Concern expressed over climate change and depletion of water resources

Ludhiana: A one-day Stakeholder’s Workshop on “Assessment and Management of Groundwater Resources under Changing Climatic Conditions” was organized at Punjab Agricultural University (PAU) today under the aegis of National Agricultural Higher Education Project. The workshop was jointly organized by Departments of Climate Change and Agricultural Meteorology, Soil Science, and Soil and Water Engineering, PAU. In total, 75 delegates from State Departments, Directorate of Water Resources and Indian Meteorological Department, Chandigarh, participated in the workshop.

The chief guest Dr PPS Pannu, Additional Director of Research (Natural Resource and Plant Health Management), PAU, expressed concern over climate change and depletion of water resources. He called for adopting suitable measures, such as crop diversification, climate resilient varieties, direct seeding of rice, efficient irrigation methods, rainwater harvesting, and restricting of groundwater pumping in agriculture, domestic and agriculture sectors. He said conservation of natural resources was need of the hour.

Dr SD Attri, Deputy Director General of Meteorology, Indian Meteorological Department, New Delhi, delivered a talk on “Present and Future Scenario of Climate Change and its Impact on Crops.” He said natural hazards, such as drought, forest fire, earthquake, floods, landslide, cyclone, thunderstorm, heavy rainfall and flash floods, heat wave and cold wave were leading to disasters in India. “Climate variability and change is an issue of concern worldwide. It poses significant risk to food and livelihood security,” he observed. “Between 1998 and 2017, 5,26,000 people lost their lives, while economic losses amounted to $3.47 trillion due to extreme weather (97%),” he disclosed. Dr Attri further said the challenges of developing and releasing climate resilient cultivars and convincing farmers to adopt these cultivars, introducing green technologies and encouraging citizens to adopt green technologies needed to be addressed.

Dr Gopal Krishan, Scientist, National Institute of Hydrology, Roorkee, Uttarakhand, delivered a lecture on “Environmental Traces in Water Resource Management with Special Emphasis on Groundwater.” He revealed, “To sustain growing food demand and increasing standards of living, global water withdrawal has increased by six times.” Dr Krishan said groundwater was being given an increased attention due to scarcity of water resources; development in health sciences; and urban, industrial and technological expansion. “More than 80 per cent of water abstracted in North-West India is used for irrigation,” he divulged while suggesting the development of aquifer typologies for managing groundwater irrigation.

Earlier, Dr KG Singh, Head, Department of Soil and Water Engineering, welcomed the guest speakers, delegates and faculty of PAU.

Dr Prabhjyot Kaur Sidhu, Head, Department of Climate Change and Agricultural Meteorology, PAU, proposed the vote of thanks. An open discussion was also held among the experts, delegates and faculty of PAU. Later, Dr Pannu honoured the guest speakers with the mementos.