Key Sectors

The economy of Meghalaya is agrarian and the agriculture sector contributes 22% to the Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP) with 80% of the State’s population depending directly and indirectly on agriculture, employment and income generation also depends on agricultural developmental activities to a great extent. Despite this, the Net Cropped Area is merely 9.76% of the total geographical area of the State. Rice is the predominant crop of the State. Other crops grown are potato, pineapple, ginger, maize, areca nut, jute, and a wide variety of fruits, flowers and spices. The State is extremely vulnerable to the impacts of changing climate and has faced the wrath of freak weather events in the recent past. The State is also prone to floods and soil erosion making the agriculture sector particularly vulnerable. High rainfall variability, weather shift and projection of water stress during the cropping season may result in decline of grain yield. Low net ground water availability, lack of irrigational facilities along with large number of small and marginal land holdings is likely to exacerbate the impact of climate change.

Urbanisation in Meghalaya is lower than the national average with an urban population of only 20.07 % (Census Report, 2011). Majority of the State’s population lives in rural areas. The urban population has however maintained a steady growth over the last couple of decades. The State envisages a huge gap between the demand and supply of basic urban services. Census 2011 reports that only 64.7 % of the urban population have access to drinking water from treated sources. Challenges in water supply include improvement in distribution system, inequitable distribution, water resource management and treatment and rationalisation of water use. Sanitation poses major problems with the absence of adequate sewerage system in urban areas resulting in drainage of domestic effluents into nearby rivers and streams leading to contamination of water sources. Moreover, about 8.41% of the population is without sanitation facility. Absence of storm water drainage poses problems of water logging and flooding, causing landslides and soil erosion. Indiscriminate developmental activities also add to the problem by obstructing drains and encroaching rainwater flow paths. Solid waste is another pressing urban issue for Meghalaya primarily because of its difficult terrain. Inadequate collection and improper disposal currently leads to spillage and contamination of soil and surface as well as groundwater streams. Greater Shillong Planning Area (GSPA) alone generates 154 metric tonnes per day (MTD) of solid waste with a waste generation rate at 364 grams per capita per day (Asian Development Bank, 2015). Other urban centres like Tura, Jowai and Williamnagar generates 45, 30 and 10.7 MTD of solid waste respectively (MSPCB, 2014).

The urban transport sector has been largely neglected, characterised by heavy traffic congestion due to narrow roads, rapid growth in number of vehicles along with highly topographic and concentric development. Public transport is limited due to inadequate road network, poor infrastructure and scattered demand. Within the State, about 22% of the urban population is estimated to be living under BPL (according to town surveys as per old guidelines). A total of 45 numbers of slums have been identified and notified, 5 more have been identified and yet to be notified in the 6 towns. Slum population constitutes around 42% of the total population of these towns. Housing in urban Meghalaya is primarily characterised by medium density development with 5.2% of the urban population living in dilapidated conditions. As per the 2011 Census, the condition of house used for residence and other purposes in the urban areas shows that 46.6% are in good condition, 48.2% in liveable condition and 5.2% in dilapidated condition.

Meghalaya is spread over a geographical area of 22,429 km2. Of this, 77 % (17,217 km2) area is covered by forests of various categories i.e. very dense, moderately dense and open forests (SFR, 2015). The forest cover of Meghalaya was highest in 1985-87 i.e. 73.41% (16,466 sq. km) and since then it gradually decreased. The 70.78% of forest cover during 1991 had further decreased to 69.48 % by 2001. However, the forest cover of the state has recovered after 2001 and reached back to its earlier level (77-78%) and is stable since last decade with changes observed in forest density. The State forest cover is above the national goal of 33% and also more than prescribed 60 % forested area in case of hilly states. The Protected Areas (PAs) cover about 6% of the total forested area, and about 728 km2 area of forests fall under the category of Reserved Forests and Protected Forests. Thus, much of the forested tract in the State lies outside the PA network.

There is a significant potential of setting up forest based industries based on sustainable management of forest. Since forests in the State largely belong to individuals and communities, the foremost requirement is to bring these forests under scientific management so that sustainability and conservation of forest resources are ensured.

Shifting agriculture, logging, mining and other human activities have also been responsible for fragmentation, destruction and degradation of the forests in the State. High rainfall and hilly terrain have further accentuated the impact of human activities on the forests. Almost the entire State is influenced by age-old practice of slash and burn agriculture, except some pockets of valley bottomlands. This practice destroys the protective and productive vegetation in preference to a very brief period of immediate crop production. In order to earn their livelihood people practice shifting cultivation and over-exploit forest resources, causing serious damage to the forests and biodiversity.

There are many sacred groves in the State. These isolated patches of forest are store houses of rich biodiversity. Sacred groves preserved by the communities since ages need special attention in the face of climate change particularly to save them from water stress.

Water resources and the way they are managed influence almost all aspects of social and economic life. Climate projections provide abundant evidence that changes in temperature and precipitation will strongly affect the availability and quality of water resources. Climate change is set to increase uncertainty in weather patterns as well as increases in frequency of extreme weather events. These can have adverse consequences for agriculture, water security and the safety of the people. Therefore, it is essential for State government to synthesize an adaptation strategy that can protect vulnerable section of the society from these climate shocks. The water resource in the State are currently threatened with contamination, siltation and pollution primarily caused by coal mining. The water in these areas is highly acidic with silt and suspended solids were deposited at the bottom of these water bodies. The rivers of the State are rainfed and therefore their discharge dwindles during summer. The river system of Meghalaya comprises mainly of rivers draining to the Brahmaputra basin in the North and the Meghna basin in the South. Important rivers in Garo Hills region are Simsang, Daring, Sanda, Bandra, Bhogai, Dareng, Nitai and the Bhupai. In the central and eastern part of the plateau the major rivers are Umkhri, Digaru, Umiam, Kynchiang (Jadukata), Mawpa, Umiew, Myngot and Myntdu (Jain et al. 2007). Meghalaya is endowed generously by nature as far as the water resources are concerned, the replenishable ground water is estimated to be 1.15 billion cubic meters (BCM). Ground water occurs under confined to unconfined aquifer conditions within 300 m depth. It is generally extracted through dug wells and springs (or seepage wells in valley areas/topographic depressions) and bore wells. Apart from this, tube wells are in use in West Garo Hills district. Dug wells are generally shallow in depth varying from a meter to 6 metre below ground level. Bore wells are drilled up to 200 m below ground level. The annual gross dynamic ground water recharge in the State has been estimated as 1.234 billion cubic meter (BCM). (Central Ground Water Board 2012) The identified irrigation potential of the State is approximately 2.18 lakhs hectares. Out of the total 27,300.32 hectares is under surface water and 1913.45 hectares under the ground water irrigation (http://meghalaya.gov.in/megportal/department/48). In Meghalaya, only 18.52 % of gross sown area is having irrigation facilities (Meghalaya State Development Report 2008-2009). There are huge potential in minor irrigation in both the surface and ground water within the State. However, very small percentage of the total potential has been utilised. Within the State about 25 watersheds are present which are further divided into 179 sub watersheds (Central Ground Water Board 2012). The water management mission of the State would provide 350 km of waterways, irrigation for 35 lakh acres, generate 1500 MW of power and provide drinking water for 60% people in the State.

Mining is an important sector contributing significantly to the economic development. Mining has both positive and negative implications. On one hand, it supports economy as well as livelihood of the local people while, on the other it poses numerous environmental consequences. At the same time, the mining sector itself is under varied climate change induced threats. From the socio-economic and environment point of view, the mining sector is very sensitive, however; unregulated, unscientific and unsustainable exploitation of minerals in the State has caused widespread destruction of natural resources and thus adversely impacting livelihood of the people. The State has little or no control on mining as most of the mineral deposits fall under the privately owned lands. Unscientific coal mining has caused major damage to the land and water resources. There is an urgent need to bring the whole mining activities under scientific management which put in place necessary safeguard to check air and water pollution and also to prevent land degradation. Adequate emphasis should be laid on restoration of mined areas by planting income generating forest species including grasses producing essential oil.

Energy is the essential requirement for any economic and social development. In Meghalaya over 90% of energy is produced from hydropower. However, the energy sector also faces threats from climate change, particularly from extreme weather events and increasing stress on water resources. The projected impact of the variation of precipitation level due to climate change will severely impact the hydropower generation which in turn will change the energy supply scenario in the State. Even increased threat of flooding in flood prone area which is projected as a possible impact of climate change will lead the power plant and electricity distribution network vulnerable. Projected increase in temperature and deficit in rainfall is likely to result in increased energy demand triggered by higher use of electric gadgets and farm irrigation putting a pressure on electricity distribution network through increased seasonal demand.

The natural resource sector is more vulnerable to adverse effects of water cycle changes and extreme climate events and might affect the vulnerable segment of the society.

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s Fifth Assessment Report concludes that climate change is projected to increase threats to human health and the rural poor are likely to be the worst affected. Exposure to health hazards related to climate change affects different people and different communities to different degrees. Meghalaya with 80% of the people living in the rural areas will be the most vulnerable segment of population. Climate and health impacts do not occur in isolation, and an individual or community could face multiple threats at the same time, or at different stages in one’s life. The prediction of climate change impacts on human health is a challenge because of the highly complex relationships that exist between humans and their environment. The links between a climate variable and a health impact can be very direct, such as physical injuries suffered during an extreme event or increases in respiratory symptoms during high temperature events. Other links are indirect and complex and require careful consideration of the chain of events that lead from climatic variable to health impact. Change in climatic conditions such as increase in temperature, changes in precipitation, increases in the frequency and intensity of extreme events will endanger our health by affecting food, water sources, air quality and weather events. Current and future climate impacts expose more people in more places to public health threats. Following are the key priority actions proposed under health sector of the State Action Plan on Climate Change. One very likely impact of climate change in health sector is the State is increased incidence of vector borne diseases.