The year 2024 in India became the year of the most intense and highest number of hot days in the last 15 years. According to the Meteorological Department, the maximum temperature was 5.1 degrees Celsius above normal in most places in Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Chandigarh, Delhi, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand, and Bihar. According to official figures, there were more than 25,000 heatstroke incidents and about 60 deaths. These figures do not include the deaths of election workers due to the severe heat during the voting. According to the data, 33 election workers died in the final phase of voting alone. These are official figures; the real number could be many times higher.
According to a study by 'The Lancet Planetary Health', more than one lakh ten thousand deaths occur annually due to heat in South Asia between 2000 and 2019. Scientists look at the effect of heat in terms of temperature and humidity. If the heat is intense and the amount of moisture in the air increases, it becomes deadly for humans. In the last 100 years, the Earth's temperature in India has increased by about 0.7 degrees Celsius. Due to heat here, there will be a risk of a 2.5 – 4.5 percent loss to the 'Gross Domestic Product' (GDP) by 2030 due to reduced working hours of laborers. This could be between ₹12 lakh crore and ₹20 lakh crore.
Not only India, but the entire world has been shaken by the increasing temperature. In recent years, record-breaking temperatures have been recorded in many countries of the world. For example, in July 2022, the temperature crossed 40 degrees for the first time in England, while a small town in northwest China recorded a temperature of 52 degrees last year. This is the highest temperature ever recorded in China. In 2021, Sicily in Italy had a temperature of 48.8 degrees, which was the highest ever in Europe. This year, at least 645 Hajj pilgrims have died due to the heatwave, including 68 Indians. According to the 'Saudi Arabia National Meteorology', the temperature in the 'Grand Mosque' of Mecca reached 51.8 degrees on June 17, 2024.
On the other hand, a new study has revealed that summer sea ice in the Arctic Ocean could completely disappear by 2030 due to global warming, meaning that in the next seven years, there will be no ice visible in this ocean during summer. Arctic ice is the Earth's immunity; if it is gone, the global ecosystem will deteriorate. The rate of melting of Himalayan glaciers due to global warming is increasing by up to 15 percent, which is increasing the risk to glacial lakes. Due to increasing heat, lakes are melting year after year.
Out of the 28,043 glacial lakes in Kashmir, Ladakh, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Sikkim, and Arunachal Pradesh, 188 lakes can become a major cause of devastation at any time.1 This poses a major crisis to a population of about three crore. In 2023, the bursting of the Lhonak glacier lake in Sikkim caused the death of 180 people and a loss of about ₹5000 crore. In 2021, the bursting of a large glacial lake in the Niti Valley of Uttarakhand caused the death of 205 people and a loss of about ₹1500 crore.
According to Aarti Khosla, Managing Director of 'Climate Trends', the increasing temperature due to climate change will create drought conditions, which will affect important sources of fresh water. According to official figures for this year, the monitoring of 150 major reservoirs in the country has revealed that only 39.765 billion cubic meters (BCM) of water is left in them, which is only 22 percent of the total storage capacity.
People in various parts of the national capital Delhi are facing a severe water shortage amidst the intense heat. Long queues have been seen to fill water from tankers. In 27 percent of the country's 6,533 blocks, the groundwater level has reached a very low, dangerous level. Out of these, 11 percent are in the dark zone category. The worst condition of groundwater in the country is in Rajasthan, which has 203 dark zones.
It is estimated that the average temperature of the world will increase by 4 degrees by 2048. Increasing heat will increase the demand for energy, which will spread air pollution. This could cause 7 million deaths worldwide. Due to the decline in agricultural production due to heat, hunger will increase, and famine-like conditions may occur. According to the World Bank, global warming alone could push an additional 130 million people worldwide below the poverty line by 2030.
The 'UN's 'World Migration Report 2024' claims that more than 210 million people will be forced to migrate by 2050 due to climate change. There are many such estimates that are issuing warnings about the negative impact of rising temperatures on the economy. The situation is even more serious for India because the number of days with temperatures above 47 degrees Celsius is continuously increasing here. In the last 12 years, the states with such temperatures are Rajasthan (145 days), Andhra Pradesh (111), Odisha (108), Haryana (101), Jharkhand (99), and Madhya Pradesh (78 days).
Global warming and climate change include direct effects like extreme heat, extreme cold, and uncontrolled rain. The southwest monsoon is very important for the Indian subcontinent. It accounts for 75 percent of India's annual rainfall. Due to global warming and climate change, uncertainty in it has increased. This is going to have a profound impact on agricultural production.
According to a research, in 2023, the emission of carbon dioxide worldwide was more than 40 billion tonnes, which includes about 37 billion tonnes of emissions from fossil fuels. According to the 'National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, USA', before the industrial revolution, for about 6,000 years of human civilization, the level of carbon dioxide was consistently around 280 'parts per million' (PPM). Since then, humans have generated 1.5 trillion tonnes of carbon dioxide pollution, most of which will continue to warm the atmosphere for thousands of years.2
The 'Paris Climate Agreement' is an international treaty adopted in 2015. It advances efforts to keep the global temperature well below 2 degrees Celsius and to limit the temperature increase to 1.5 degrees. The agreement states that developed countries will provide financial assistance to developing countries in relation to both 'mitigation and adaptation' in continuing their existing obligations. Countries have agreed to obtain about 40 percent of their electricity production from renewable energy sources instead of fossil fuels by 2030 to reduce carbon emissions, but promising progress does not seem to be happening in this regard.
The question arises whether increasing science, technology, and the economy at the cost of air, water, and soil is modernity or foolishness? Professor Chetan Singh Solanki of 'IIT, Bombay' says that planting trees is certainly very important, and we should all plant trees regularly, but a more sensible approach is to implement the priority of curbing the consumption of resources and cutting carbon emissions.
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*Bagri Dam Displaced Association
Not only India, but the entire world has been shaken by the increasing temperature. In recent years, record-breaking temperatures have been recorded in many countries of the world. For example, in July 2022, the temperature crossed 40 degrees for the first time in England, while a small town in northwest China recorded a temperature of 52 degrees last year. This is the highest temperature ever recorded in China. In 2021, Sicily in Italy had a temperature of 48.8 degrees, which was the highest ever in Europe. This year, at least 645 Hajj pilgrims have died due to the heatwave, including 68 Indians. According to the 'Saudi Arabia National Meteorology', the temperature in the 'Grand Mosque' of Mecca reached 51.8 degrees on June 17, 2024.
On the other hand, a new study has revealed that summer sea ice in the Arctic Ocean could completely disappear by 2030 due to global warming, meaning that in the next seven years, there will be no ice visible in this ocean during summer. Arctic ice is the Earth's immunity; if it is gone, the global ecosystem will deteriorate. The rate of melting of Himalayan glaciers due to global warming is increasing by up to 15 percent, which is increasing the risk to glacial lakes. Due to increasing heat, lakes are melting year after year.
Out of the 28,043 glacial lakes in Kashmir, Ladakh, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Sikkim, and Arunachal Pradesh, 188 lakes can become a major cause of devastation at any time.1 This poses a major crisis to a population of about three crore. In 2023, the bursting of the Lhonak glacier lake in Sikkim caused the death of 180 people and a loss of about ₹5000 crore. In 2021, the bursting of a large glacial lake in the Niti Valley of Uttarakhand caused the death of 205 people and a loss of about ₹1500 crore.
According to Aarti Khosla, Managing Director of 'Climate Trends', the increasing temperature due to climate change will create drought conditions, which will affect important sources of fresh water. According to official figures for this year, the monitoring of 150 major reservoirs in the country has revealed that only 39.765 billion cubic meters (BCM) of water is left in them, which is only 22 percent of the total storage capacity.
People in various parts of the national capital Delhi are facing a severe water shortage amidst the intense heat. Long queues have been seen to fill water from tankers. In 27 percent of the country's 6,533 blocks, the groundwater level has reached a very low, dangerous level. Out of these, 11 percent are in the dark zone category. The worst condition of groundwater in the country is in Rajasthan, which has 203 dark zones.
It is estimated that the average temperature of the world will increase by 4 degrees by 2048. Increasing heat will increase the demand for energy, which will spread air pollution. This could cause 7 million deaths worldwide. Due to the decline in agricultural production due to heat, hunger will increase, and famine-like conditions may occur. According to the World Bank, global warming alone could push an additional 130 million people worldwide below the poverty line by 2030.
The 'UN's 'World Migration Report 2024' claims that more than 210 million people will be forced to migrate by 2050 due to climate change. There are many such estimates that are issuing warnings about the negative impact of rising temperatures on the economy. The situation is even more serious for India because the number of days with temperatures above 47 degrees Celsius is continuously increasing here. In the last 12 years, the states with such temperatures are Rajasthan (145 days), Andhra Pradesh (111), Odisha (108), Haryana (101), Jharkhand (99), and Madhya Pradesh (78 days).
Global warming and climate change include direct effects like extreme heat, extreme cold, and uncontrolled rain. The southwest monsoon is very important for the Indian subcontinent. It accounts for 75 percent of India's annual rainfall. Due to global warming and climate change, uncertainty in it has increased. This is going to have a profound impact on agricultural production.
According to a research, in 2023, the emission of carbon dioxide worldwide was more than 40 billion tonnes, which includes about 37 billion tonnes of emissions from fossil fuels. According to the 'National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, USA', before the industrial revolution, for about 6,000 years of human civilization, the level of carbon dioxide was consistently around 280 'parts per million' (PPM). Since then, humans have generated 1.5 trillion tonnes of carbon dioxide pollution, most of which will continue to warm the atmosphere for thousands of years.2
The 'Paris Climate Agreement' is an international treaty adopted in 2015. It advances efforts to keep the global temperature well below 2 degrees Celsius and to limit the temperature increase to 1.5 degrees. The agreement states that developed countries will provide financial assistance to developing countries in relation to both 'mitigation and adaptation' in continuing their existing obligations. Countries have agreed to obtain about 40 percent of their electricity production from renewable energy sources instead of fossil fuels by 2030 to reduce carbon emissions, but promising progress does not seem to be happening in this regard.
The question arises whether increasing science, technology, and the economy at the cost of air, water, and soil is modernity or foolishness? Professor Chetan Singh Solanki of 'IIT, Bombay' says that planting trees is certainly very important, and we should all plant trees regularly, but a more sensible approach is to implement the priority of curbing the consumption of resources and cutting carbon emissions.
---
*Bagri Dam Displaced Association
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