Assam's climate in crisis: Rising temperatures and erratic rainfall pose major challenges by 2040

The climate of Assam is poised for significant changes by 2040, a shift that could severely impact the state's economy, ecosystems and public health.

- ABHIJIT DEB

This projection comes from the School of Climate Change and Sustainability at Azim Premji University, Bengaluru, which has released an open-access climate data set for India, including detailed projections for Assam.

The forecast is based on the medium-emission Shared Socioeconomic Pathway (SSP) 2-4.5 scenario, a global climate model used to assess the impacts of moderate carbon emissions.

According to this model, several districts in Assam will experience notable climate variations, with rising temperatures and declining rainfall over the next 15 to 20 years.

Faculty member Professor Santonu Goswami, while addressing the media, emphasised the importance of public engagement in climate discourse.

"For the first time in India, we released climate data projections quite openly, making them freely available to the public. Anyone can directly download the data for any district in India. We are interested in the scenario in the Northeast. That is why we have decided to come here and introduce the dataset to everyone," Goswami stated.