A new study has shown that killer heat waves are putting “unprecedented burdens” on India’s agriculture, economy and public health, as climate change continues to undermine the country’s long-term efforts to reduce poverty, inequality and illness.
According to a team of scholars led by the University of Cambridge’s Ramit Debnath, more than 24,000 deaths have been caused by extreme heatwave since 1992, while the same phenomenon has also driven up air pollution and accelerated glacial melt in northern India.
India is now “facing a collision of multiple, cumulative climate hazards”, with extreme weather happening almost every day from January to October last year, they said.
Speaking with reporters, Debnath said it was “very important to figure out how we measure vulnerabilities to frequent extreme events”, with the Indian government’s own “climate vulnerability index” believed to underestimate the impact that longer, earlier and more frequent heatwaves will have on development, warning that as much as 90% of India’s total area now lies in extreme heat danger zones, and it is not fully prepared.
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“India has already done quite a bit in terms of heat mitigation – they actually now recognise heatwaves as part of their disaster relief package. But there’s a need to optimise the pace of these plans,” he was quoted as saying.
“The adaptation measures that are being put on paper are quite substantial … and I think they have a very strong solid plan, but it’s how they are implemented.”
Heatwaves were weakening India’s efforts to meet its “Social Development Goals”, a list of 17 U.N. objectives to cut poverty, hunger, inequality and disease, the researchers also warned, adding that extreme heat could ultimately lead to a 15% decline in “outdoor working capacity”, reduce the quality of life of up to 480 million people and cost 2.8% of GDP by 2050.
Falling productivity caused by extreme high temperatures could already be costing India 5.4% of its GDP, according to the Climate Transparency Report published by environmental groups last year.
Story was adapted from Reuters.
