SINGAPORE: Killer hot waves are putting “unprecedented burdens” on India’s agriculture, public health and economy, with climate change undermining the country’s long-term efforts to decrease poverty, illness and inequality, a new study showed.
A team of scholars led by the University of Cambridge’s Ramit Debnath said an Extremely hot wave has caused more than 24,000 deaths since 1992 and has driven up air pollution and accelerated glacial melt in India.
They said that India is facing now a collision of multiple, cumulative climate hazards,” with high extreme weather happening every day from January to October the previous year.
Debnath told Reuters it was “significant to figure out how we measure vulnerabilities to regularly extreme events,” with the government of India’s own “climate vulnerability index” believed to underestimate the impact that longer, earlier and more regular heatwaves would’ve on the development.
He alerts that as much as 90 percent of India’s total area lies in heat danger zones, and it isn’t fully prepared.
Mitigating heatwaves
He said “India has done quite the bit in terms of heatwaves mitigation — they admit hot waves as part of their disaster relief package,” But there’s the need to optimise the pace of these programmes.”
“The process measures being put on paper are quite substantial … and I thought they’ve solid plan, but it’s how they have implemented.”
The researchers’ alert heat waves were weakening India’s efforts to meet its “Social Development Goals,” the list of 17 United Nations objectives to cut hunger, poverty, inequality and also disease.
