion needed in the energy systems, in a climate-constrained world,
represents an enormous challenge for the country but also an opportunity to promote
sustainable development. Renewable energy options existing in Uttarakhand are
primarily micro hydro, solar energy, biomass for electricity generation, bio-energy,
especially bio-fuels for transport sector and biogas for cooking.
Impact on forests and biodiversity: Changes in climate could alter the
configuration and productivity of the forests ecosystems. Rising temperature,
changes in availability of water, and enriched CO 2 are expected to bring significant
changes in species composition in approximately one third of the forests worldwide.
Nearly 200,000 villages in India depend on forests for their livelihood. Climate
change is likely to affect forest biodiversity and cause a shift in forest boundaries
thereby impacting the supply of forest products and consequently forest-based
livelihoods.
Forest ecosystems in Uttarakhand are already subjected to socio-economic
pressures leading to forest degradation and climate change can significantly affect
the availability of forest goods and services in terms of quality and quantity.
Production of several indigenous herbs and forest species in the state is likely to be
severely impacted by these changes. Many Non-Wood Forest Products (NWFPs)
are likely to be more vulnerable to changes in climate system than timber and fuel
wood production and hence would have a more serious impact on NWFPdependent
forest communities.
Impacts on human health: Climate change can directly impact human health due
to mortality and morbidity related to extreme events such as droughts, floods,
cyclones, temperature extremes, etc. or indirectly due to change in transmission
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