Union Minister of State for Agriculture K V Thomas today said impact of climate change on agriculture in India would be "far reaching" as a major chunk of population is dependent on it. "Due to high percentage of population dependent on agriculture, excessive pressure on natural resources and lack of fast alternatives, the impact of climate change on agriculture will be far reaching in the country," he said, inaugurating an international workshop on ‘Climate change and Island Vulnerability’ here. Thomas said many areas in India have been recognised as risk prone to the impact of climate change. Among these are the Indo-Gangetic plains and coastal areas including islands and other frequently drought and flood prone regions. He said the International Panel on Climate Change, in their assessment report, had pointed out that recent global warming could melt glaciers and raise world sea levels by 0.18 to 0.59 meters by 2100. "If this occurs, cyclones and storms would hit India, which has a 7500 km coastline and there will be a considerable impact on livelihood of coastal communities." The minister said the Centre has taken several initiatives on strategic research, extension and public awareness, development and policy measures to comprehensively address climate change impact on agriculture. "The National Action Plan for Climate change under the chairmanship of the Prime Minister is the most important initiative to effectively address climate change," he said. The initial output of the network project on climate change has helped understand the impact of temperature and rainfall variability on a number of good crops and horticulture. The adverse effect has also been observed on forest trees, he said.