Floods, Droughts Making India, Pak Most Vulnerable To Climate Change: UN Report

"In India, rice production can decrease from 10 per cent to 30 per cent, whereas maize production can decrease from 25 per cent to 70 per cent, assuming a range of temperature increase from 1 degree to 4 degrees Celsius," the report said.

Extreme climatic conditions are threatening the food security in South Asia with escalated floods and droughts making India and Pakistan the most vulnerable to climate change, cautioned the latest IPCC report released on Monday.

The second installment of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Working Group II's report, titled "Climate Change 2022: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability", said climate-related risks to agriculture and food systems in Asia will progressively intensify with the changing climate, with differentiated impacts across the region.

"Differential human vulnerability to environmental hazards results from a range of social, economic, historical and political factors, all of which operate at multiple scales. Climate change is expected to have serious impacts for people living within these hotspot areas, as observed from loss of food crop yields to disasters such as floods, fluctuations in seasonal water availability or other systemic effects.

"For instance, in South Asia, extreme climatic conditions are threatening food security, thus agro-based economies like India and Pakistan are the most vulnerable to climate change in this regard," the report said.