August
2017
CLIMATE
CHANGE DRIVES INDIAN FARMER SUICIDES, SAYS NEW STUDY
A
new report shows the devastating impact of global warming on struggling
Indian farmers, thousands of whom have taken their own lives over
the last 30 years.
By
G.B.S.N.P Varma
Climate change is already pushing Indian farmers and agricultural
labourers over the edge. Temperature increases during crop-growing
season could be the cause of 60,000 farm suicides throughout India
over the last three decades, according to a new analysis
published recently in the science journal Proceedings of the
National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).
"When temperatures rise to levels that damage crops,
suicide rates also go up. It appears that crop losses are the key
culprits linking self-harm to hot temperatures," says Tamma Carleton,
the study's author and researcher at agriculture and resource economics,
University of California, Berkeley. "These are deaths that would
not have occurred, had the warming we've observed in the historical
climate record not taken place."
Linking climate change, particularly temperature, and
agricultural income with farmers' suicides, Carleton's study says
that "for days above 20 ◦C, a 1 ◦C
increase in a single day's temperature during the growing season increases
annual suicides by 0.008 per 100,000 people, causing an additional
67 deaths, on average across India."
That means, an increase of 3 degrees Celsius on any day
causes 201 deaths; an increase of 4 degrees Celsius on any day causes
268 deaths; and an increase of 5 degrees Celsius on any day causes
335 deaths. It further states that "annual crop yields fall by
1.3% per standard deviation in growing season temperatures."
All in all, Carleton estimates that Global Warming is
responsible for 59,300 suicides in India over the last 30 years, showing
agriculture's extreme vulnerability to temperature changes, rainfall,
and farm suicides. Non-farmers too face distress, as crop losses ripple
though economy, spiking up food prices and bringing down demand for
agricultural labour.
"These are consequences of climate change that are
already being felt today, underscoring the urgency of developing sound
climate change policy. These devastating impacts of climate change
are a problem faced by our generation, not a problem that we can afford
to defer to future years," says Carleton, who studies the many
ways that the climate affects global economic and social stability.
Suicide, she continues, is a heartbreaking indicator of
human hardship. Carleton says she was struck by reports that
indicated many suicides in India occur through ingestion of pesticides.
"This fact demonstrates that many of those in distress
have livelihoods that are closely tied to agriculture, and encouraged
me to investigate whether climatic effects on suicide rates were occurring
because of damages to agricultural incomes."
The finding that suicide phenomenon is affected by a changing
climate implies that it is essential to quantify its effect and consider
this relationship as we build climate policy for the future, Carleton
notes.
While high temperatures and low rainfall during the growing
season substantially impact annual suicide rates, Carleton's study
finds that similar climate events have no effect on suicide rates
during the off-season, when few crops are grown, "implicating
agriculture as the critical link."
Going forward in times of global warming
Even as India gradually warmed while experiencing economic
growth, Carleton finds no evidence that people in India have been
able to come to terms with a warming climate. The relationship between
temperature and suicide is the same across different populations within
India, and at different points in time.
"Without substantial investments in adaptive technologies
and behaviours, this finding means that it's likely we will see a
sustained rise in suicide rates as climate change continues to unfold
in India, she warns.
To mitigate that, India must needs to implement immediate
measures at farmers', communities', and policy levels.
First is the realization that changing climate is driving
farm suicides. Second, Carleton suggests, are policies that
"seek to reduce suicides by weakening the link between a risky
climate and agricultural incomes."
Although Carleton's study doesn't fully go into what measures
work, she suggests a range of options: crop insurance, which protect
farm incomes from the vagaries of the climate, could be successful
in reducing suicides. Access to low-interest loans through well-functioning
rural credit markets may also help limit the damage caused by warming
temperatures, as farmers can access quality seed without incurring
debt burdens that become insurmountable.
Other possible adaptive responses could include farm-based
solutions to protect yields against warming temperatures, such as
crop switching to increase heat tolerance, or investment in irrigation
technologies to combat rainfall variability. "I hope that
future research will help to fill this important gap in our understanding
of how we can work to slow the tragic rise in suicide in India,"
the author adds. – Third World Network Features.
-ends-
About the author: G.B.S.N.P Varma is a freelance journalist based
in India, with an interest in climate science, environment, and ecology.
The
above article is reproduced from the Ecologist.org, 7 August 2017.
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