MOTHER NATURE Mother Nature September 2017 | Page 7

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Mother Nature Aug /Sep 2017
Climate change has caused more than
59,000 farmer suicides in India
Climate change has caused more than 59,000
farmer suicides in India over the last 30 years, a
study has found, warning that suicide rate across
the country will increase substantially as global
temperatures rise.
The findings by researchers at the University of
California, Berkeley in the US suggest failing
harvests that push farmers into poverty are likely
the key culprits. Carleton from the University of
California tested the links between climate change,
crop yields and suicide by pairing the numbers for
India's reported suicides in each of its 32 states
between 1967 and 2013, using data from the
Indian National Crime Records Bureau, along with
statistics on India's crop yields, and high-
resolution climate data. To isolate the types of cli-
mate shocks that damage crops, Carleton focused
more than 130,000 lives each year. The results
indicate that seven per cent of this upward trend
can be attributed to warming that has been linked
to human activity, they said. More than 75 per cent
of the world's suicides are believed to occur in
developing countries, with one-fifth of those in India
alone, researchers said. However, there has been
little hard evidence to help explain why poor
on temperature and rainfall during June through populations are so at risk.
September, a critical period for crop productivity The study demonstrates that warming - forecast to
that is based on the average arrival and departure reach three degrees Celsius by 2050 - is already
dates of India's summer monsoon. taking a toll on Indian society. Researchers projected
Researchers found that temperature increase of that the suicide rate will only rise as temperatures
just one degree for a day during the agricultural continue to warm.
growing season leads to roughly 65 suicides across The debate about solutions to the country's high and
the country, whenever that day's temperature is rising suicide rate is contentious and has centred
above 20 degrees Celsius. The research states, around lowering economic risks for farmers.
the temperature rise of five degrees Celsius a day In response, the Indian government established a
has five times that effect While high temperatures USD 1.3 billion crop insurance plan aimed at
and low rainfall during the growing season reducing the suicide rate but it is unknown if that
substantially impact annual suicide rates, similar
events have no effect on suicide rates during the
off-season, when few crops are grown, implicat-
ing agriculture as the critical link.
The study, published in the journal Proceedings of
the National Academy of Sciences, helps explain
will be sufficient or effective, researchers said. More
than half of India's working population is employed
in rain-dependent agriculture, long known to be
sensitive to climate fluctuations such as
unpredictable monsoon rains, scorching heat
India's evolving suicide epidemic, where suicide waves, and drought. A third of India's workers
rates have nearly doubled since 1980 and claim already earn below the international poverty line.