From snow to sea: How climate change impacts India’s military operations
Global warming and climatic change has an impact on military operations and defence systems, besides being factored into the planning for future acquisitions, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) told Parliament on Monday.
“The climate change does pose challenges to platforms and personnel operating in rough or hostile weather conditions. Accordingly, during the mission planning stage, a detailed analysis of weather conditions likely to be encountered, is undertaken to deduce its effect on ships, aircraft, submarines and personnel exposed to the weather conditions,” Minister of State for Defence, Sanjay Seth said in the Rajya Sabha in response to a question by Dr Ajeet Madhavrao Gopchade.
“The analysis of meteorological, hydrological and oceanographic conditions prevalent in our area of operations form an essential part of every mission planning, at the strategic, operational and tactical levels,” he added.
The planned induction of platforms takes into account the necessity for the platforms and its weapons, sensors, equipment and systems, to perform at the desired operational efficiency, during adverse weather conditions. Moreover, the men are imparted adequate training and suitably equipped to operate in all weather conditions.
Defence experts point out that impact of global warming is also leading to lower snow cover in the mountains and usability of terrain, which has implications for deployments and movements of troops and vehicles as well as availability of land routes for ingress and egress and the duration they are closed during winters. This is relevant for sectors like the Line of Control with Pakistan and Line of Actual Control with China which have historically seen heavy snow cover.
According to MoD, the effect of climate change has also led to increased occurrence of natural calamities and disasters. Towards undertaking Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief (HADR) missions, the Indian Navy is progressively inducting suitable platforms, which can be utilised for HADR roles like hospital ship, landing platform docks, long range maritime reconnaissance aircraft as well as unmanned aerial systems for surveillance and helicopters for search and rescue operations.
“Towards optimum resource allocation, all HADR missions are well coordinated with all relevant national agencies and stakeholders, in order to be the ‘first responder’ in India and the Indian Ocean Region, including rendering assistance to friendly foreign countries,” the minister said.
The Indian Navy’s Maritime Capability Perspective Plan for development of force levels is tailored to meet emerging challenges including climate change. Additionally, naval infrastructure and personnel welfare with respect to climate change is also addressed by the Navy.
A Coordination and Monitoring Committee on Climate Change meets periodically to discuss, monitor and oversee the issues related to climate change and global warming in the Navy’s context. The implications of Global Mean Sea Level Rise on the Indian Ocean Region nations and the Navy’s operational domain form the primary focus of discussions.
Vulnerability of Naval Infrastructure especially at Andaman and Nicobar Islands is also on the radar. As most of the places at Andaman and Nicobar Islands are less than five meters above mean sea level, comprehensive data on frequency of cyclonic storms, impact and travel times of tsunami waves at various ports have been built up by the Indian Naval Meteorology and Oceanography Organisation.
Further, alternatives such as land reclamation and creation of artificial islands with higher elevation over long term specifically for naval use are also proposed. The Navy also has a focused approach towards restoration of Mangroves.
Mangroves cover is identified in the vicinity of naval areas like INS Venduruthy, INS Kadamba, INS Valsura, INS Sardar Patel, INS Zamorin, INS Hamla, INS Abhimanyu, INS Tunir and FOB Tuticorn.
Mangrove plantation drives were carried out by Naval personnel and coastal afforestation drives were conducted in naval areas with seashore, where mangroves cannot sustain for resuscitation of coastal green cover to prevent coastal and beach sand erosion, the Minister said.
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