Climate Change: Deadly weather from India to Africa, 20 million people starved, 8 million homeless

Seema Javed, London: According to the annual report of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) named The State of the Global Climate 2022, the havoc of climate change is not stopping all over the world. Be it the lofty peaks of the mountains or the depths of the ocean, nothing is left untouched by it. Due to this there is a situation of hunger in Africa, while many people have become homeless. Destructive floods in Pakistan have also created a crisis on the existence of the country. From India to Europe and America, the widespread impact of global warming and climate change is now being seen. In such a situation, now many kinds of concerns are being expressed by the experts as well as warnings have also been given.

conditions of starvation
Drought has gripped East Africa for the past five years. Due to this, more than 20 million people there are facing food insecurity. In July and August last year, record-breaking rains caused floods in Pakistan and caused more than 1,700 deaths. Due to this eight million people became homeless. China experienced the most widespread and longest-lasting heatwave on record from mid-June to late August. Meanwhile, record-breaking heatwaves hit Europe during the summer. In Europe more than 15000 people died due to heat. These included people from Spain, Germany, Britain, France and Portugal. Due to this, heatwaves in India are currently increasing in their frequency, intensity, and lethality which is putting a burden on our public health, agricultural, and socio-economic systems.

Heat will affect India too
A study by Ramit Debnath and colleagues from the University of Cambridge, published in PLOS Climate, suggests that climate change-induced severe heat waves could hamper India’s progress towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). can interrupt. Significantly, India is committed to achieving seventeen United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which include poverty alleviation, good health and well-being, improved climate, and economic growth. The researchers found that the heatwave weakened SDG progress more than previously estimated.

melting glaciers
The global average temperature in the year 2022 will be 1.15 from the average of 1850-1900. [1.02 से 1.28] degree Celsius higher. The eight warmest years on record since 1850 have occurred from 2015 to 2022. Concentrations of the three main greenhouse gases – carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide – reached record highs in 2021, the latest year for which consolidated global values ​​are available (1984–2021). The annual increase in methane concentrations from 2020 to 2021 was the highest on record.

European Alps glaciers break melting records in March 2022. According to the IPCC report, glaciers globally lost more than 6000 Giga Tonnes (Gt) of ice in the period 1993-2019. Sea ice in Antarctica declined to 1.92 million km2 on February 25, 2022, the lowest extent on record and nearly 1 million km² below the long-term (1991-2020) average.

vanishing marine resources
The ocean absorbs about 90% of the energy (global warming) trapped in the Earth’s upper surface by greenhouse gases. This leads to 58% of the ocean surface experiencing at least one marine heatwave during 2022. Global mean sea level rise (GMSL) continued to rise in 2022, reaching a high for the satellite altimeter record (1993–2022). According to the satellite record, the global average sea level rise rate has doubled from 2.27 mm per year between 1993–2002 and 4.62 mm per year between 2013–2022.

CO2 reacts with sea water resulting in a decrease in pH which is called ‘ocean acidification’. According to the IPCC’s Sixth Assessment Report, the pH of the sea surface is now the lowest it has been in at least 26 thousand years. From which it is clear that its dangerous effect will be on marine animals. Anyway, shells, conch shells etc. have disappeared from the sand of most of the beaches.

The author is a senior columnist and writes on environmental issues.