Climate change and its vulnerability mapping – A case study from West Bengal in the context of raising ambient temperature

Title : Climate change and its vulnerability mapping – A case study from West Bengal in the context of raising ambient temperature

Abstract:

Human resources' physical work capacity is impacted by unfavorable thermal working conditions. The goal of the current study is to evaluate the physiological strain that various paddy cultivation tasks place on human resources in relation to the temperature conditions that exist in the open-air workplace at three distinct times of the day throughout the year. The current study was conducted in the West Bengali villages of Krishnaganj, Hooghly district, and Subdivision Arambagh. The participants' physiological and physical parameters were assessed. The following were calculated: heart rate peak, net cardiac cost, estimated energy expenditure, and cardio vascular strain index; indicators of physiological strain; and wet bulb globe temperature index, corrected effective temperature, discomfort index, and predicted four-hour sweat rate. The current study's findings showed that workers performing various tasks during the paddy-cultivation season suffered from "heavy" to "extremely heavy" physiological strain. In terms of environmental heat indices, the environmental condition above the recommended threshold values making the task strenuous for the human resources. From the present study it may be concluded that, use of mechanical devices may reduce the physiological strain for the human resources.

Keywords: Heat Indices, Thermal Comfort, Task, Fitness, Climate Vulnerability, Adaptation

Biography:

Dr. Ayan Chatterjee is currently working as Associate Professor and Associate Dean of School of Health Science and Technology, Medhavi Skills University, Sikkim, India. Dr. Ayan completed his PhD degree from University of Calcutta. He authored 106 full length research papers; among them 46 as first author in Peer Reviewed Journals, Conference Proceedings and as Book Chapters and also presented papers in International and National Conferences held at IIT Bombay, IIT Guwahati, ISI Kolkata, ISI Giridih, Jadavpur University, University of Calcutta, Vidyasagar University, Indian Institute of Social Welfare and Business Management Kolkata, NIT Jalandhar, Aligarh Muslim University, University of North Bengal, College of Engineering Trivandrum, Diamond Harbour Womens’ University, University of Gour Banga. Dr. Ayan also authored of two Books. And received Springer Sponsored Young Researcher Award for presentation of Papers at the 16th International Conference on Humanizing Work and Work Environment (HWWE 2018), Trivandrum, India. Dr. Ayan also received Young Scientist Best Oral Presentation award for the presentation of paper at the second international conference on Environmental, Agricultural, Chemical and Biological Sciences (ICEACBS 2021). Dr. Ayan also served as Editor of Five Books of different publication house (Elsevier, Springer Nature, IGI Global USA).