Climate Vulnerability Index by CEEW

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In news–  Council on Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW) has released a first-of-its-kind Climate Vulnerability Index recently.

About the report-

The report ‘Mapping India’s Climate Vulnerability – A District-level Assessment’, which has been supported by the India Climate Collaborative and Edelgive Foundation, has analysed 640 districts in India and found that 463 of these are vulnerable to extreme floods, droughts and cyclones.

Key findings of the index-

• As per the index, the states of Assam, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Karnataka and Bihar are the most vulnerable to extreme climate events such as floods, droughts and cyclones in India.
• Overall, 27 Indian states and Union territories are vulnerable to extreme climate events.
• It has found that Dhemaji and Nagaon in Assam, Khammam in Telangana, Gajapati in Odisha, Vizianagaram in Andhra Pradesh, Sangli in Maharashtra and Chennai in Tamil Nadu are among India’s most climate vulnerable districts.
• The index has revealed that more than 80 percent of Indians live in districts vulnerable to climate risks, out of which every five Indians live in areas that are extremely vulnerable.
• It has found that  more than 45 percent of these districts have undergone unsustainable landscape and infrastructure changes.
• As per the index 183 hotspot districts are highly vulnerable to more than one extreme climate event. 
• Most districts in India have been made particularly vulnerable due to “landscape disruptions’  such as the disappearance of forest cover, over-construction, degradation of wetlands and other natural ecosystems.
• States in India’s northeast are more vulnerable to floods, while the ones in the south and central are most vulnerable to extreme droughts. 
• Only 63 per cent of Indian districts have a District Disaster Management Plan (DDMP). 
• Along with Tripura, West Bengal is the third least vulnerable and Kerala the least vulnerable, despite being coastal states and prone to annual cyclones and flooding. 

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