UK India Workshop on Regional Climate Change, Variability and Impacts: Scientific Perspective

Date: 23 to 27 January 2006
Venue: Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology Pune

Knowledge of future variability of the monsoon system, particularly in the context of global change, is of great concern for regional water and food security. More confident predictions of monsoon behaviour on sub-seasonal, seasonal, interannual and decadal timescales will have substantial benefits. In addition, an increased ability to utilize the output of such predictions for the benefit of society will help to build resilience to the longer term impacts of anthropogenic climate change. While the general features of monsoon variability and change are fairly well-documented, the causal mechanisms and the role of regional ecosystems in modulating the changes, and indeed, the impacts of climate change on regional ecosystems, are still not clear. Increased efforts are therefore being directed towards an understanding of the interactions between factors like land-use and land-cover changes and regional precipitation and temperature changes, along with their global teleconnections.

To facilitate these efforts, working relationships with frontline research groups specializing in these issues are being actively pursued to developing longstanding programmatic linkages. Indo-UK collaboration on these issues has always been in the forefront, and the recently completed Joint Indo-UK programme on climate change impacts in India is a prime example of the immense mutual benefits the two nations stand to gain by working together. Several institutions in India have been pursuing advanced research on various aspects of the regional climate and its predictability. Climate and climate change have been the core foci of research in the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM), since its inception in 1962. IITM has strong linkages to other institutions in India working on similar problems, and is therefore ideally placed to bring together the leading groups in India and UK to formulate potential collaborative programmes. Concerted efforts are being made to create a platform for the Indian and UK experts to jointly take stock of the current state of knowledge in the regional climate change and variability, and undertake an assessment of the associated impacts on various socio-economic sectors. The present Indo-UK workshop, being hosted at IITM during January 23-27, 2006, is expected to identify collaborative partners on both the sides covering the important themes and then draw up a few precisely defined collaborative research projects that can be pursued in a bilateral mode. It is taking place at the initiative of the Department of Science & Technology, Government of India, and the UK's Royal Society, with the support of the British Council India and British High Commission, New Delhi.

For further details please contact Raghuvansh Saxena at ext 237.