Climate Change and its Possible Impact on India: A Case Study of Puruliya, West Bengal

India is likely to be affected by climate change impacts in the future that may have farreaching consequences on its people, particularly the rural poor dependent for their livelihoods on climate-sensitive sectors of the economy. The poor have limited capacities and resources at their disposal to meet basic needs as well as respond to stresses such as floods and droughts. Therefore climate change is a potential threat to the successful implementation of poverty reduction and development policies particularly in the developing world. This study looks at the Kheria Sabar, a marginalized community inhabiting the dry western part of West Bengal. Primarily dependent on agriculture as a livelihood pathway, their continued poverty makes them particularly vulnerable to the possible negative effects of climate change in the future. Climate change adaptations will therefore necessarily have to be incorporated into the poverty alleviation and development policies of developing countries.