As far as Nepalese people are concerned, they are very bad in their food habits. Disease like ulcer and diabetes are rampant along Nepalese people. Moreover, there are areas in the country where there is a severe malnutrition. Factors influencing food habits •Individual Preferences Every individual has unique likes and dislikes concerning foods. •Cultural Influences A cultural group provides guidelines regarding acceptable foods, food combinations, eating patterns, and eating behaviors. •Social Influences Members of asocial group depend on each other, share a common culture, and influence each other's behaviors and values.

1. Socio-economic and environmental
impacts of climate change
Ramanand Pandit

2. SOCIO-ECONOMIC IMPACTS OF
CLIMATE CHANGE

3. • Socio economic impacts
– Higher temperatures and heat waves
– Water shortage
– Reduced agricultural production
– Reduced electricity production and price increases
– Damage to forests
– Natural disasters

4. • Environmental impacts
– Erratic climate and weather extremes
– Altered ecosystems and habitats
• Risks to human health and society

5. Higher temperatures and heat waves
Human are at risk of weakened health due to
heat waves. Vulnerable populations like the
elderly, the very young, and the infirm face
special risks during heat waves including
mortality.
As temperatures and incomes increase, demand
for air conditioners may grow, along with
demand for residential electricity, but purchases
of air conditioners are unlikely to increase quickly.

6. Water shortage
With decreased precipitation and increased
evaporation from higher temperatures, average
river flow will decrease 24 percent by 2100.
Low river flows reduce the availability of water,
especially for agriculture and power generation.
No recent information or modeling exists on the
impact of reduced precipitation and river flow on
underground aquifers.

7. Water shortage
Reductions in water supply will coincide with an
increase in demand as households require more
drinking water because of high temperatures
and farms require more irrigation water because
of hotter, drier conditions.
In addition, the health consequences of reduced
water supplies for drinking and sanitation
purposes have the potential to be very serious.

8. Reduced agricultural production
The rural population is highly dependent on a
stable climate for both food and income, and the
urban population relies on family farms’
agricultural productivity to avoid food shortages,
limit food imports, and keep food prices stable.
Climate change is projected to reduce
agricultural productivity.
Higher temperatures will result in an upward
shift in zones appropriate to each crop.

9. Reduced agricultural production
High temperatures also contribute to increased
evaporation and lower soil moisture; when
coupled with reduced precipitation in much of
the country, the incidence of drought is very
likely to increase.
More frequent droughts and lower levels of soil
moisture coincide with a reduced supply of
irrigation water.
Pastures are also expected to deteriorate with
climate change and many alpine and sub-alpine
pastures will disappear altogether.

10. Reduced agricultural production
At the same time, changing weather patterns may
cause damage to crops and agricultural lands in ways
that cannot be predicted by average temperature
increases or changes in annual precipitation levels.
With climate change, weather patterns are expected
to become more erratic with more severe storms.
High winds and heavy rains can damage crops,
reducing yields.
Severe storms can also trigger natural disasters like
landslides, mudflows, and floods, which can cause
damage to agricultural lands and irrigation
infrastructure.

11. Reduced electricity production and
price increases
As rates of river flow decline with climate
change, the ability to meet electricity demand
will be at greater risk.
If water reserves and releases are well managed,
small changes in precipitation and evaporation
need have little impact on hydro-electric
generation.
Reduced river flow coupled with an increased
demand for irrigation water is very likely to
reduce electricity generation from these plants.

12. Reduced electricity production and
price increases
Future increases to summer demand from
more industrial production, more general
domestic use, and especially more air
conditioning use could combine with lower
hydro-electric capacity to cause temporary
shortages.
Any shortage in electricity has serious
consequences for households and businesses.

13. Damage to forests
Forests will shrink in size and deteriorate in
biodiversity with climate change.
Higher temperatures will cause an upward shift in the
zones appropriate to each species; trees species may
have trouble migrating quickly enough to remain in a
zone in which they can thrive.
Reduced precipitation and increased evaporation will
cause an encroachment of drought-tolerant species
into existing forests.
Where drought-tolerant species do not migrate
quickly enough, dead zones or areas of extremely
limited vegetation may develop.

14. Damage to forests
These dead zones will reduce the recharge of
underground aquifers and promote run-off,
which can result in landslides and mudflow. Arid
conditions also make forests more vulnerable to
wildfires and bloody-nosed beetles.
Such large scale losses to its forests would very
likely reduce the availability of firewood.
A consistent supply of heating fuel, especially at
higher elevations, is essential to maintaining
health and well-being in the cold winters.

15. Natural disasters
Climate change will increase the incidence of severe
storms, flooding and other natural disasters.
These kind of costly impacts, however, are the most
difficult to predict. It is impossible to say where or
when storms will strike; it can only be said that
weather will become more erratic and that, on
average.
Landslides and mudflows are among the most
devastating of these disasters.
Landslides are caused by erosion, changes in
subterranean water levels, and earthquakes.

16. Natural disasters
Mudflows are saturated deposits of water, silt, stone
and mud that flow like slow rivers. Mudflows are
caused by deforestation and arid soils, which reduce
the ability of the land to absorb water into
underground aquifers.
Instead, rainfall, snowmelt, and improperly applied
irrigation waters run off the surface causing erosion
and picking up dirt and stones as it flows.
Both landslides and mudflows occur primarily on
areas with steep grades – mountain slopes and
hillsides.
Climate change will increase the incidence of
landslides, mudflows and floods.

17. Natural disasters
Arid conditions, increased deforestation and forest damages,
and heavy rainfall in extreme storms can create the exact
conditions in which landslides, mudflows, and flooding are
most likely to be generated.
Both the increase in the incidence of landslides, mudflows
and floods and the portion of damages for which climate
change will be responsible are highly unpredictable.
This is an important area of further research; while these
impacts can never be predicted with any precision, much
more can be done towards identifying the most vulnerable
areas and the types of adaptive as well as mitigation
measures that would protect property and lives all around
world.

18. ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS OF
CLIMATE CHANGE

19. Environmental impacts of climate
change
Because there are so many impacts of climate
change on Environment, as everything
around us including us is environment,
scientists have broadly categorized them into
three areas:
1. Erratic climate and weather extremes
2. Altered ecosystems and habitats
3. Risks to human health and society

20. Erratic climate and weather extremes
Emissions of heat-trapping gases from human
activity especially the burning of fossil fuels
for energy has cause our atmosphere to heat
up.
This atmospheric heating has result rapid
changes to the way water systems typically
function on our planet.

21. Erratic climate and weather extremes
The frozen water on Earth is melting rapidly:
A warmer atmosphere causes the planet's snow
pack, glaciers and freshwater ice to melt at an
accelerated rate.
Melting glaciers and polar ice sheets contribute
to sea level rise, which absorbs more sunlight
than ice, and thus heats the ocean more,
triggering a cycle of melting and heating.

22. Erratic climate and weather extremes
Weather of all kinds is getting more extreme:
The increased evaporation of water is like fuel
for storms, worsening extreme weather events,
such as hurricanes.
Rising sea levels make coastal flooding events
worse.
In more naturally arid areas, droughts and
wildfires intensify.

23. Erratic climate and weather extremes
The oceans are getting hotter, expanding, and
becoming more acidic:
The oceans are getting hotter, because they
soak up 90% of the extra heat in the
atmosphere.
This causes the oceans to expand, and this
also contributes to higher sea levels.

24. Erratic climate and weather extremes
Meanwhile, the increased concentration of
carbon dioxide in the ocean triggers a
chemistry change that makes the water more
acidic.
The ocean is almost 40% more acidic than it
used to be.

25. Altered ecosystems and habitats
As climatic patterns rapidly shift, habitats on
land and in the sea are changing, making
them inhospitable for some species, while
letting others move in and take over. In some
cases, entire ecosystems are at risk of
collapsing.
The changes to the natural world are vast,
but here are three notable and well-
documented examples.

26. Altered ecosystems and habitats
Coral and shellfish are suffering:
Coral reefs are highly sensitive to small changes in
ocean temperatures.
The heat stresses the algae that nourish the
corals and provide their vibrant colors.
The algae then leave, and the corals eventually
starve, an event known as bleaching.

27. Altered ecosystems and habitats
Also, a more acidic ocean affects the normal
calcium balance, creatures with calcified
shells, such as shellfish and coral, may not
have enough calcium to grow.

28. Altered ecosystems and habitats
Forests are more prone to deadly infestations:
Milder winters and longer summers allow tree-
killing insects to thrive.
Meanwhile, trees weakened by prolonged
drought have lower defense mechanisms.
This cycle of warmer weather, weak trees and
thriving insects is likely the culprit behind the
massive die-off of 70,000 square miles of Rocky
Mountain conifers.

29. Altered ecosystems and habitats
Our Arctic creatures need ice, but it's vanishing:
As sea ice disappears, ice-dependent
mammals like walruses and polar bears
struggle to survive.
In 2008, the polar bear became the first
animal to be added to the Endangered
Species Act list of threatened species because
of global warming.

30. Risks to human health and society
Human life is thrown out of balance, too. One
of the biggest impacts where, how and when
we grow food, which is vitally connected to
our climate's normal patterns.
More extreme weather also means we face
increased pressure on our health,
infrastructure, and economy.

31. Risks to human health and society
Climate change is a major threat to agriculture:
The charge that climate change takes on agriculture is
nearly incalculable, and as a result, our food security
is at risk.
All over the world, farmers are struggling to keep up
with shifting weather and increasingly unpredictable
water supplies.
Farmers also must contend with unexpected attacks
from weeds, diseases and pests, which affect yield.

32. Risks to human health and society
Warmer, polluted air affects our health:
A warmer atmosphere increases chemical reactions
that form ground-level ozone, also known as smog.
Smog is a well-known lung irritant and a major trigger
of asthma attacks. Smoke from wildfires further
degrade the air.
Extreme summer heat will mean more deaths during
heat waves, and warmer freshwater makes it easier
for pathogens to grow and contaminate drinking
water.

33. Risks to human health and society
Infrastructure and transportation are at risk:
Hot weather, flooding and other extreme
weather events damage infrastructure, put
heavy burdens on electrical supplies, and
disrupt how we travel and commute.