There are thunderstorms leading to flash floods lashing the south and western coasts of the country right now, while the next spell of heatwave is swirling around its northern swathes. From heat to rain to snow to drought, India bears the brunt of extreme weather caused by climate changes.
And things seem set to get worse.
That is the backdrop to the latest in the India Heat Summit that gets underway in New Delhi tomorrow. Organised by Climate Trends, a consulting organisation working on climate change and sustainable development, the annual event attempts to direct attention on what it calls ‘what may well be the single greatest climate risk facing the Indian economy.’
India’s natural bounty of having multiple climatic zones, ranging from tropical to arid to temperate and alpine, is now turning out to be a bane as it leads to severe disruptions in life and livelihood—particularly due to rising temperatures. This had led the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the UN’s climate science body, to bill India as one of the regions most vulnerable to escalating heat waves, humid heat stress, and other extreme weather events in a 1.5°C warmer world—threats that could bring irreversible consequences.
“Rising heat-related risks call for urgent mid- and long-term strategies to limit their economic and social fallout,” said Aarti Khosla, director of Climate Trends.
With more than 90 per cent of its workforce employed in the informal sector in the world’s most densely populated country, India faces heightened exposure to both the physical dangers and economic risks of rising heat stress, it had stated.
Extreme weather situations have been compounding in the country in recent years – from flooding to landslides to even drought, with erratic rainfall upending agricultural cycles.
A note issued by Climate Trends pointed to intensifying flood risks in the north due to increased melting of snow, while forest fires and acute water scarcity are straining hill ecosystems in states like Uttarakhand. Along India’s vast 7,500-km coastline, both the Bay of Bengal and the Arabian Sea are witnessing increased cyclogenesis, leading to stronger, more frequent storms, salt water incursion, humid heatwaves, impacted fisheries and heightened risks from rising sea levels.
According to the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), the states most affected by heatwave stress include Odisha, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Haryana, Delhi, Punjab, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, and Chhattisgarh.
The problem is that being a conventionally hot country, India has yet to treat the issue with the seriousness it deserves, considering its invisible impact on economic activity. “In addition to stronger Heat Action Plans, building resilience through cooling infrastructure, urban redesign, early warnings, and adaptive social protection, we will need substantial financial commitments...from national, state, and local governments, industry, and academia,” Khosla said.