69 pc people in India seeing severe effects of climate change: Survey

NEW DELHI: Around two-thirds of people in India say climate change has already had a severe effect in the areas where they live and it is likely that their families will be displaced from their homes in the next 25 years, according to a new survey conducted for the World Economic Forum.

The survey was conducted among 23,507 people in 34 countries between July 22 and August 5 on Ipsos's Global Advisor online survey platform.

On an average, more than half (56 per cent) of all adults surveyed in the 34 countries said climate change has already had a severe effect in the areas where they live.

Twenty-two countries show a majority reporting that they have already been severely impacted by climate change, including nine countries where it exceeds two-thirds of all those surveyed: Mexico (75 per cent), Hungary (74 per cent), Turkey (74 per cent), Colombia (72 per cent), Spain (71 per cent), Italy (70 per cent), India (69 per cent), Chile (69 per cent) and France (68 per cent).

More than seven in 10 (71 per cent) expect that climate change will have a severe effect in their areas over the next 10 years. In India, 76 per cent of those surveyed said so.

Concern about being severely impacted by climate change in the next decade is expressed by most people in every country surveyed -- from 52 per cent in Malaysia to more than 80 per cent in Portugal, Mexico, Hungary, Turkey, Chile, South Korea, Spain, and Italy.

One-third (35 per cent) expect to be displaced from their homes as a result of climate change in the next 25 years.

This is expressed by almost two-thirds in India (65 per cent) and Turkey (64 per cent) and almost half in Malaysia (49 per cent), Brazil (49 per cent), Spain (46 per cent) and South Africa (45 per cent).

In contrast, fewer than one in four say so in Sweden (17 per cent), Argentina (21 per cent), the Netherlands (21 per cent) and Poland (23 per cent).