Andaman and Nicobar Islands might not be inhabitable in future due to rise in sea level: IPCC author

Islands like Andaman and Nicobar might not be inhabitable in a few years due to rise in sea level and increase in climatic events like cyclones, said a key author of a global report on climate change on Wednesday.

The IPCC Special Report on the Ocean and Cryosphere in a Changing Climate (SROCC), has cautioned that warming of oceans will increase the frequency and severity of climatic events like cyclones in India.

"Islands like Andaman and Nicobar, Maldives etc will have to be vacated. People will have to be migrated from there as due to rising sea levels, these places will become non- inhabitable," said Anjal Prakash, the coordinating lead author of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report.

He further said the focus has to be on adaptation and building climate resilience.

"Even with an under two degree rise in global temperature, there will be sea level rise, glaciers will melt and many communities will be affected. Some of these events are irreversable. So focus has to be on adaptation for the coming future," said Prakash, who is also an associate professor of Regional Water Studies at TERI School of Advanced Studies.