eChapters

Agriculture is world’s single largest employer and probably the most weather dependent of all human activities.  Climate and its variability have been and continue to be, the principal source of fluctuations in global food production. Throughout history, extreames of heat and cold, droughts and floods, and various form of violent weather have wretched havoc on the global agricultural production. With the unprecedented increase in population over past few decades, clearly the mankind faces undertaking task to ensure food and nutritional security for all, considering reduced per capita land, reduced availability of water, depleting biodiversity and need to preserve ecology and environment. In India, of the total geographical area of 328 m ha, about 175 m ha (53 % of total) are categorized as degraded land, of which 150 m ha are subjected to serious water and wind erosion (Singh et al. 1981). Crops are sown in about 180 m ha annually. Since it seems very much impossible to bring more area under cultivation we need to achieve greater efficiency in the natural resources use while conserving the environment by placing greater emphasis on understanding and exploiting climatic resources for the benefits of agriculture.

Climate change and its variability imposed a great threat to agriculture production and ultimately on food security. Understanding of anomalies in climatic variables is essential to make agriculture sector resilient. Jharkhand state, geographically located at 220 28’ N – 250 30’ N latitude and 830 22’ – 870 40’ E longitude with an altitude up to 1142 m above msl and having humid to sub-humid tropical monsoon type of climate, has a number of agro-climatic/physiographic constraints. The state has 3 agroclimatic sub-zones viz; Central and North Eastern Plateau sub zone (zone IV), Western Plateau sub-zone (zone V) and South Eastern Plateau sub-zone (zone VI) falling under agroecological regions XI, XII and XIII. Zone IV is having 15 districts; Zone V has 6 and Zone VI have 3 districts. Agriculture in Jharkhand is very tedious due to topographical, physiographic and climatic constraints. Vagaries of climate put greatest limitation before the agricultural production system in the State.

INTRODUCTION

Mizoram is a hilly terrain lying in the north eastern part of the country. The total geographical area of the state is 21, 087 sq. km and lies between 92º 15/ to 93º 29/ E longitude and 21º 58/ to 24º 35/ N latitude. Out of six agro climatic zones of the NEH region, Mizoram comes under sub tropical hill zone and posses a sub tropical and humid climate due to high rainfall (Fig. 1). These climatic conditions are very conducive for the cultivation of a large number of agri-horticultural crops. The physiography of the state is divided into hills and valley lands. About 90 % area of the state comes under hills and only 10 % area is under valley. The valley lands are sporadically distributed in small patches except in Champhai district. The slope of the hills in Mizoram is much steep as compared to the other states in the North Eastern region. The land use statistics of the state is presented in Table1.

Soil microorganisms are believed to play a major regulatory role in organic carbon dynamics, as key architects in nutrient transformation, and physical engineering of soil structure. The microbial populations of the soil alone encompass an enormous diversity of bacteria, algae, fungi, protozoa, and actinomycetes. Microbial diversity is being regulated by substrate and water availability, temperature, climatic regime and soil structure, which is considered as a transformation agent for soil organic matter and a labile pool of organic and inorganic nutrients. Extensive cultivation with repeated tillage operation often disrupts soil aggregates stability and destroys aggregates carbon and therefore, soil lose their physical properties and nutrient supplying capacity in a long-run.

R has become the world-wide language for statistics, predictive analytics, and data visualization. R is not limited to statistics; it provides a wide range of tools for spectroscopy. It offers a wide range of methodologies for spectral data preprocessing, spectral analysis, multivariate analysis of the spectral data, machine leraning models for prediction of properties, and visualization. As an open source project, it’s freely available for a range of platforms, including Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux. An integrated development environment (IDE) for R, R Studio, allows interactive execution of R functions with user interface. RStudio is available in two formats - RStudio Desktop and RStudio Server - both available in free and fee-based (commercial) editions.
1.1. Download and Install R
The R software setup files can be downloaded from any of the widely distributed Comprehensive R Archive Network (CARN). To download R, go to url: https:// www.r-project.org/ and choose your preferred CRAN mirror, a location close to you and follow the steps to download and installation of R and Rtools.
1.2. Download and Install R Studio
Download and Install the R Studio once the base R is installed. Go to https://www. rstudio.com/products/rstudio/download/ and click on download R Studio Desktop with Open Source license.
1.3. Updating R
To update the R, we need the package “installr” and use function “updateR( )”

Introduction 
In order to ensure that future generations can prosper, sustainable development is an all-encompassing strategy that aims to strike a balance between social equity, environmental protection, and economic growth. The inclusion of genderresponsive policies is one of this agenda’s most important but often ignored components. Encouraging inclusive and sustainable development outcomes requires acknowledging and addressing the unique needs and contributions of different genders. Empowering women and other marginalized genders have positive effects on resilience, economic productivity, and environmental stewardship that go beyond local communities. Policies that are gender responsive aim to address systemic disparities by advancing equal opportunities and involvement in decision-making. These policies seek to empower marginalized groups while also utilizing their distinct viewpoints and skills to tackle urgent global issues. Women are important in agriculture and natural resource management, for example, so their input is essential in developing environmental policies that work. Gender considerations can be effectively integrated into development frameworks to produce more comprehensive solutions that lead to sustainable outcomes. In addition, promoting gender parity is not just a question of justice but also a critical component of sustainable development. Greater gender parity is associated with faster economic growth and better social outcomes in nations, according to a wealth of research. Entire communities gain when women have access to economic opportunities, healthcare, and education. In order to achieve sustainable development goals and make sure that no one is left behind, creating gender-responsive policies is therefore not just an ethical duty but also a practical necessity. In conclusion, examining the relationship between gender and sustainable development can help us better understand the many issues our world is currently facing. Gender-responsive policies should be given top priority so that we can help everyone reach their full potential and encourage creativity and resilience. This strategy opens the door for a more sustainable and inclusive future by promoting equitable development and bolstering our group’s capacity to handle social, economic, and environmental issues.

Increasing evidences over the past few decades indicate that significant changes in climate are occurring across various regions of the globe in the form of increased occurrence of extreme weather events. The significant cause to this sustained increase in climate variability, known as climate change has been a resultant of increased level of greenhouse gases (GHGs) in the atmosphere. The reason for this increase is mainly ascribed to enhanced human activities such as industrialization, uncontrolled burning of fossil fuels, increased use of refrigerants and changed land use patterns and practices. Most significantly, the concentrations of GHGs like CO₂ has already crossed the 400 ppm mark, while other potential contributors like methane and nitrous oxide also show significant rise. As a result of the heat absorbing capacity of these gases, there has been a considerable rise in global mean temperatures, more so in the recent decade and more. The increase in mean air temperatures of the globe was 0.76^ºC during the past 100 years. This rate of increase has been higher during the past two decades and the recent period recorded the warmest years in sequence, the latest being the 2017.

INTRODUCTION

Edible mushrooms are higher fungi occurring seasonally all over the world in various habitats varying from sandy plains to thick forests. About 2000 fungal species in the world have been identified as edible, of which, only a few (20) are cultivated commercially (Chang and Miles, 1991). These mushrooms are generally considered as the good source of protein, vitamins and minerals in addition to their flavour and condiment value. About 3.

The Asia-Pacific region is highly vulnerable to climate change, with impacts such as more frequent natural disasters, sea-level rise, floods, droughts, and changing weather patterns. Rural areas, particularly those reliant on agriculture, are disproportionately and non-identically affected. The Asia-Pacific region, home to over 60% of the world's population, is among the most vulnerable to climate change due to its diverse geography, dense coastal populations, and socioeconomic disparities [IPCC, 2022a], Climate change is an emerging threat that affects all countries to varying degrees. The recently released IPCC Assessment Report identified agriculture as one of the critical sectors both susceptible to climate change and contributing to it through Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions. Countries in the Asia-Pacific region are investing significant resources to strengthen agriculture on various fronts. These investments focus on the research and development of new varieties and agro-technologies to adapt agriculture to emerging climatic threats and, simultaneously, mitigate GHG emissions from the agricultural and allied sectors. These initiatives are in their early stages, and there is a need to assess the current status of countries' vulnerability to climate change and the measures taken to address

Abstract

Ennore is an industrial region having many industries on chemicals, fertilizers, refineries etc., discharging their effluents into the Buckingham canal. Present study focuses on the impact of tsunami on water quality of Buckingham Canal segment found to the north of Chennai city, Tamil Nadu, India, in addition to the human interferences. Water samples were collected from surface and near bottom at five locations covering about 20km stretch of the Buckingham Canal during high tide on the spring tide day before (December 2004) and after (January 2005) the mega tsunami. Various water quality parameters measured were pH, Temperature, Salinity, Dissolved Oxygen, Suspended Particulate Matter, Nutrients and Chlorophyll. The maximum depth observed in the canal was 2.5m in December, whereas a shallow depth of less than 0.5m was recorded in January. The water quality analyses confirmed the incursion of saline water (upto 32ppt) into the Canal. Not much variations were observed in Dissolved Oxygen and pH. Because of the organic pollution in the canal, the water was rich in nutrients before tsunami, whereas due to the large quantity of seawater invasion, dilution had occurred after tsunami. High turbidity was observed in January 2005 indicating the tsunami induced disturbance and resuspension of the sediments from sea bed.

Keywords: Tsunami, Ennore, Tamil Nadu, Buckingham Canal.

Climate-resilient rural development is a critical priority for CMCs, given their vulnerability to climate change impacts such as floods, droughts, cyclones, and rising temperatures. This note explores case studies and success stories from some of the CMCs, highlighting innovative approaches, community- driven initiatives, and policy interventions that enhance climate resilience in rural areas. The examples draw from documented projects, emphasizing practical outcomes and lessons learned. Case studies of specific CMCs 1. Bangladesh: Saemaul Zero Hunger Communities (SZHC) Project In central Bangladesh, the Saemaul Zero Hunger Communities (SZHC) project (2014-2017) focused on 19 flood-prone villages to strengthen resilience to climate shocks and improve food security (UNDP, 2018). Implemented in collaboration with local communities

1.1 Geomorphology

Geomorphology is the scientific study of the origin and evolution of topographic and bathymetric features created by physical or chemical processes operating at or near the earth's surface.

The surface of the earth is unstable and affected by a combination of surface and geologic processes that cause tectonic uplift and subsidence. Surface processes are mainly physical and chemical action of water, wind, ice, igneous activity and activities of living organisms on the surface of the earth. Upliftment of mountain ranges, the growth of volcanoes, isostatic changes in surface elevation and formation of deep sedimentary basins are categorized under Geological processes.

Main geomorphological processes occurring in nature are as follows:

1.1.1 Aeolian processes

Aeolian processes include activities of the winds, its ability to shape the surface of the earth. Wind acts as an effective agent of erosion, transportation and deposition materials, and large supply of fine, unconsolidated sediments. Aeolian processes are important in desert (arid) environments.

1.1.2 Fluvial processes

Moving water in a river channel, is able to mobilize sediment and transport it downstream. The rate of sediment transport depends on the availability of sediment itself and the discharge by river.

River originates from mountain with V shaped valley, which later increases in size, merging with other rivers. The network of rivers thus formed is known as drainage system. These systems show four general patterns viz. dendritic, radial, rectangular, and trellis etc. In the mature stage, the river form alluvial flood plains, meanders and ox-bow lakes. Finally when it merges to ocean, forms delta.

Climate change may manifest itself as rapid changes in climate in the short term or subtler changes over decades. Generally, climate change is associated with an increasing global temperature. Various climate model projections suggest that by the year 2100, mean global temperature may be 1.1–6.4 °C warmer than in 2010. The difficulty facing livestock is weather extremes, e.g. intense heat waves, ?oods and droughts. In addition to production losses, extreme events also result in livestock death (Gaughan and Cawsell-Smith, 2015). Animals can adapt to hot climates, however the response mechanisms that are helpful for survival may be detrimental to performance. In this article we make an attempt to project the adverse impact of climate change on livestock production. There is a two-way relationship between livestock production and environmental health.

Impact of climate change on livestocks

The potential impacts on livestock include changes in production and quality of feed crop and forage, water availability, animal growth and milk production, diseases, reproduction, and biodiversity. These impacts are primarily due to an increase in temperature and atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO₂) concentration, precipitation variation, and a combination of these factors. Temperature affects most of the critical factors for livestock production, such as water availability, animal production, reproduction and health. Forage quantity and quality are affected by a combination of increases in temperature, CO₂ and precipitation variation. Livestock diseases are mainly affected by an increase in temperature and precipitation variation.

Introduction

Climate change has been realised during 1840s when indisputable evidence of former ice ages was obtained. The climate has altered sufficiently in many parts of the world even within the last few decades which will affect the possibilities for agriculture and settlement. Reliable weather records have been kept only during the last hundred years or so, but proxy indicators of past conditions from tree rings, pollen in bog and lake sediments, ice core records of physical and chemical parameters, and ocean foraminifera in sediments provide a wealth of paleoclimatic data. The standard interval adopted by the World Meteorological Organization for climatic statistics is thirty years:1901–30, 1931–60, for example. However, for historical records and proxy indicators of climate, longer, arbitrary time intervals may be necessary to calculate average values. Tree rings and ice cores can give seasonal/annual records, while peat bog and ocean sediments may provide records with only 100- to 1,000-year time resolution. Hence, short-term changes and the true rates of change may, or may not, be identifiable.

The present climatic state is usually described in terms of an average value (arithmetic mean, or the median value in a frequency distribution), a measure of variation about the mean (the standard deviation, or interquartile range), the extreme values, and often the shape of the frequency distribution. A change in climate can occur in several different ways, for example, there may be a shift in the mean level, or a gradual trend in the mean values. The variability may be periodic, quasi-periodic or non-periodic, or alternatively it may show a progressive trend . First, it is important to determine whether such changes are real or whether they are an artefact of changes in instrumentation, observational practices, station location, or the surroundings of the instrumental site, or due to errors in the transcribed data. Even when changes are real, it may be difficult to ascribe them to unique causes because of the complexity of the climate system. Natural variability operates over a wide range of time scales, and superimposed on these natural variations in climate are the effects of human activities.

The Government of India, during 1980s, recognized the necessity to improve the latex yield productivity in the traditional rubber growing regions and also expand these plantations to non-traditional regions to meet the ever increasing demands of natural rubber in India (Sethuraj et al., 1989). Agrometeorological studies were initiated during early 1986 with the appointment of a Scientist (Agrometeorology). To begin with, scientific issues were identified as: (a) delineate the potential non-traditional regions for expansion of rubberplantations, (b) estimate the impact of climatic conditions, especially abiotic  stress conditions on productivity, (c) quantify influence of meteorological factors on the physiological responses towards plant growth and yield attributes, (d) estimate the irrigation requirements to mitigate the drought conditions, and (e) develop weather based predictive models for `Abnormal leaf fall’ disease of rubber plantations. An attempt is made to present synthesis of accomplishments during 1986 to 1992 period of my association with the Rubber Research Institute of India (RRII), Kottayam.

Introduction

Climate-smart small ruminant production is an approach for transforming and reorienting the small ruminant production under the new realities of climate change. The main objective of climate-smart small ruminant production is to make the production sustainable for national food security, enhancement of resilience, and reduction of greenhouse gasses emission. Climate-smart agriculture is that, which increases the sustainable productivity, enhances resilience, reduce greenhouse gasses (GHG) and boost the achievements of national food security and development goals (FAO, 2013). In India, most of the rural communities earn their livelihood on smallholder livestock production system and they are very much vulnerable to climate change. Therefore, the need of the hour is to address the impact of climate change both in terms of adaptation as well as mitigation perspective (Vemeulen et al., 2013). The increase in population, the higher income, urbanization, and change in dietary preference leading to increased demand for animal products that pressurizing for higher productivity of livestock (Delgado et al., 1999; Thronton et al., 2007).

The mutton production in our country was 399 million Kg in 2012 which will be around 537 million Kg by 2020, and 840 million Kg in 2030 and 1317 million Kg in 2050. However, the requirement for mutton would be 813 million Kg by 2020, 986 million Kg by 2030 and 1408 million Kg in 2050. Similarly, the wool production in the country is 44.7 million Kg in present time (2011-2012), which have to be increased 150, 180 and 200 million Kg in 2020, 2030 and 2050, respectively. But the harsh climatic condition, shrinkage grazing resources, increase in cultivation and industrialization and decline interest of new generation for small ruminant rearing; making a question mark to meet the future demand in the current production trend. The scarcity of resources, impact of climate change and increase demand for mutton has made the traditional coping mechanism less effective (Sidahmed, 2008). Therefore, we need climate-smart sheep and goat production option that can achieve the triple win scenario of increasing productivity, adapting and building resilience to climate change through a reduction of greenhouse gas (GHG) emission (FAO, 2013; Shikuku et al., 2016).

Introduction

In the past few decades, persistent change in climatic variables coupled with global warming lead to the genesis of climatic stress. Currently climatic stress is considered as the most serious ultimatum to livestock’s growth, development, production and reproduction in tropics and subtropics including India. Livestock’s in tropical countries are most commonly affected by the menace of climatic stress. It has been shown that, climatic stress upsets animal’s body homeostasis resulting in grievous decline in livestock’s production and productivity across the world. In general, livestock adapt to the climatic insults via behavioural, physiological, biochemical, metabolic, endocrine and molecular responses. Despite of these thermal adaptation mechanisms, livestock’s witnesses the perils of climatic stress thereby incur major loss in their production and productivity. Therefore, in this changing climatic scenario, it is imperative to rigorously understand and explore the precise mechanism of thermal adaptation to generate climate resilient species which could upsurge the socio-economic status of the farmers as well as the country.

In the preceding chapters, we embarked on a comprehensive journey through the realm of vegetables, covering a wide range of species that belong to different botanical and culinary groups. These chapters provided an indepth exploration of the characteristics, growth habits, and environmental requirements of various vegetables, as well as the effects of weather conditions on their productivity.
However, the diversity of vegetables is vast, and there are several other important species that were not covered in the earlier chapters. These vegetables may be regionally specific, possess unique characteristics, or have distinct environmental requirements. Despite their importance, they have remained outside the scope of our previous discussions.
This chapter aims to fill this knowledge gap by providing an overview of these additional vegetables, with a focus on understanding the impact of weather conditions on their growth, development, and productivity. By examining the effects of temperature, moisture, light, and other environmental factors on these vegetables, we can gain valuable insights into their cultivation requirements and optimize their production.
Through this chapter, we hope to provide a more comprehensive understanding of the vegetable kingdom, highlighting the diversity of species, their environmental requirements, and the strategies for maximizing their yields. By expanding our knowledge of these lesser-covered vegetables, we can promote their cultivation, conservation, and sustainable use, ultimately contributing to global food security and nutrition.

Introduction

Animals have delicate balance of heat production and heat loss, which is maintained by thermoregulatory mechanisms in response to environmental temperature and humidity combinations. When the heat loss is overrun by heat gain, heat stress occurs. During heat stress, increase in the core body temperature due to failure of homeostatic mechanism reduces productivity of the animals below their original genetic potential in growth, milk production, milk constituents and reproduction (Ravagnolo and Misztal, 2002). Impending climate change scenario is a unanimously accepted reality. Increase in the anthropogenic greenhouse gases (CO₂, CH₄and NO₂) cause radiation leading to excess warming of the earth’s environmental system. According to IPCC, the predicted temperature rises for the end of 21^st century may be in the range of 1.8^oC to 4^oC (IPCC, 2007). The climate change has complex impact on the livestock production. Temperature or heat stress will be one of the major environmental factor to in?uence the health and productivity of livestock population. The least tropically adapted livestock may be severely affected by heat stress. The manage mental and ameliorative practices can deal with the heat stress in short term, however the long term focus of developing genetic heat stress tolerance in livestock population will be a significant and impactful strategy.

Introduction

Stress represents the reaction of body to stimuli that disturb normal physiological equilibrium or homeostasis, often with detrimental effects (Khansari et al., 1990). Domestic animals undergo various kinds of stress such as physical, nutritional, chemical, psychological and thermal stress (Marai et al., 2007; Nardone et al., 2010). Figure 1 summarises the different types of stressors and their effects on animals.