Wetlands are drying, hailstorms increasing, mangoes becoming sweeter and oranges taking on sour overtones, says a new report on the impact of climate change in Kerala's scenic hill district Wayanad.
The report and its ramifications should be top of the agenda for Congress president Rahul Gandhi, who is contesting the Lok Sabha elections from Wayanad, said his colleague Jairam Ramesh.
The report, titled "Sustainable Development Goals and Climate Resilient Strategies, Wayanad district", was released by Ramesh recently.
"The agenda awaits the intervention of the new Wayanad MP," the former Environment minister and senior Congress leader told PTI, anticipating that Gandhi, who is contesting from Amethi and Wayanad, will represent the Kerala constituency in the Lok Sabha.
Climate change and crisis in the farm sector were a dominant theme during the election campaign in Wayanad, devastated by floods that swept through the area and several other parts of Kerala last year.
Major political parties, including the Congress-led UDF, the CPI(M) led LDF and the BJP-led NDA highlighted the issue of livelihoods of people affected by the floods.
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Apart from the floods, the insidious impact of climate change is being seen across the district.
"Mangoes are becoming more sweet and oranges are becoming sour in taste," says the study on climate change in Wayanad authored by eminent ecologists Dr Balakrishna Pisupati and Deepta Sateesh.
Wetlands are drying up and the beautiful streams crisscrossing the hill district carry less water as the area is heavily hit by climate change, it says.
"With the change in temperature and humidity (moisture content), the rainfall pattern changes and thus there is a climate change in the region," it says.
"Koda, the phenomenon of local cloud formation at very low altitude, has disappeared. Rainfall is less but the intensity of water has increased leading to harsh rains. Hailstorms have increased. Erratic rains/the pattern of rainfall is changing."
"The concept of seepage helps in understanding the landscape not just in terms of land and water as two faces of a coin but rather it helps in understanding the intensity of the texture of the landscape according to presence of water in the landscape."