NEW DELHI: To protect the country from climate change impact, the percentage of irrigated land needs to be increased. The Central government’s push on renewable energy shows its commitment to tackle climate change, said Chief Economic Advisor Arvind Subramaniam on Monday.
He was speaking at the release of a World Bank report, South Asia’s Hotspots: The Impact of Temperature and Precipitation Changes on Living Standards.
Presently, the percentage of irrigated land in India is less than 50 per cent and the negative impact of climate change in the irrigated area is lower than in non-irrigated area, he said. The report said that climate change could cost India 2.8 per cent of GDP, and depress living standards of nearly half of its population by 2050, as average annual temperatures are expected to rise by 1-2 per cent over three decades.