Climate change and sustainable development

In the recent years it is contemplated that monsoon rainfall has been erratic. These wider oscillations in asymmetric trend of rainfall throughout India can be attributed to climate change. The survival of life on earth depends on the absorption of incoming solar radiation which warms the surface of the planet. This incoming energy is reflected back into space as low intensity infra-red radiation. The atmosphere of the earth contains small quantities of carbon dioxide and some other gasses collectively called Greenhouse gases or GHGs which absorb some of the outgoing infra-red radiation and reflect it back to earth and surface. The climate change is attributed to natural factors such as fluctuations in solar radiation or large dust clouds created by massive volcanic explosions and changes in the tilt of the earth. The major concern relate to the concentration of Greenhouse gases in the atmosphere rises sharply and consequently raises the average temperature at which the balance between incoming solar radiation and the outgoing infra-red radiation is realized. The change is due to the consequences of human actions but not due to natural causes. Rising temperatures influence the pattern of precipitation. The Inter-Governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) reports that the frequency of heavy precipitation events has increased over most land areas. French physicist J. Fourier observed that the air around the earth filters in sunlight exactly like a glass roof and hence named GHG. Global warming parenthetically expressed as Greenhouse effect is attributed to excessive increase in the concentration of Greenhouse gases. The main contribution to global warming have been on account of human induced activities such as fossil fuel consumption, industrial activities, agricultural systems, changing land used pattern and waste decomposition. The present paper seeks to delineate the concept of climate change, causes of climate change, cost benefit analysis of the enhanced greenhouse effect and policy measures to dispense with the catastrophic repercussions.