J&K governor warns of the dangers of climate change

Warning of the threats of climate change and global warming at its current rate, Jammu and Kashmir governor NN Vohra today said urgent steps were needed to contain the phenomenon.

"Scientific studies indicate that temperatures have risen in the range of 1.4-5 degrees Celsius in the recent past. If they continue to increase at the rate they have been doing in the past decade, then we are advancing in the direction of the beginning of the end," Vohra said inaugurating the three-day Punjab Science Congress at the Punjab University campus here.

Expressing concern over depletion of the protective ozone layer, erosion of top soil, decline of snow cover, Vohra said gravity of problems which have surfaced should shake us up and act as a wake up call.

Referring to developing countries, he said the gravity of problems faced by India on account of climate change should make the country more worried than it has been in the recent past.

"In India, where 27.5% of the population lives below the poverty line, threats are far bigger than we can visualise. We need to re-orient our development strategy in view of the threats posed by climate change," he said.