






























*Corresponding author:

Email: bijupuzhayoram@gmail.com; Phone +91 8921865558

Department of Aquatic Biology and Fisheries, University of Kerala, Thiruvananthapuram 695581, 

Kerala, India 

KEYWORDS: 
Climate change; 

Fisheries; 

UNFCC; 

Drivers; 

Hydrology; 

Livelihood 

ABSTRACT 
Freshwater ecosystems are vital for ensuring drinking water supplies, bio-resources that 
support livelihood, and a wide array of ecosystem services. Further, they are among the 
key components in achieving the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN 
SDGs) set for the year 2030, including poverty reduction, food security, clean water and 
sanitation, conservation of biodiversity and climate action. The aquatic ecosystems 
globally are susceptible to the impacts of climate change much more than terrestrial and 
marine ecosystems, impacting the livelihood of fishers and farmers depending on it. 
Climate change is expected to adversely affect the sustainable development capabilities of 
many Asian and African nations by putting more pressures on natural resources and the 
environment. This article reviews the impact of climate change on freshwater ecosystems 
and fisheries and addresses the key adaptation, mitigation and management strategies to 
address the issue of climate change.  

INTRODUCTION 

Water is inextricably linked to the development 
of all societies and cultures and is an integral 
component in all the major pillars of sustainable 
development including economic, social and 
environmental. Moreover, healthy freshwater 
ecosystems provide both direct and indirect 
services to mankind and serve as key 
components in achieving the United Nations 
Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) set for 
the year 2030. Unsustainable development 

pathways and anthropogenic interventions such 
as population growth, urbanization, changing 
patterns of consumption and climate change 
have affected the quality and quantity of water 
availability across the globe, despite the 
increasing demands for freshwater and the 
resources therein (WWAP, 2015).  

One of the requirements for sustainable 
development of water resources is to balance the 
gap between demand and supply, both in terms 
of quality and quantity. However, climate 

East Afr. J. Biophys. Comput. Sci., Vol. 1, Issue. 1 

Hawassa University
College of Natural & Computational Sciences

Year 2021

Volume xx No xx

35

Climate change, freshwater ecosystems and inland fisheries: 
implications for the developing nations

Biju Kumar, A. 

East African Journal of Biophysical and Computational Sciences 

Journal homepage : https://journals.hu.edu.et/hu-journals/index.php/eajbcs 

Research article

mailto:bijupuzhayoram@gmail.com


East Afr. J. Biophys. Comput. Sci., Vol. 1, No. 1 
 

change may affect both sides of the balance, 
thereby add to the challenges (IPCC, 2014). 
Global warming and the resultant climate 
change is occurring at an unrivalled pace in 
human history (Barros et al., 2014), showing 
progressive threat to freshwater ecosystems 
(O’Gorman et al., 2014; Li et al., 2016). 

Under current climate projections, most 
freshwater ecosystems will face ecologically 
significant climate change impacts by the 
middle of this century (IPCC, 2014). Most 
freshwater ecosystems have already begun to 
feel these effects. These impacts will be largely 
detrimental to the existing freshwater species 
and human livelihoods. The impact of climate 
change may vary in different types of aquatic 
ecosystems, and also within the same ecosystem 
such as a river and many impacts remains to be 
documented in many countries of Asia and 
Africa.  

Considering the world’s weather-and climate-
related disasters, Asia has encountered the 
maximum, resulting in colossal economic loss 
(IPCC, 2012). Freshwater species populations 
have declined on an average by 50 per cent, 
when compared to 30 per cent for marine and 
terrestrial species between 1970 and 2000 
(MEA, 2005). Climate change is expected to 
adversely affect the sustainable development 
capabilities of most Asian and African countries 
by aggravating pressures on natural resources 
and the environment. Owing to the thick 
population and considerable economic 
dependence on inland fisheries in Asia, 
freshwater resources need to be carefully 
assessed and monitored across the wide range of 
climates (Pfister et al., 2009). According to the 
report of the Inter governmental Panel on 
Climate Change (IPCC), global warming will 

lead to “changes in all components of the 
freshwater system”. Water and its availability 
and quality will be the main pressures on, and 
issues for, societies and the environment under 
climate change (Bates et al., 2008). According 
to Sharma et al. (2015), during 2014-2015 the 
food production in India declined substantially 
due to droughts, flood, hailstorms and 
unseasonal rains. Climate change is expected to 
adversely affect the sustainable development 
capabilities of many nations by putting more 
pressures on natural resources and the 
environment. India stands second in 
contributing to the global inland fish production 
and therefore any impacts of climate change on 
aquatic ecosystems as well as fisheries should 
be given due recognition.  

Blessed with diversified agro-climatic 
conditions, Kerala state of India is rich in 
aquatic resources. It has 44 rivers and their 
numerous tributaries, canals, lakes, ponds etc. 
which have the potential to emerge and develop 
and also to contribute to the livelihood and 
nutritional support to the country. The rivers in 
Kerala entirely monsoon-fed, some of them 
nearly turn into rivulets in summer. The state is 
a part of Western Ghats Sri Lanka biodiversity 
hot spot with greater endemism of freshwater 
fauna. Around 130 species of freshwater-
dependent fauna belonging to five taxonomic 
groups (fish, amphibians, crabs, shrimps and 
odonates) are endemic to the region, of which 
25 per cent have a high risk of extinction 
(Raghavan et al., 2016). Even though the 
wetlands in dry environments are considered 
productive, the biodiversity hotspots areas, their 
flora and fauna are under threat of extinction as 
the runoff decreases and wetland dries out 
(Zacharias and Zamparas, 2010). 

36



East Afr. J. Biophys. Comput. Sci., Vol. 1, No. 1 
 

Even a very small increase in precipitation will 
have pronounced effects on freshwater 
ecosystem. The part of Konkan coast and south 
Kerala are considered as the most vulnerable 
stretches by India’s Second National 
Communication to United Nations Framework 
Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) 
(Anonymous, 2012). The natural resources from 
lakes, rivers, ponds, wetlands, reservoirs and 
backwaters of Kerala are depleting due to 
habitat modification and alterations, pollution, 
eutrophication, invasive species and climate 
change. These negative effects definitely have 
adverse impact on the ecosystem. Being a small 
coastal state located in the tropical region; the 
climate of Kerala is not exposed to severe 
fluctuation in terms of most of the 
meteorological factors except rainfall (Niyas et 
al., 2017). The rainfall data from the 
meteorological department also stipulate the 
declining pattern of northwest and southeast 
monsoon especially in the hilly areas of south 
Kerala during the last 60 years. The state 
receives adequate rainfall (average 3000mm), 
most of it is obtained via southwest and 
northeast monsoons. Kerala is advancing 
towards water crisis owing to the variability in 
temporal and spatial distribution of rainfall and 
the steep slope of the state allows almost 75% of 
rainwater to flow to sea at a much faster rate 
before exploitation (Nair, 2016). 

Most of the species adapt to environmental 
changes but even then it leads to local or global 
extinctions and biodiversity loss (Gallo et al., 
2017). Unlike marine ecosystem, inland bodies 
are markedly vulnerable to the climate change. 
Rise in water surface temperature, changes in 

primary production and changes in fish stock 
distribution disrupts habitat destruction, aquatic 
flora and fauna and prey predator composition 
which will have a nugatory influence on the 
resources leading to depletion of fish stock and 
will definitely jeopardise the livelihood of 
fishers. All these points towards the need for 
better policies and framework for dealing 
matters related to the impacts climate change on 
aquatic ecosystems and inland fisheries.  

DRIVERS OF CHANGE 

The freshwater ecosystems are affected by 
several stressors, of which climate change is by 
far more critical (Garner et al., 2017). Climatic 
drivers are the temperature, precipitation, 
evaporation, sea level, carbon dioxide 
concentration etc. whereas economic 
developments, urbanization, increase in 
population and land use or natural geomorphic 
changes form the non-climatic drivers. Of these, 
the main climatic driver which control 
freshwater resources are the evaporation and 
precipitation. More intense extreme 
precipitation events are expected due to climate 
change (IPCC, 2012). Such drivers question the 
sustainability of resources by decreasing water 
supply or increasing demand (Cisneros et al., 
2014). The future of freshwater systems will be 
hit strongly by demographic, socioeconomic, 
and technological changes, including lifestyle 
changes. The details of framework and linkages 
for considering impacts of climatic and social 
changes on freshwater systems, and consequent 
impacts on and risks for humans and freshwater 
ecosystems are provided in Figure 1.  

 

 

37



East Afr. J. Biophys. Comput. Sci., Vol. 1, No. 1 
 

 

Figure 1. Framework (boxes) and linkages (arrows) for considering impacts of climatic and social 

changes on freshwater systems, and consequent impacts on and risks for humans and freshwater 

ecosystems (Source: IPCC report, 2007) 

According to VanVuuren et al. (2012) 
socioeconomic features which include the 
social, economic, demographic as well as 
ecological conditions can also create climate 
changes. Changing land use pattern because of 
urbanization will also affect freshwater systems 
strongly. Ninety percent of global water is used 
for irrigation purpose which will make a severe 
impact on the freshwater availability to the 
humans and the ecosystems (Döll, 2009). 

Complicated anthropogenic and natural systems 
working simultaneously influence climate 
change which affects the quality of water. Water 
quality projections depends upon climatic and 
environmental inference, local conditions and 
also the current state of pollution (Bonte and 

Zwolsman, 2010; Kundzewicz and Krysanova, 
2010; Sahoo et al., 2010; Trolle et al., 2011). 
Intense effect of climate change includes 
alteration on hydrological cycle, dried up water 
resources and thereby its depletion, decline of 
water table level, saline water intrusion, water 
logging etc. which causes strain on the 
availability of drinking water and altered 
precipitation and unpredictable floods and 
droughts on inland freshwater wetlands.  

The seasonal rainfall in India can be understood 
from groundwater recharge and the availability 
of water during summer. Because of increase in 
population and climate change, per capita 
availability of freshwater in major river basins is 
decreasing and degrading at a much faster pace 

38



East Afr. J. Biophys. Comput. Sci., Vol. 1, No. 1 
 

and this will be experienced as water stress in 
most of the basins by 2030 (Nair, 2016). This 
will be followed by many serious socio-
economic issues like disputes and raising price 
for water etc. Changes in monsoon patterns 
cause water stress, decrease in the availability of 
water in the lakes and rivers of Asia and Africa 
(IPCC, 2007) causing negative impacts on fish 
migration, spawning and seed availability for 
farmers which will also produce less water 
retention time in non-perennial water bodies 
(Goswami et al.,2006). In terms of fisheries, 
African countries are more vulnerable state due 
to the combined effects of predicted warming, 
the relative importance of fisheries to regional 
economy and nutrition coupled with limited 
societal capacity to adapt to potential impacts 
and opportunities. Besides, increasing number 
of extreme climatic events will have serious 
repercussions on the ecology and biodiversity of 
inland water bodies, besides the socio-economic 
losses. 

IMPACT, VULNERABILITIES AND 
RISKS 

The impacts of climate change on freshwater 
ecosystems is always complex, not fully 
understood and often beyond prediction. 
However, all these impacts will lead to changes 
in the quantity, quality, and timing of water. 
Changes will be driven by shifts in the volume, 
seasonality, and intensity of precipitation; 
alteration of surface runoff and ground water 
recharge patterns; changes in 
evapotranspiration; increased air and water 
temperatures; and rising sea levels and other 
extreme climatic events. In the tropical regions, 
all these together will lead to a number of key 
eco-hydrological impacts on freshwater 
ecosystems including increased low-flow 

episodes and water stress in some areas; shifts in 
timing and intensity of floods;  increased 
evaporative losses, especially from shallow 
water bodies; saltwater intrusion in coastal, 
deltaic, and low-lying ecosystems, including 
coastal aquifers; more intense runoff events 
leading to increased sediment and pollution 
loads; and increased extremes of water 
temperatures (WWF, 2010). The possible 
impacts of climate change in aquatic ecosystems 
are discussed. 

Hydrological cycle  

Climate and water cycle are inseparably linked 
and every change in the climatic system induces 
a change in the water system, and vice versa. 
The climate change would impact precipitation, 
sea level, river flow, soil moisture, 
evapotranspiration, and ground water, thereby 
impacting the quantity and quality of freshwater 
availability (Kundzewicz, 2008). Several studies 
point towards the impact of climate-driven 
factors on the recent evolution of the water 
cycle at large scales (Bindoff et al., 2013), 
particularly on precipitation (Zhang et al., 2007) 
or evapotranspiration (Douville et al., 2012). 
The studies in India also indicate the possible 
implications of climate change on hydrological 
cycle (Mehrotra and Mehrotra, 1995), including 
the Western Ghats biodiversity hotspot 
(Ramachandra et al., 2013). This points to the 
research need to enhance the observation 
network (especially for hydro-meteorological 
variable such as precipitation, evaporation, 
snow melt, stream flow, runoff, infiltration) in 
order to get a quantified estimate of water 
balance in most of the river and lake basins in 
Asian and Africa.  

Ecosystem Services and biodiversity 

39



East Afr. J. Biophys. Comput. Sci., Vol. 1, No. 1 
 

Climate change has severe projected substantial 
impacts on ecosystem services. The impacts 
happen via changes in the distribution and value 
of water over space and time. Such proposed 
effects will be different depending on the extent 
of the impact of such changes in the distribution 
of water and the adaptive capacity of the 
region's biophysical and social system (Chang 
and Bonnette, 2016). Overview of ecosystem 
services that are directly and indirectly impacted 
by climate change and local anthropogenic 
impacts is given in Figure 2. It show cases the 
complex, cyclical nature of how the use of 
ecosystem services can, through direct and 
indirect mechanisms, affect those same 
ecosystem services (Liu et al., 2015). Impacts of 
climate change on ecosystem services is an area 
not investigated by the research community in 
India, despite the fact that it is highly important 
in planning adaptation strategies.  

Declines in river flows, increased drought and 
extreme flooding events, and salt-water 
intrusion are all very likely to result in changes 
to the composition, structure and function of 
freshwater ecosystems. In addition, existing 
stresses on freshwater ecosystems of Kerala 
(e.g. habitat degradation and alterations, habitat 
loss, altered hydrology, pollution, habitat loss, 
invasive species, etc) will be aggravated by 
climate change, increasing the risk of species 

extinctions and shifts in the provision of 
ecosystem services. 

Biodiversity in backwaters is disappearing at a 
much faster pace as a consequence of 
developmental projects which promote vigorous 
use of resources and environment and also the 
ample reclamation of these water bodies result 
in irretrievable loss of habitat. These backwaters 
exert serious impact on the coastal fisheries as 
they serves as nursery and breeding grounds for 
a variety of coastal fish and shellfish species. 
Encroachment into diverse sections of water 
bodies including wetlands, paddy fields, lakes 
etc. are encroached  upon in different parts of 
the state for constructing buildings,  houses and 
resorts violating the laws (Nair, 2016).  

The heavy rain and floods could impact the 
ecosystem and ecosystem services considerably. 
In the freshwater ecosystems along the Western 
Ghats, the impacts would be much more 
pronounced. Floods may trigger a major shift in 
the diversity of flora, with invasive species 
taking over from endemic varieties. The floods 
also aid in the escape of exotic fish species 
cultivated in the flood plains to the natural water 
bodies. It could enhance the threat to Rare, 
Endangered and Threatened (RET) species, 
leaving them more vulnerable. 

 

40



East Afr. J. Biophys. Comput. Sci., Vol. 1, No. 1 
 

 

Figure 2.Overview of ecosystem services that are directly and indirectly impacted by climate change 

and local anthropogenic impacts (adapted from Liu et al., 2015). 

 

Agriculture and animal husbandry  

India is home to more than 16 per cent of the 
world population, at the same time harbours 
only 4 per cent of the world water resources. 
Agriculture is directly dependent on climate and 
water is a critical component of agricultural 
vulnerability in India where agricultural 
production depends on availability of rainwater 
and water available through irrigation. A 
warmer climate will accelerate the hydrologic 
cycle, altering rainfall, magnitude and timing of 
run-off. Warm air holds more moisture and it 
will result in an increase in evaporation of 

surface moisture. Climate change has a direct 
impact on crop evapotranspiration, thereby 
affecting the soil moisture, groundwater 
recharge, and frequency of flood or drought, and 
finally groundwater level in different areas. The 
observed and predicted vagaries of monsoon 
and the climate driven changes in soil quality 
would ultimately impact regional agriculture. 
The multiple impacts of climate change on 
agriculture are summarised in Figure 3. The 
earlier-anticipated potential benefits of climate 
change from carbon dioxide would be offset by 
pollution, serious related climate effects as well 
as nutrition limitation.  

 

41



East Afr. J. Biophys. Comput. Sci., Vol. 1, No. 1 
 

 

 

Figure 3. Schematic representation of multiple impacts of climate change on agriculture  

 

Dev (2011) pointed out that agriculture was less 
sustainable in the past because of less yields, 
soil erosion and natural calamities, water and 
land related problems which made the rural 
livelihoods susceptible to climate change 
vulnerability. In addition, rise in sea level will 
increase the risk of permanent or seasonal saline 
intrusion into ground water and rivers which 
will have an impact on quality of water and the 
agricultural productivity, particularly in below-
sea level farming systems in various regions of 
the world.  

Due to deforestation and increase in sea surface 
temperature, the temperature across the high 
ranges and low lands have increased 

considerably (Rao, 2017). Vagaries in monsoon 
may impact the production of economically 
valuable crops like pepper, coffee, tea, 
cardamom, banana, ginger and tuber crops. By 
2050, the food production is supposed to 
increase by 60 per cent to meet the increase in 
demand and therefore any substantial changes in 
climate would ultimately impact local 
agricultural productivity (Alexandratos and 
Bruinsma,2012) and livelihood. Wayanad 
district experiences low water yield and 
increasing water stress because of decrease in 
precipitation and increase in temperature and 
evapotranspiration due to climate change which 
is supposed to affect the crops in the district 
causing reduction in yields and changes in 
cropping patterns (Dinesan, 2017). 

42



East Afr. J. Biophys. Comput. Sci., Vol. 1, No. 1 
 

Climate change poses formidable challenge to 
the development of livestock sector in India. 
Livestock production will be limited by climate 
variability as animal water consumption is 
expected to increase by a factor of three, 
demand for agricultural lands increase due to 
need for 70% growth in production, and food 
security concern since about one-third of the 
global cereal harvest is used for livestock feed 
(Rojas-Downing et al., 2017).  

According to Sirohi and Michaelowa (2007), 
“the anticipated rise in temperature between 2.3 
and 4.8°C over the entire country together with 
increased precipitation resulting from climate 
change is likely to aggravate the heat stress in 
dairy animals, adversely affecting their 
productive and reproductive performance, and 
hence reducing the total area where high 
yielding dairy cattle can be economically reared. 
Given the vulnerability of India to rise in sea 
level, the impact of increased intensity of 
extreme events on the livestock sector would be 
large and devastating for the low-income rural 
areas. The predicted negative impact of climate 
change on Indian agriculture would also 
adversely affect livestock production by 
aggravating the feed and fodder shortages”. The 
locally adapted indigenous breeds in India 
therefore would play a critical role in future 
towards climate change adaptation. 

Impacts on Wetlands 

Wetlands including swamps, mangroves, lakes 
and marshes play an important role in carbon 
cycle. While wetland sediments are the long-
term stores of carbon, short-term stores are in 
wetland existing biomass and dissolved 
components in the surface and groundwater 
(Wylynko, 1999). Though wetlands contribute 

about 40 per cent of the global methane (CH4) 
emissions, they have the highest carbon (C) 
density among terrestrial ecosystems and 
relatively greater capacities to sequester 
additional carbon dioxide (CO2) (Pant et al., 
2003). 

In India, coastal wetlands are playing a major 
role in carbon sequestration. The total extent of 
coastal ecosystems (including mangroves) in 
India is around 43,000 km2 (Kathiresan and 
Thakur, 2008). Overall, mangroves are able to 
sequester about 1.5 metric tonne of carbon per 
hectare per year, and the upper layers of 
mangrove sediments have high carbon content, 
with conservative estimates indicating the levels 
of 10% (Kathiresan and Thakur, 2008). 

Limited analysis on the impact of climate 
change on wetlands in India suggests that high 
altitude wetlands and coastal wetlands 
(including mangroves and coral reefs) are some 
of the most sensitive classes that will be affected 
by climate change (Patel et al., 2009). In case of 
the coastal wetlands such as Indian part of 
Sundarbans mangrove, rising sea surface 
temperature and sea level rise due to thermal 
expansion, could affect the fish distribution and 
lead to the destruction of significant portion of 
mangrove ecosystem. Further destruction of the 
Sundarbans mangroves would diminish their 
critical role as natural buffers against tropical 
cyclones resulting in loss of lives and 
livelihoods (UNESCO, 2007; CSE, 2012). 

Climate change induced rising temperature and 
declining rainfall pattern presents a potential 
danger to the already disappearing lakes in the 
Gangetic plains (Sinha, 2011). Decreased 
precipitation will exacerbate problems 
associated with already growing demands for 

43



East Afr. J. Biophys. Comput. Sci., Vol. 1, No. 1 
 

water and hence alter the freshwater inflows to 
wetland ecosystems (Bates et al., 2008; Erwin, 
2009), whereas, rise in temperature can 
aggravate the problem of eutrophication, leading 
to algal blooms, fish kills, and dead zones in the 
surface water (Gopal et al., 2010). Also, 
seasonality of runoff in river basins such as 
Ganges will increase along with global 
warming, that is, wet seasons will become 
wetter and dry seasons will become drier 
(World Bank, 2012). This would have severe 
adverse impact on affected populations, 
especially if the seasonality of runoff change 
would be out of phase with that of demand. 

Impacts on fisheries and aquaculture 

Climate change may affect the hydrology and 
fisheries of inland waters through increased 
precipitation, air temperature, and decrease in 
water quality. The health and productivity of the 
ecosystems depend upon the fisheries which 
they are based and are vulnerable to physical 
and chemical changes in temperature, salinity, 
acidity and water levels and flows (IPCC, 2007; 
Bindoff et al., 2018). Climate change impact 
pathways in fisheries and aquaculture are 
detailed in Fig. 3. The recent report of Food and 
Agriculture Organization (FAO) indicate that 
climate change will affect the productivity of 
the world’s freshwater and marine fisheries, and 
the impacts on inland sector will be connected 
to the scarcity and quality of water of natural 
water bodies. In the aquaculture sector, the 
short-term climate change can include losses of 
production and infrastructure arising from 
extreme events such as floods, increased risks of 
diseases, parasites and harmful algal blooms, 
and the long-term impacts can include reduced 
availability of wild seed as well as reduced 

precipitation leading to increasing competition 
for freshwater (Barange et al., 2018). 

Fisheries in lakes, rivers, dams and wetlands are 
affected by changes in rainfall and run-off, rise 
in temperature, drought, evaporation, intense 
storms, river flow and several other 
hydrological parameters which results in water 
level variations, habitat loss, disease and 
mortality, alteration of productivity, invasive 
alien species and species loss. Fisheries and 
aquaculture too contribute to climate change by 
altering mangroves and coastal wetland 
ecosystems, and also consume energy required 
for the production of processed feeds and also to 
pump water. 

The outcome of extreme weather events and 
changes in monsoon pattern storms and floods 
are huge losses in cage culture systems in rivers 
and lakes causing large fin fishes to escape 
(Soto et al., 2001).Rise in temperature generated 
by humans on lakes and rivers cause grave 
threats to various fish species and fish culture 
production (Cheung et al., 2010; Fickeet al., 
2007) as recognised by the report of 
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change 
(IPCC 2007). According to Katikiro and Macusi 
(2012) and Xenopoulos et al. (2005) inland 
fisheries which are artisanal fisheries will be 
extremely affected by changing water levels and 
increasing occurrence of dry spells as well as 
flooding. Climate change also causes increase in 
vaporization, turbidity, reduced solar radiation 
reaching water bodies resulting in plankton 
blooms leading to water pollution, run-off due 
to flooding creating damages to cages and loss 
of livelihood of fish farmers (Anyanwu et al., 
2014). Rise in temperature due to climate 
change cause stress in fish and cause diseases.  

44



East Afr. J. Biophys. Comput. Sci., Vol. 1, No. 1 
 

 

Figure 3.Climate change impact pathways in fisheries and aquaculture (adapted from Badjeck et al., 

2010) 

Human health  

In addition to threats to water supplies for 
drinking and hygiene, the extent of mosquito-
borne diseases may expand due to the impacts 
of fewer but heavier rainfall events on mosquito 
breeding. Projected changes to surface water 
hydrology may also lead to more frequent and 
prolonged toxic algae blooms. Reports indicate 
that in India climate change poses serious threat 
to public health from extreme weather-related 
disasters to wider spread of such vector-borne 
diseases as malaria and dengue (Majra and Gur, 
2009). Higher temperature and contaminated 
water would trigger disease outbreaks and 
spread of pathogens. Vaccine preventable 
Japanese encephalitis epidemic due to rainfall 
has been reported from Himalayan region by 
Partridge et al. (2007) and Bhattachan et al. 
(2009) and to rainfall and temperature in South 
and East Asia (Bi et al., 2007; Murty et al., 
2010). Similarly, Devi and Jauhari (2006), Dev 
and Dash (2007), Dahal, (2008) and Laneri et al. 

(2010) showed correlations of frequent 
occurrence of malaria with rainfall which 
otherwise is influenced by non-climatic 
variables. Increases in heavy rain and 
temperature will raise the risk of diarrheal 
diseases, dengue fever and malaria (IPCC, 
2014). 

Research linking temperature and health effects 
in tropical countries is sparse. However, 
understanding of the current impact of weather 
and climate variability on population health is 
the first step for assessing the effects of 
temperature, rainfall, infectious diseases and 
extreme weather. 

Socio-economic and other impacts 

Responding to the growing imbalance between 
water supply and demand has driven changes in 
water governance, in particular water allocation, 
in many parts of the world. With a growing 
population and people living under water stress, 
particularly for drinking water, there is also 

45



East Afr. J. Biophys. Comput. Sci., Vol. 1, No. 1 
 

likely to be further pressure on individuals and 
organisations to alter their water use patterns 
and accept significant changes to the quality and 
quantity of water provided for different 
purposes. Policy, infrastructure and social 
changes are likely to be necessary to facilitate 
adaptation to water scarcity in both rural and 
urban areas. Further, there will be more 
demands for more desalination plants and 
recycling and reuse of water from the effluents 
(IPCC, 2012).  

Changes in the structure and function of rivers, 
estuaries and wetlands will affect the ecosystem 
services they provide, with far-reaching social 
and economic implications. For example, in 
rural areas, declines in agricultural productivity 
and shifts in farming are very likely. Moreover, 
salt-water intrusion into estuaries and wetlands 
may affect coastal fisheries and tourism. Water 
related conflicts may occur regionally due to 
higher demands for water and scarcity.  

ADAPTATION, MITIGATION AND 
MANAGEMENT 

Protection of biological diversity of aquatic 
ecosystems and integrity are important activities 
to improve the resiliency of aquatic ecosystems 
so that they continue to provide important 
services under changed climatic conditions. 
Appropriate adaptation and mitigation strategies 
would bring community empowerment in the 
face of climate change vulnerability. 

Global warming, rapid urbanization, 
industrialization and economic development are 
the key factors which cause stress and will 
intensify climate change (reference??). 
Attention among policy-makers is divided about 
how to minimize the change, how to mitigate its 

effects, how to maintain the aquatic ecosystems 
and biodiversity on which societies depend and 
how to adapt human societies to the changes. 
Maintenance and rehabilitation of ecological 
integrity of the aquatic ecosystems will 
inevitably include restoration of health of the 
ecosystems and the biological resources, not to 
speak of sustainability of ecosystem services.  

The ecosystems in good health may remain in 
few protected areas in Kerala, through a long 
tradition of conservation management that is 
largely species-based, as amenable to adaptive 
management. In many cases it may be perceived 
as the richness of plant and vertebrate 
communities and this often forms a focus for 
planning. The need of the hour is preparation of 
a data base on impacts of climate change on 
each specific kind of aquatic ecosystem and 
prioritize its management.  

In the case of freshwater biodiversity, 
adaptation strategies that maintain well-
functioning ecosystems are pivotal. This is 
achieved through enhancing resilience, 
removing or managing existing stressors, and 
maintaining diverse and well-connected mosaics 
of ecosystems (i.e. aquatic, riparian and 
terrestrial components) across the landscape. 
Surface and groundwater resources are essential 
to freshwater biodiversity and aquatic 
ecosystem processes. Appropriate management 
is critical. Over-allocation of water resources 
represents a major obstacle to implementing 
suitable adaptation strategies for protecting 
freshwater biodiversity. 

Mitigation measures include efforts to develop 
integrated water management strategies along 
with water saving technologies, increasing water 
productivity and water reuse to adapt to climate 

46



East Afr. J. Biophys. Comput. Sci., Vol. 1, No. 1 
 

change (IPCC, 2014). However, most of these 
efforts in developing countries are land-based 
and therefore fresh efforts are required for 
mitigating impacts of climate change. Negative 
repercussion arises in natural ecosystems and 
carbon sequestration when we prevent nature to 
take its own course to changing conditions as 
we build sea walls, channels, bunds and dams 
for agriculture and human settlement (IPCC, 
2014). The freshwater areas under protected 
area network are comparatively less in tropical 
countries and there is an urgent need to conserve 
highly threatened ecosystems, especially all the 
remaining mangrove ecosystems. Further, the 
afforestation initiatives in the ecologically 
sensitive areas along with integrated watershed 
management programmes will go a long way in 
adaptation process. Beyond the intrinsic value 
of wild species and ecosystems, ecosystem-
based approaches to adaptation aim to use the 
resilience of natural systems to buffer human 
systems against climate change, with potential 
social, economic, and cultural co-benefits for 
local communities (IPCC, 2014). 

Various downscaled tools to support, formulate, 
and implement climate change adaptation policy 
for local governments are under development. 
One of the major tools is vulnerability 
assessment and policy option identification with 
Geographical Information Systems (GIS). These 
tools are expected to be of assistance in 
assessing ecosystem based adaptation options 
by examining estimated impacts and identified 
vulnerability for aquatic ecosystems.  

While top-down approaches provide scientific 
knowledge to local actors, community-based 
approaches are built on existing knowledge and 
expertise to strengthen coping and adaptive 
capacity by involving local actors (van Aalst et 

al., 2008). At the same time community-based 
approaches may have a limitation in that they 
place greater responsibility on the shoulders of 
local people without necessarily increasing their 
capacity proportionately (Allen, 2006). More 
community reserves and community-managed 
watersheds and ecosystems would not only 
ensure sustainability, but also provide avenues 
for adaptation for the stake holders.  

In the fisheries sector, some of the impacts of 
climate change are likely to be positive. For 
example, increased precipitation could reduce 
current water stress in some regions and also 
lead to the expansion of habitats available to 
fish, leading to higher abundances and potential 
yields. Taking advantage of new opportunities 
could require investment in infrastructure and 
equipment, for which external support may be 
required. In cases of both new opportunities and 
negative impacts, a key requirement for nearly 
all countries and regions will be to ensure 
flexibility (within the limits of sustainable use) 
in policies, laws and regulations. This flexibility 
will then allow fishers to switch between target 
species and adjust their fishing practices in 
response to changes in the ecosystems they 
utilize for fishing. Adaptation in post harvest 
processes will also be important through, for 
example, the development or improvement of 
storage and processing equipment. The 
implemented post harvest processes can 
increase the capacity and implementation of 
robust biosecurity systems in order to ensure the 
quality of fish and fish products through to the 
consumers, as well as facilitating possible 
access to higher value markets (Barange et al., 
2018). 

The options for adaptation and building 
resilience in aquaculture should be applied in 

47



East Afr. J. Biophys. Comput. Sci., Vol. 1, No. 1 
 

accordance with an ecosystem approach to 
aquaculture. They include: (i) improved 
management of farms and choice of farmed 
species; (ii) improved spatial planning of farms 
that takes climate-related risks into account; and 
(iii) improved environmental monitoring 
involving users. Alternate livelihood options 
should be provided to the fishermen to adapt to 
the changing climate scenarios. 

In addition to emissions reductions from the 
fisheries and aquaculture sector, there is the 
potential to store carbon in some coastal 
ecosystems such as mangroves, sea weed 
ecosystems, sea grass beds, etc. These 
ecosystems have the potential to remove and 
store atmospheric carbon at much greater rates 
than terrestrial ecosystems (McLeod et al., 
2011). Some of these systems, such as 
mangroves also provide additional benefits to 
communities through flood control, buffering 
coastlines from storms, water quality, and 
provide habitat for juvenile fish. Therefore, 
adaptation may address issues not specifically 
focused on fisheries or aquaculture, such as 
mangrove restoration for the primary purpose of 
buffering coastal communities from storm surge 
and coastal erosion (Shelton, 2014). 

In short, ecosystem-based adaptation recognizes 
the critical nature of the services that 
biodiversity and ecosystems provide to human 
communities and that help build resilience to 
climate change. Incorporating ecosystem-based 
adaptation into an integrated approach to 
climate change adaptation can provide longer 
term, more effective and more cost efficient 
solutions that support human well-being and a 
healthy environment. This approach is 
particularly relevant to the inland water bodies 

due to the complex and dynamic nature of these 
systems. 

KNOWLEDGE GAP 

Climate change research is at its infancy in the 
state, and one of the major handicap in arriving 
at better conclusions on the impact is the lack of 
data over a time scale with regard to the inland 
ecosystems. Sustain and expand existing 
monitoring networks and data collection on 
hydrologic and meteorological conditions and 
water demand is one of the priority areas. 
Similarly there is a need for stronger data on 
precipitation and river discharge systematically, 
and management of water flow from dams. A 
comprehensive bio-monitoring network with 
clearly defined goals for the State is necessary 
to fill the gaps in climate change. Long-term 
climate change monitoring datasets are vital and 
often useful for research on climate change and 
the information must be shared across the 
regions. Due importance should be given to 
research with improvised models and other 
methods to explore and foretell the interactions 
between climate change, invasive species, 
habitat fragmentation and ecosystem dynamics 
and also to identify the stressors and threats 
which will create an impact on climate change. 

Urgent actions need to be executed at the local 
(community involvement), regional and national 
level and for short and long term involving a 
multi-disciplinary team. Information on 
significant variables like soil moisture, 
groundwater depth, water quality, water demand 
(including water budget of aquatic ecosystems), 
rates of surface water and groundwater 
withdrawal by each sector, long-range 
diversions etc. are particularly limited in India 
which result in limited assessment capability. 

48



East Afr. J. Biophys. Comput. Sci., Vol. 1, No. 1 
 

Engaging stakeholders will definitely leads to 
the success of the programme and proper public 
awareness should be propagated regarding 
environmental and health issues. Further, 
ecosystem based conservation plans involving 
local communities is yet another priority 
programme to be implemented, together with 
declaration of more protected areas including 
fish sanctuaries, which may serve as ‘climate 
refugia’.  

In many Asian and African countries where 
tourism is projected as a source for improving 
economic benefits, maintenance of inland 
aquatic ecosystems in good health and 
promotion of responsible tourism would help in 
sustainable management in the era of climate 
change. Carbon sequestration capacity of the 
countries should be increased by promoting 
public transportation, replacement of old 
machinery with new energy efficient ones, 
afforestation, reduction of CO2 emission from 
households etc. Another challenge is to increase 
the food productivity using low emission 
pathway to reduce the impact of climate change. 

Since fisheries is considered as a major source 
of food while policy formulation, fisheries 
should come to the forefront but the benefits 
gained from the sector are often ignored and 
continue to lack sufficient attention by decision 
makers in both adaptation to climate change and 
food security policy formulation. It is also 
endorsed upon that to minimize the impacts of 
climate change on fisheries and also to increase 
the flexibility of the farmers, investments are 
needed for sustainable artisanal fisheries and 
market infrastructure to tackle post- harvest 
losses and also to provide economic incentives. 
Top priority should be given for the 
conservation of existing wetlands and 

restoration of all freshwater bodies should be 
undertaken as a major measure to fight against 
climate change. Also science and policy should 
communicate and interact together to pursue 
climate change. 

More studies with state-specific scientific or 
modelling studies on climate change are needed, 
especially in a tropical countries, to study the 
impacts for effective adaptation strategies and 
policy framework for the region. Inland 
fisheries sector has to be boosted by adapting a 
suitable technology which is eco-friendly and 
less hostile. Moreover, while taking policy 
formulations, fisheries and aquaculture sectors 
need to be directly linked to food security and 
employment of the rural population. 

To enhance the development of young 
professionals in the field of climate change 
adaptation, the topic could be included in higher 
education, especially in formal education 
programs. Shaw et al. (2011) mentioned that 
higher education in adaptation and disaster risk 
reduction in the Asia-Pacific region can be done 
through environment disaster linkage, focus on 
hydro-meteorological disasters, and 
emphasizing synergy issues between adaptation 
and risk reduction. 

Overall, it may be noted that the climate change 
impacts on inland aquatic ecosystems, though 
very important in ensuring food security and 
ecosystem services, they have not received 
considerable attention by the researchers, 
planners, policy makers and practitioners. This 
warrants a critical review of existing 
management plans for watershed conservation, 
flood mitigation, environment and biodiversity 
regulations, covering potential implications of 
climate change in regional perspective, besides 

49



East Afr. J. Biophys. Comput. Sci., Vol. 1, No. 1 
 

following an ecosystem approach in 
conservation and mitigation.  

References 
Alexandratos N. and Bruinsma J. 2012. World agriculture 

towards 2030/2050: the 2012 revision. ESA 
Work.Pap.12-03.FAO Agricultural Development 
Economics Division, Rome. 
〈http://www.fao.org/docrep/016/ap106e/ap106e.pdf〉
. 

Allen K.M. 2006. Community-based disaster 
preparedness and climate adaptation: local capacity-
building in the Philippines. Disasters. 30(1):,81–
101. 

Anonymous 2010. National Wetland Atlas Kerala. 
National Wetland Inventory and Assessment 
(NWIA)and Space Applications Centre (ISRO), 
Ahmedabad and Kerala State Remote Sensing & 
Environment Centre, Thiruvananthapuram. 

Anonymous 2012. India: Second National 
Communication to the United Nations Framework 
Convention on Climate Change. Ministry of 
Environment and Forests, Government of India, 
New Delhi. 

Anyanwu C.N., Osuigwe D.I. and Adaka G.S. 2014. 
Climate change : Impacts and threats on Freshwater 
Aquaculture. J. Fish. Aquat. Sci. 9 (5): 419-424.  

Badjeck M., Allison E.H., Halls A.S. and Dulvy N.K. 
2010: Impacts of climate variability and change on 
fishery-based livelihoods. Marine Policy 34(3): 375-
383. 

Barange M., Bahri T., Beveridge M., Cochrane K., 
Funge-Smith S. and Poulain F. 2018. Impacts of 
climate change on fisheries and aquaculture - 
Synthesis of current knowledge, adaptation and 
mitigation options. Fisheries and Aquaculture 
Technical Paper. No. 627. Rome, FAO. 

Barros V.R., Field C.B., Dokken D.J., Mastrandrea M.D., 
Mach K.J., Bilir T.E., Chatterjee M., Ebi K.L., 
Estrada Y.O., Genova R.C., Girma B., Kissel E.S., 
Levy A.N., MacCracken S., Mastrandrea P.R. and 
White L.L. 2014. Climate Change: Impacts, 
Adaptation, and Vulnerability. USA. 

Bates B.C., Kundzewicz Z.W., Wu S. and Palutikof J.P. 
2008. Climate Change and Water. Technical Paper 
VI, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, 
Geneva. 

Bhattachan A., Amatya S., Sedai T.R., Upreti S.R. and 
Partridge J. 2009. Japanese encephalitis in hill and 
mountain districts, Nepal. Emerg. Infect. Dis. 15 
(10): 1691-1692. 

Bi P., Zhang Y. and Parton K.A. 2007. Weather variables 
and Japanese encephalitis in the metropolitan area of 
Jinan city, China. J. Infect. 55 (6): 551-556. 

Bindoff N., Stott P., Achuta Rao K., Allen M., Gillett N., 
Gutzler D., Hansingo K., Hegerl G., Hu Y., Jain S., 
Mokhov I., Overland J., Perlwitz J., Sebbari R. and 
Zhang X. 2013. Detection and attribution of climate 
change: from global to regional. In: Climate Change 
2013: The Physical Science Basis. Contribution of 
Working Group I to the Fifth Assessment Report of 
the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. 
IPCC, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 
United Kingdom and New York, NY, USA, pp. 
867–952. 

Bonte M. and Zwolsman J.J.G. 2010: Climate change 
induced salinisation of artificial lakes in the 
Netherlands and consequences for drinking water 
production. Water Res. 44(15): 4411-4424. 

Chandrashekara U.M. 2015. Climate Change Mitigation 
Strategies in the Forestry Sector of Kerala, India. 
International Journal of Advancement in Remote 
Sensing, GIS and Geography. Special issue on 
Forest and Climate Change. Int. J. Adv. Remote 
Sens. GIS Geogr. 3 (1): 29-37. ISSN 2321–835. 

Chang H. and Bonnette M.R. 2016. Climate change and 
water-related ecosystem services: impacts of 
drought in California, USA. Ecosystem Health and 
Sustainability. 2(12):e01254. 10.1002/ehs2.1254 

Cheung W.W.L.; Lam V.W.Y.; Sarmiento J.L.; Kearney 
K.; Watson R.; Zeller D. and Pauly D. 2010. Large 
scale redistribution of maximum fisheries catch 
potential in the global ocean under climate change. 
Glob. Change Biol. 16:24-35. 

Cisneros J.B.E., Oki T., Arnell N.W., Benito G., Cogley 
J.G., Döll P., Jiang T. and Mwakalila S.S. 2014. 
Freshwater resources. In: Field C.B., Barros V.R., 
Dokken D.J., et al. (Eds). Climate Change 2014: 
Impacts, Adaptation, and Vulnerability. Part A: 
Global and Sectoral Aspects. Contribution of 
Working Group II to the Fifth Assessment Report of 
the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. 
Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, United 
Kingdom and New York, NY, USA, pp. 229-269. 

CSE (Centre for Science and Environment) 2012. Living 
With Changing Climate: Impact, Vulnerability and 
Adaptation Challenges in Indian Sundarbans Centre 
for Science and Environment, New Delhi. 

Dahal S. 2008. Climatic Determinants of Malaria and 
Kala-Azar in Nepal. Regional Health Forum, pp 32-
37. 

Dev V. and Dash A. 2007: Rainfall and malaria 
transmission in north–eastern India. Annals Trop. 
Med. Parasitol. 101 (5): 457-459. 

Devi N.P. and Jauhari R. 2006: Climatic variables and 
malaria incidence in Dehradun, Uttaranchal, India. J. 
Vector Borne Dis. 43 (1), 21. 

Dinesan V.P. 2017. Impact of climate change on water 
and land resources in Wayanad district. Climate 
variability in Kerala in recent years: Climate change 

50



East Afr. J. Biophys. Comput. Sci., Vol. 1, No. 1 
 

perspectives. Published by Institute of climate 
change studies (ICCS). 

Döll P. 2009. Vulnerability to the impact of climate 
change on renewable groundwater resources: a 
global-scale assessment. Environmental Research 
Letters, 4: 035006. 

Douville H., Ribes A., Decharme B., Alkama R. and 
Sheffield J. 2012. Anthropogenic influence on 
multidecadal changes in reconstructed global 
evapotranspiration. Nat. Clim. Change 3 (1): 59–62. 

Erwin K.L. 2009. Wetlands and global climate change: 
the role of wetland restoration in a changing world. 
Wetl. Ecol. Manage.17: 71-84. 

Ficke A.D.; Myrick C.A.; Hansen L.J. 2007. Potential 
impacts of global climate change on freshwater 
fisheries. Rev Fish Biol Fisher. 17:581-613. 

FSI (Forest Survey of India) 2015. India State of forest 
report. Forest Survey of India, Dehradun, 288 pp. 

Gallo B, Jackson M.C., O’Gorman E. and Woodward G. 
2017. Adaptation of freshwater species to climate 
change. Grantham Institute, Imperial College, 
London. Briefing note No 8. 

Garner G., Hannah D.M. and Watts G. 2017. Climate 
change and water in the UK: Recent scientific 
evidence for past and future change. Prog. Phys. 
Geog.: Earth and Environment. 41: 154-170. 

Gopal B., Shilpakar R. and Sharma E. 2010. Functions 
and Services of Wetlands in the Eastern Himalayas: 
Impacts of Climate Change. Technical Report 3, 
International Centre for Integrated Mountain 
Development, Kathmandu, Nepal. 

Goswami B.N., Venugopal V., Sengupta D., 
Madhusoodanan M.S. and Xavier P.K. 2006. 
Increasing Trend of Extreme Rain Events Over India 
in a Warming Environment. SCIENCE Vol 314 1 
December 2006. www.sciencemag.org 

IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change)  
2012: Managing the Risks of Extreme Events and 
Disasters to Advance Climate Change Adaptation. A 
Special Report of Working Groups I and II of the 
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Field, 
C.B., Barros V., Stocker T.F., Dahe Q., Dokken 
D.J., Ebi K.L., Mastrandrea M.D., Mach K.J., 
Plattner G.-K., Allen S.K., Tignor M. and Midgley 
P.M. (eds.). Cambridge University Press, 
Cambridge, UK, and New York, USA, p. 582. 

IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) 
2007. Climate Change 2007: The Physical Science 
Basis. Contribution of Working Group I to the 
Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental 
Panel on Climate Change, Cambridge , UK New 
York, NY. 

IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) 
2014. Impacts, Adaptation, and Vulnerability. 
Working Group II Contribution to the Fifth 
Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel 

on Climate Change. Cambridge University Press, 
Cambridge/New York 

Katikiro E. and Macusi E.D. 2012. Impacts of Climate 
Change on West African Fisheries and its 
Implications on Food Production. J. Environ. Sci. 
Manag. 15:83-95. 

Kundzewicz Z.W. 2008. Climate change impacts on the 
hydrological cycle. Ecohydrol. Hydrobiol. 8: 195-
203. 

Kundzewicz Z.W. and Krysanova V. 2010. Climate 
change and stream water quality in the multi-factor 
context. Clim. Change. 103(3): 353-362. 

Laneri K., Bhadra A., Ionides E.L., Bouma M., Dhiman 
R.C., Yadav R.S. and Pascual M. 2010: Forcing 
Versus Feedback: Epidemic Malaria and Monsoon 
Rains in Northwest India. PLoS Comput. Biol. 6 (9): 
e1000898. 

Li W., Xu X., Fujibayashi M., Niu Q., Tanaka N. and 
Nishimura O. 2016. Response of microalgae to 
elevated CO2 and temperature: impact of climate 
change on freshwater ecosystems. Environ. Sci. 
Pollut. Res. .23: 19847-19860. 

Liu J., Hull V., Luo J., Yang W., Liu W., Viña A., Vogt 
C., Xu Z., Yang H., Zhang J., An L., Chen X., Li S., 
Ouyang Z., Xu W. and Zhang H. 2015. Multiple 
telecouplings and their complex interrelationships. 
Ecol. Soc. 20 (3): 4. 
http://www.ecologyandsociety.org/vol20/iss3/art44/ 

Majra J.P. and Gur A. 2009. Climate change and health: 
Why should India be concerned? Indian J. Occup 
Environ Med. 13(1): 11–16. 

Mcleod E., Chmura G.L., Bouillon S., Salm R., Björk M., 
Duarte C.M., Lovelock C., Schlesinger W. and 
Silliman B. 2011. A blueprint for blue carbon: 
toward an improved understanding of the role of 
vegetated coastal habitats in sequestering CO2. 
Front. Ecol. Environ. 9: 552–560. 

MEA (Millennium Ecosystem Assessment) 2005. 
Ecosystems and Human Well-being: Wetlands and 
Water: Synthesis. A Report of the Millennium 
Ecosystem Assessment, World Resources Institute, 
Washington DC, USA, 68 pp. 

Mehrotra D. and Mehrotra R. 1995. Climate change and 
hydrology with emphasis on the Indian 
subcontinent. Hydrol. Sci. J. 40: 231-242. 

Murty U.S., Rao M.S. and Arunachalam N. 2010. The 
effects of climatic factors on the distribution and 
abundance of Japanese encephalitis vectors in 
Kurnool district of Andhra Pradesh, India. J. Vector 
Borne Dis. 47 (1): 26-32. 

Nair K.S. 2016. Impact of climate change and 
anthropogenic pressure on the water resources of 
India: challenges in management. Proc. IAHS. 374: 
63–67. 

Niyas N.T., Mini V.K and Sudevan S. 2017. Study on 
temperature features and its trend over Kerala. 

51

http://www.sciencemag.org/


East Afr. J. Biophys. Comput. Sci., Vol. 1, No. 1 
 

Climate variability in Kerala in recent years: 
Climate change perspectives. Published by Institute 
of climate change studies (ICCS). 

O’Gorman E.J., Benstead J.P., Cross W.F., Friberg N., 
Hood J.M., Johnson P.W. and Woodward G. 2014. 
Climate change and geothermal ecosystems: natural 
laboratories, sentinel systems, and future refugia. 
Glob. Chang. Biol. 20 (11): 3291-3299,  

Pant H.K., Rechcigl J.E. and  Adjei M.B. 2003. Carbon 
sequestration in wetlands: Concept and estimation. 
J. Food Agric. Environ. 1: 308-313. 

Partridge J., Ghimire P., Sedai T., Bista M.B. and 
Banerjee M. 2007. Endemic Japanese encephalitis in 
the Kathmandu Valley, Nepal. Am. J. Trop. Med. 
Hyg. 77: 1146–1149. 

Patel J.G., Murthy T.V.R., Singh T.S. and Panigrahy S. 
2009. Analysis of the distribution pattern of 
wetlands in India in relation to climate change. In: 
Panigrahy S., Shankar Ray S. and Parihar J.S. 
(Eds.), Proceedings of the Workshop on Impact of 
Climate Change on Agriculture. Ahmedabad, India, 
17–18 December. International Society for 
Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing. 

Pfister S., Koehler A. and Hellweg S. 2009. Assessing the 
environmental impacts of freshwater consumption in 
Asia. Environ. Sci. Technol. 43: 4098-4104. 

Raghavan R., Das S., Nameer P.O.,  Kumar B.A. and 
Dahanukar N. 2016. Protected areas and imperilled 
endemic freshwater biodiversity in the Western 
Ghats Hotspot. Aquatic Conservation: Marine And 
Freshwater Ecosystems 26 (Suppl. 1): 78–90. 

Ramachandra T.V., Anjali Nair, B. and Vinay S.  2013. 
Hydrologic regime alterations in the Western Ghats 
due to changes in the climate. 
http://wgbis.ces.iisc.ernet.in/biodiversity/sahyadri_e
news/newsletter/Issue61/article/index.html 

Rojas-Downing M.M., Nejadhashemi P.A., Harrigan T. 
and Woznicki S.A. 2017. Climate change and 
livestock: Impacts, adaptation, and mitigation. Clim. 
Risk Manag. 16: 145–163. 

Sahoo G.B., Schladow S.G., Reuter J.E. and Coats R. 
2010. Effects of climate change on thermal 
properties of lakes and reservoirs, and possible 
implications. Stoch. Env. Res. Risk A. 25(4): 445-
456. 

Sannadurgappa D., Abita R. and Soniya S. 2011. 
Vulnerability of freshwater fisheries and impacts of 
climate change in south Indian states economies. 
Interdiscip. Environ. Rev. 12(4): 283-297. 

Sharma A.P., Joshi K.D., Naskar M. and Das M.K. 2015. 
Inland fisheries and climate Change: Vulnerability 
and Adaptation options. ICAR-CIFRI Special 
Publication, Policy Paper No.: NICRA/Policy/2015-
16/1, Central Inland Fisheries Research Institute, 
Barrackpore, Kolkata. 

Shaw R., Mallick F. and Takeuchi Y. 2011: Essentials of 
higher education in disaster risk reduction: prospects 
and challenges. In: Shaw R., Shiwaku K. and 
Takeuchi Y. (eds.). Disaster Education, Community, 
Environment and Disaster Risk Management, Vol. 7 
Emerald Group Publishing, Ltd., Bingley, UK, pp. 
95-113. 

Shelton C. 2014. Climate change adaptation in fisheries 
and aquaculture – compilation of initial examples. 
FAO Fisheries and Aquaculture Circular No. 1088. 
Rome, FAO. 34 pp. 

Sinha C.P. 2011. Climate change and its impacts on the 
wetlands of North Bihar, India. Lakes and 
Reservoirs: Resarch and Management 16: 109-111. 

Sirohi S. and Michaelowa A. 2007. Sufferer and cause: 
Indian livestock and climate change. Clim. Change 
85: 285–298. 

Soto D., Jara F. and Moreno C. 2001. Escaped salmon in 
the inner seas, southern Chile: facing ecological and 
social conflicts. Ecol. Appl. 11 (6): 1750–1762. 

Trolle D., Hamilton D.P., Pilditch C.A., Duggan I.C. and 
Jeppesen E. 2011. Predicting the effects of climate 
change on trophic status of three morphologically 
varying lakes: implications for lake restoration and 
management. Environ. Modell. Softw. 26(4): 354-
370. 

UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and 
Cultural Organization) 2007. Case Studies on 
Climate Change and World Heritage, UNESCO 
World Heritage Centre, France. 

van Aalst M.K., Cannonb T. and Burtonc I. 2008. 
Community level adaptation to climate change: The 
potential role of participatory community risk 
assessment. Glob. Environ. Change. 18: 165–179. 

Van Vuuren D.P., Kok M.T.J., Girod B., Lucas P.L. and 
de Vries B. 2012. Scenarios in global environmental 
assessments: key characteristics and lessons for 
future use. Glob. Environ. Change 22:884–895 

Ward R.D., Friess D.A., Day R.H. and MacKenzie R.A. 
2016. Impacts of climate change on mangrove 
ecosystems: a region by region overview. Ecosystem 
Health and Sustainability 2(4):e01211. 
doi:10.1002/ehs2.1211 

World Bank, 2012. Turn Down the Heat: Why a 4 °C 
Warmer World Must Be Avoided. The World Bank, 
Washington, DC. 

WWAP (World Water Assessment Programme) 2015. 
The United Nations World Water Development 
Report 2015: Water for a Sustainable World. Paris, 
UNESCO. 

WWF 2010. Flowing forward: Freshwater ecosystem 
adaptation to climate change in water resources 
management and biodiversity conservation. Water 
Working Notes, No. 28, World Wildlife Fund 
(WWF) and World Bank. 

52

http://wgbis.ces.iisc.ernet.in/biodiversity/sahyadri_enews/newsletter/Issue61/article/index.html
http://wgbis.ces.iisc.ernet.in/biodiversity/sahyadri_enews/newsletter/Issue61/article/index.html


East Afr. J. Biophys. Comput. Sci., Vol. 1, No. 1 
 

Wylynko D. 1999. Prairie Wetlands and Carbon 
Sequestration: Assessing Sinks Under the Kyoto 
Protocol, International Institute for Sustainable 
Development, Manitoba, Canada. 

Xenopoulos M.A., Lodge D.M., Alcamo J.A.; Marker M., 
Schulze K., Van Vuuren D.P. 2005. Scenarios of 
freshwater fish extinctions from climate change and 
water withdrawal. Glob. Change Biol. 11:1557-
1564. 

Zacharias I. and Zamparas M. 2010. Mediterranean 
temporary ponds. A disappearing ecosystem. 
Biodivers. Conserv. 19: 3827–3834. 

Zhang X., Zwiers F.W., Hegerl G.C., Lambert F.H., 
Gillett N.P., Solomon S., Stott P.A. and Nozawa T. 
2007. Detection of human influence on twentieth-
century precipitation trends. Nature 448 (7152): 
461–465. 

 
  
 

53


	Cover V1.pdf (p.1)
	Slide Number 1

	blank page.pdf (p.2)
	Table of contents Vol1.pdf (p.3-5)
	Guideline to Authors_ EAJBCs.pdf (p.6-14)
	Back cover.pdf (p.15)
	Editorial Board members
	Table of contents
	Slide Number 4
	Slide Number 5
	Slide Number 6
	Volume 1.pdf
	1_Biodiversity conservation
	Joseph Katswera, Norah M. Mutekanga and Charles K. Twesigye*
	Fig 1: Map showing Kibale and Queen Elizabeth Conservation Areas and location of study sites.
	The study documented the threats to biodiversity in the case study national parks and wildlife reserves. Both primary and secondary threats were identified (Table 2), and their threat reduction percentages and indices calculated (Table 3). The managem...
	Demographic characteristics of the respondents
	Threats to biodiversity conservation
	Threat Reduction Assessment Index and protected areas
	Threat Reduction
	Threat Reduction Assessment Index
	Effectiveness of PA management in managing threats
	Fig. 2: Relationship between staffing and threat reduction assessment index
	Threat Reduction Assessment Index and PAs
	Threat reduction and mammal population in Kibale Conservation Area
	Threat reduction and mammal population in Queen Elizabeth Conservation Area
	Threat reduction and ecological integrity rating
	The data indicators were analysed and various scores were assigned basing on the computed TRA Index in Table 4. Each indicator of ecological integrity was assigned a color score: dark green (TRA index 81-100%) for “acceptable” ecological integrity (ve...
	Table- 5: Ecological Integrity Score Card using Data Indicators


	2_Prevalence of trypanosomiasis
	5_Climate change_Biju
	7_Public health implications
	Public health implications of bovine Cysticercosis from cattle slaughtered at Dilla municipal abattoir, Southern Ethiopia
	Fikadu Tesfaye, Jemere Bekele, Mesele Abera and Nebyou Moje*
	Hawassa University Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, P.O. Box- 05, Hawassa, Ethiopia
	Bovine cysticercosis is a cystic stage of Taenia saginata, zoonotic parasite with its significant impact on human health. The cystic stage usually affects the muscle of cattle where humans are susceptible from the contaminated raw meat (Taylor et al.,...
	Generally cysticercosis in animals is expected to have insignificant clinical effect. Nevertheless, it is economically important as it causes carcass condemnation arising from heavy infestation with the cysticerci of T. saginata. Additionally, there i...

	9_Fish Aeromonas bacteria

	cover 1-1.pdf
	Slide Number 1
	Editorial Board members

	back cover 1.pdf
	Slide Number 1

	INTRODUCTION
	EXTENSION OF THE MODIFIED MODEL INTO AN OPTIMAL CONTROL
	Optimal protection and hospitalization using modified model
	Existence of an optimal control
	The Hamiltonian and optimality system

	Numerical simulations of optimal control problem
	Optimal control comparisons and strategies

	CONCLUSION
	INTRODUCTION
	INTRODUCTION
	INTRODUCTION
	EXTENSION OF THE MODIFIED MODEL INTO AN OPTIMAL CONTROL
	Optimal protection and hospitalization using modified model
	Existence of an optimal control
	The Hamiltonian and optimality system

	Numerical simulations of optimal control problem
	Optimal control comparisons and strategies

	CONCLUSION
	INTRODUCTION
	INTRODUCTION
	INTRODUCTION
	EXTENSION OF THE MODIFIED MODEL INTO AN OPTIMAL CONTROL
	Optimal protection and hospitalization using modified model
	Existence of an optimal control
	The Hamiltonian and optimality system

	Numerical simulations of optimal control problem
	Optimal control comparisons and strategies

	CONCLUSION
	INTRODUCTION
	INTRODUCTION

