Letters to The Editor — April 1, 2024
8 months, 3 weeks ago

Letters to The Editor — April 1, 2024

The Hindu  

CAA applications The government, one feels, should go about the task of certifying Indian citizens slowly and cautiously. One should not be oblivious to the fact that India’s gross domestic product has been rising in recent years not only because of Indian citizens but also due to normal residents, whose centre of economic interest lies in the country. S. Ramakrishnasayee, Chennai Heed the warnings As most parts of the country brace for a scorching summer, the India Meteorological Department has warned of above-normal temperatures and looming heatwaves. It is crucial for States to heed these warnings, prepare for heatwaves, and address long-term climate change impacts.

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History of this topic

Explained | Climate targets are becoming outdated, so India needs its own
1 year, 5 months ago

Explained | Climate targets are becoming outdated, so India needs its own

The Hindu  

The 1.5 degrees Celsius warming target has received considerable press along with the El Niño this year. A questionable target The target agreed to in the Paris Agreement, to keep the planet’s surface from warming by 2 degrees Celsius by the end of this century, has been touted as a monumental achievement, and it may well be if we actually …

Warming warning: The Hindu Editorial on the World Meteorological Organization projections for temperature trends
1 year, 7 months ago

Warming warning: The Hindu Editorial on the World Meteorological Organization projections for temperature trends

The Hindu  

The World Meteorological Organization has issued its annual update on its projections for temperature trends in the next decade. The annual mean global near-surface temperature for each year between 2023 and 2027 is likely to be 1.1°-1.8°C higher than the average from 1850-1900. There is a 66% chance that the global near-surface temperature will exceed 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels, in …

Heatwaves are preventing India from achieving development goals: Study
1 year, 8 months ago

Heatwaves are preventing India from achieving development goals: Study

Live Mint  

Heatwaves in India are not only affecting the health of the people but also impacting the economic and developmental goals of the country. A new study has revealed the impact of scorching heat on India's agriculture, economy, and public health. The study informs that India is currently “facing a collision of multiple, cumulative climate hazards” resulting in extreme weather events …

90% of India vulnerable to heatwave impact, says study
1 year, 8 months ago

90% of India vulnerable to heatwave impact, says study

The Hindu  

Nearly 90% of India is in a “danger zone” from heatwave impact and almost all of Delhi is at the risk of severe heatwave impacts, which is not reflected in its recent state action plan for climate change, says a study published on April 19 in the peer-reviewed PLOS Climate. The study, by Ramit Debnath at the University of Cambridge, …

Tragic unpreparedness: on the Maharashtra heatwave incident
1 year, 8 months ago

Tragic unpreparedness: on the Maharashtra heatwave incident

The Hindu  

The state of the ongoing global climate crisis is such that India is going to have hotter hot days and more of them every year. On April 16, nearly a million people gathered on an uncovered ground in Navi Mumbai for an event in which social activist Dattatreya Narayan received a State award, with Union Ministers Amit Shah and Kapil …

Is India prepared for the threat of extreme heat waves and a ‘wet bulb’ summer? | In Focus podcast
1 year, 8 months ago

Is India prepared for the threat of extreme heat waves and a ‘wet bulb’ summer? | In Focus podcast

The Hindu  

There have been some dire predictions about how hazardous the heat is going to be this summer. India this year experienced its warmest February since 1877, and in November last year, the World Bank warned that India could become one of the first places in the world where wet-bulb temperatures could increase beyond the survivability threshold of 35°C. Furthermore, last …

Summer resolution: On the IMD’s heat wave forecasts
1 year, 8 months ago

Summer resolution: On the IMD’s heat wave forecasts

The Hindu  

It is not exactly surprising when the India Meteorological Department says that the summer months will be searingly hot. Last week, it proclaimed that most parts of the country are expected to experience above normal maximum temperatures during the “hot weather season”, barring parts of peninsular and northwest India, which would see normal or even below normal ‘maximum’ temperatures. ‘Above …

India must urgently build heat resilience
1 year, 9 months ago

India must urgently build heat resilience

Hindustan Times  

Delhi’s spring was once short but glorious. Two coastal districts of Karnataka also recorded the season’s first heatwave in an area where cool sea breezes moderate temperatures even in peak summer — indicating that rising temperatures were not just a localised phenomenon. The State must also prepare citizens for heatwaves and work on a tabulating mechanism for heat-related deaths, while …

Climate Finance Scarce: India Supports UN’s $3.1 Billion ‘Early Warnings for All’ Action Plan at COP27
2 years, 1 month ago

Climate Finance Scarce: India Supports UN’s $3.1 Billion ‘Early Warnings for All’ Action Plan at COP27

News 18  

A $3.1 billion action plan for ‘Early Warnings for All’ was launched at the United Nations’ Climate Summit — COP27 — on Monday, with a statement of support from as many as 50 nations including India. Addressing the UN Secretary-General-High-Level Round Table, environment minister Bhupender Yadav, who is leading the Indian delegation, drew attention to India’s high vulnerability to climate …

Climate finance scarce; early warning systems key to saving lives, livelihoods: Bhupender Yadav at COP27
2 years, 1 month ago

Climate finance scarce; early warning systems key to saving lives, livelihoods: Bhupender Yadav at COP27

The Hindu  

With climate finance still scarce, climate adaptation in the form of early warning dissemination is key to safeguarding lives and livelihoods from cascading natural hazards causing substantial losses around the world, Union Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav said at the U.N. Speaking at the U.N. Secretary General High Level Round Table to launch the "Early Warnings for All Executive Action Plan", …

Early warning for heatwaves sees huge improvement
2 years, 2 months ago

Early warning for heatwaves sees huge improvement

The Hindu  

A heatwave is a period of unusually hot weather with above normal temperatures that typically last three or more days. Under the National Monsoon Mission, the Ministry of Earth Sciences had established an advanced prediction system for early warnings of heatwaves. Improved prediction In another recent study published in the International Journal of Climatology of the Royal Meteorological Society last …

Patralekha Chatterjee | Climate crisis to be India’s biggest threat this century
2 years, 7 months ago

Patralekha Chatterjee | Climate crisis to be India’s biggest threat this century

Deccan Chronicle  

In the age of climate change, seemingly disparate phenomena are actually deeply connected. Not every extreme weather event can be definitively linked to climate change, but scientists say climate change is leading to more frequent and more erratic and extreme weather — rising number of heatwaves, cyclones, droughts, unseasonal and heavy rainfall, lightning strikes, landslides, rise in sea level and …

How India’s heatwave is only set to get worse
2 years, 7 months ago

How India’s heatwave is only set to get worse

The Independent  

Naresh Ahirwar doesn’t stop working when the midday sun beats down on his construction site on the outskirts of Delhi, amid the sustained heatwave conditions that have afflicted northern India for well over a month. “Our heat action plans must ensure adaptation measures like public cooling areas, ensuring uninterrupted electricity, access to safe drinking water, and changing the work hours …

Indian PM Modi urges states to prepare heat action plans as country swelters
2 years, 7 months ago

Indian PM Modi urges states to prepare heat action plans as country swelters

The Independent  

Narendra Modi has urged states to work on an action plan to combat the worsening heatwave situation in India, with temperatures in the past two months having broken all records. According to Indian media reports, he advised states and union territories to prepare heat action plans at state, city and district levels. This year, however, India has been reeling under …

Climate change experts say India's heatwave offers the world a terrifying glimpse into the future
2 years, 7 months ago

Climate change experts say India's heatwave offers the world a terrifying glimpse into the future

ABC  

Every year, more than a billion people sweat their way through India and Pakistan's dreaded heatwaves, which usually begin in late May. "There is overwhelming evidence in the scientific community that climate change is playing a role in causing temperature extremes to be more frequent, more intense and more elongated," Professor Mondal said. Power grid overloaded amid sweltering heat The …

Scorching weather forces India to face climate change head on
2 years, 7 months ago

Scorching weather forces India to face climate change head on

Al Jazeera  

Tens of millions of Indians are struggling to cope with a relentless heatwave, with temperatures reaching record highs. The duration, intensity, and frequency will also rise in the future,” Akhilesh Gupta, head of the Climate Change Program at India’s Department of Science & Technology, told Al Jazeera. “Especially the state and city authorities must strengthen the public health system, coordinated …

Why we need to talk about climate change everyday
2 years, 7 months ago

Why we need to talk about climate change everyday

Live Mint  

There isn’t much climate change denial in India, for which we must give thanks. This is a heatwave that’s certainly been exacerbated by rising global temperatures—the world is, after all, 1.2 degree Celsius hotter and India is nearly 1 degree Celsius hotter than in pre-industrial times. And particularly in the coastal areas and in the Indo-Gangetic plains, the humidity also …

Offsetting the heat challenge
2 years, 7 months ago

Offsetting the heat challenge

Hindustan Times  

In yet another reminder of the expanding and deepening footprint of the climate crisis, India is facing a nationwide surge in heatwaves. In 2021, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change warned that India would be facing increasing heatwaves and droughts due to the climate crisis. Another report released in October, said that heatwaves in India are likely to “last 25 …

Tackling extreme heat risks in India
2 years, 8 months ago

Tackling extreme heat risks in India

Hindustan Times  

Delhi recorded its fifth consecutive day of heat wave on Monday. Extreme heat exposures, already a public health emergency in India that killed an estimated 46,600 people aged 65 or older in 2019, continue to worsen. A robust public health policy response to extreme heat events must include early warning systems, effective outreach strategies to improve community awareness, and tailored …

UN's New Climate Change Report: Why It's Important & What It Means for India
3 years, 4 months ago

UN's New Climate Change Report: Why It's Important & What It Means for India

The Quint  

"For India, the predictions in this report mean people labouring in longer and more frequent heat waves, warmer nights for our winter crops, erratic monsoon rains for our summer crops, destructive floods and storms that disrupt power supply for drinking water or medical oxygen production," said Ulka Kelkar, director, climate program, World Resources Institute India. Other climate experts spoke about …

India Plagued With Extreme Climate Events, But Are We Taking the Right Actions?
3 years, 4 months ago

India Plagued With Extreme Climate Events, But Are We Taking the Right Actions?

The Quint  

But as some parts of India are dealing with extreme rainfall, others have been facing heatwaves that has become a regular phenomenon in the country with temperatures soaring to new highs year after year. While a severe heatwave gripped Delhi and the rest of northern India in the beginning of July, even cooler areas, like Ladakh in the Himalayan region, …

Climate Change Tracker: 10 things we learned about climate change in 2020
3 years, 11 months ago

Climate Change Tracker: 10 things we learned about climate change in 2020

Live Mint  

Reporting on climate change can be detrimental to your mental health. We’re inching ever closer to the 1.5 degree Celsius threshold, beyond which climate change impacts will begin to approach extremely dangerous levels. If that wasn’t bad enough, a new, independent report in mid-December stated that the world’s annual mean global temperature may hit the 1.5 degree Celsius mark faster …

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