Few regions are more environmentally insecure than South Asia.
The region faces rising sea levels and regularly experiences coastal flooding—of particular concern in a region with heavily populated and arable-land-rich coastal areas. Additionally, it is highly vulnerable to glacial melt. The Western Himalayas, which provide water supplies to much of South Asia, have experienced some of the most rapid melt in the world.
Natural resource deficiencies are stark as well.
South Asia houses nearly a quarter of the world’s population, yet contains less than 5 percent of its annual renewable water resources. Water availability has plummeted from over 21,000 cubic meters per capita in the 1960s to about 8,000 in 2005.
According to recent estimates, some of the region could face water scarcity (per capita water availability under 1,000 cubic meters) by 2025. In South Asia, water shortage imperils food security and health, but also livelihoods—because farming and fishing are dominant sectors.
Meanwhile, energy is similarly lacking in South Asia. The World Bank has ranked its electricity grid as one of the world’s worst. Millions of South Asians do not have electricity—including 400 million in India alone.
Running dry on resources
India, in fact, is a microcosm of the region’s environmental insecurity. A recent Center for Global Development study projects that nearly 40 million people in India—more than in any other country—are at risk of dying from rising sea levels by 2050. It also estimates that because of rising temperatures, India’s agricultural productivity could fall by 35 to 40 percent by 2080.
India boasts over 20 percent of the world’s population—yet only 4 percent of its water. About 25 percent of Indians — 250 million people — lack access to clean water. So extensive is India’s water consumption that users are raiding groundwater supplies with abandon. According to the World Bank, India is the world’s most voracious consumer of groundwater. A U.S. study in 2009 found that groundwater levels fell by four centimetres per year between 2002 and 2008 in three northwestern states—including Punjab, the nation’s chief breadbasket.
A similar story prevails with energy. India’s economic growth has sent demand skyrocketing, and estimates peg India as the world’s third-largest energy consumer by 2030. However, the nation, as dramatically demonstrated by the 2012 summer’s monster power outages, struggles to meet demand.
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