Climate change can disrupt economy: PM

New Delhi, Aug 15 (IANS) Climate change can cause grave harm to India, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said Friday, and called for long-term solutions to address the threat.

'Climate change can disrupt our economy in several ways,' he said while addressing the nation from the Red Fort here on the country's Independence Day.

'Our ancient Himalayas are under environmental threat. If the Himalayan glaciers recede, the flow of water in our sacred rivers will go down. Some of our coastal areas could be submerged. Our monsoon pattern may change.

'We need long term solutions to such threats. A national consensus is also required for the government to evolve effective policies to deal with these problems,' Manmohan Singh said.

Pointing to the government's National Action Plan on Climate Change, the prime minister said this showed 'how each of us must adapt our ways of working and living and how we must treat our natural resources, so that our carbon emissions remain within reasonable limits and our environment is protected'.