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Patel

and population dynamics to contribute to this special issue on “Environment and Population Dynamics in South Asia.” This
special issue has broadly covered the issues related to population dynamics and its relationship with various environmental
issues (but may not limit to) such as climate change and resilience, natural disasters, disaster management, waste management,
WASH, urbanization and air pollution, climate change and migration, and climate change and public health.
The first research article authored by Patel et al. explored the effects of, and resilience to, cyclones, floods, droughts,
and heatwaves in Odisha, India, and identifies government strategies that help mitigate these natural disasters. The findings
described that the impacts of natural disasters are calamitous – affected the communities in a different way, particularly on
livelihoods, food security, health, water, and sanitation. There is an urgent need to focus on reducing people’s underlying
vulnerabilities by taking proactive measures, engaging the community in decision-making, and generating alternative
and sustainable livelihoods. The second research article authored by Patel and Pradhan aimed to estimate urban exposure
level and examine the inequalities in the availability of infrastructure and the provision of services in million-plus cities
in India by using the data from the 2011 Census for 40 million-plus cities. This study pointed out that population, health,
educational infrastructure, and built environments contributed the most to the inequalities in a million plus cities. Unless
addressed urgently, these inequalities in infrastructure and services will affect the sustainability of these million-plus cities
and may hinder the country’s achievement of Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 13 on climate change. The third
research article authored by Acharya and Das attempted to comprehend the impact of climate vulnerability on household
nutrition status through agriculture production systems in Odisha, India. The study suggested that climate vulnerability
has a much greater role in influencing household nutrition status, particularly with women and child nutrition through
the agriculture production system. Appropriate policy level measures for climate-sensitive and adaptive action are the
need of the hour to make agriculture production ecosystem contributes positively to nutrition status. The fourth research
article authored by Taneja and Taneja tried to draw important lessons and a deeper understanding of issues and challenges
in planning and implementing scientifically simulated Earthquake Damage Scenario (EDS) and Shakeout exercises in
a highly populous developing country like India. The study highlighted that scientific EDS exercises followed by mega
shakeout exercises not only helped the community up to some extent but also helped administration, government agencies
in generating awareness of earthquakes and their possible risk. The fifth research article authored by Arora conducted
life history interviews and focus group discussions with community members to examine social values and their linkages
with climate adaptation decision-making among Raika community in Rajasthan, India. The findings demonstrated that
the community’s livelihood, health, and social cohesion are severely affected by environmental change, entwined with
social, economic, and political stressors. There was a parallel change taking place in their social values. New adaptation
options, such as urban migration, have emerged. The sixth review article authored by Patel et al. attempted to understand
the impact of natural and man-made disasters on the people of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh region in India as well as
examines resilience mechanisms. The review suggested that the region is afflicted not only by multiple natural disasters
such as floods, earthquakes, avalanches, and landslides but also by the terrorism and violence, which had adversely
affected most aspects of life and development in the region. To mitigate the risks, effective disaster risk reduction and
management plans, early warning systems and infrastructure need to be strengthened along with community engagement
needs to enhance to design of sustainable development programs. The seventh and last review article authored by Patel,
Agrawal, and Mathew tried to understand the linkages between natural disasters and their impacts on the mental health of
people as well as associated resilience mechanisms in India. The review documented the different pathways for disasters to
adversely affect mental health, particularly among vulnerable populations. This research also outlined that better policies
need to be designed for prevention, services, and psychological counseling of mental health problems due to disasters.
This special issue has covered a wide range of research on natural disasters, man-made disasters, and climate change
in South Asia with a special focus on India. Along with climate change, the main natural disasters explored in this special
issue are floods, cyclones, hurricanes, droughts, heatwaves, earthquakes, avalanches, landslides, and lightning. These
pieces of research in the special issue have explored the impacts of these disasters on livelihoods, employment, food
security, nutrition, physical health, mental health, education, water, sanitation, roads, infrastructures, etc. Along with
the impacts, these studies have also tried to cover the resilience mechanism adopted by the communities, as well as the
government measures to these effects. This special issue indicates that climate change and natural disasters have impacted
the population of South Asia, socioeconomically, physically, and psychologically. There is an urgent need to focus on
reducing people’s underlying vulnerabilities by taking proactive measures, engaging the community in decision-making,
and generating alternative and sustainable livelihoods. It is also apparent that the state-driven policies and strategies
should be conceived and designed in accordance with the framework of SDGs to ensure a better and healthy life for all.
References
Asian Development Bank. (2015). The Economics of Climate Change in South Asia. Mandaluyong: Asian Development Bank.
United Nations. (2019). World Population Prospects 2019. New York: United Nations.
World Health Organization. (2018). Health and Climate Change, Facts in Pictures. Available from: https://www.who.int/news-room/
facts-in-pictures/detail/health-and-climate-change. [Last accessed on 2020 Apr 23].

2 International Journal of Population Studies | 2020, Volume 6, Issue 1