Future Earth:Science for the People

The Earth’s climate is changing and the global temperature has been rising since the middle of the last century. The anthropogenic emission of greenhouse gases is widely accepted as the major contributor to this warming. The prediction of future trends by climate models indicates that human beings will face serious challenges by the end of this century. Some of these are sea-level rise, coastal inundation, melting of polar ice caps and mountain glaciers, reduction in agricultural productivity and spread of vector-borne diseases. Based on the scientific findings, there is an increasing demand for actions to urgently control the emissions that are perturbing our climate. Climate change is, thus, one of the major challenges of this century and India will be among the worst affected.