Climate change is the result of increase in the carbon emission from the human activities. The emission of Greenhouse gases such as Methane and Carbon-di-oxide has been increasing which has resulted in the global greenhouse effect due to which peoples, ecosystems are suffering. While the colonialism is to blame the most for it but now billionaires are also at blame. According to a report by the Oxfam, a billionaire causes more than a million times more greenhouses emission than an average person. Those in power continue to ignore the voices from the Most Affected Peoples and Area (MAPA). Peoples in MAPA are suffering from the worst impacts of the climate crisis. Peoples are dying, glaciers are melting, sea level is rising, more than 1 million plants and animal species are facing extinction all because of the increasing carbon emissions. India is one of the most affected countries in the world when it comes to the impacts from climate crisis. With over a billion peoples, the country continue to face impacts such as flood, increasing intensity of cyclones, forest fire, water scarcity heat waves, etc. According to Overseas Development Institute, India may lose 3-10% of its GDP annually by 2100 and poverty rate may rise by 3.5% by 2040 due to climate change. This article is the review of climate change impact in India over the period of first six months of 2023 from January to June.
Cyclone
Cyclones occur frequently in India impacting the peoples living in the western, eastern and southern coast of India. However, in recent decades, the number of Cyclones has decreased but their intensity has increased. This means, the damage caused by cyclone will be much more than any previous cyclone. In 2023, only two Cyclones have impacted the country so far and out of the two only one made a landfall in India. In May, Cyclone Mocha made its landfall in Myanmar. However, it also impacted the peoples living in the Indian state of Mizoram where according to the authorities around 5700 peoples were impacted. At least 154 houses were destroyed due to strong winds and rainfall. Now, when I’m writing this, some climate denier who is reading it might think that climate change is not real but hey wait, I have not told you the full story yet. In June 2023, Cyclone Biparjoy, the first cyclone which made its landfall in India hit the state of Gujarat, bringing heavy rains in the state of Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan. It was a very severe cyclonic storm that impacted more than 80,000 peoples. Gujarat was most affected by this cyclone. Due to heavy rains and strong winds, trees were uprooted, 4600 villages were affected by power outages, and a total of 23 peoples were reported injured. According to ETV Bharat, hospitals in one part of Rajasthan received a high number of cases of snake bite due to flooding after the cyclone. Due to this cyclone, 5 peoples died in Rajasthan while three peoples also died in the Kutch and Rajkot district of Gujarat. The strong winds also damaged the crop that was ready to be harvest in Kutch. We also saw how farmers had to dump their mangoes even though Mangoes were in demand in the market. The harvest was at its peak when the cyclone hit the Kutch. Horticulture crops like fresh dates and mangoes suffered a huge damage in the district because of the 120 km/h strong winds and rain. According to IMD, Biparjoy was one of the longest-lived cyclones ever observed in the North Indian Ocean. The average lifespan of a cyclone in this region is 6 days and 3 hrs while Biparjoy lived of 13 days and 3 hrs. Cyclones in the Arabian sea are relatively rare but as I mentioned above the intensity of these cyclones have increased due to rising sea surface temperature. The oceans are trapping more GHGs from the atmosphere which is why their temperature is rising.
Heat Wave
Rising temperature is causing heat waves to be more likely in India like the April 2023 Heat Wave. Increasing carbon emissions is causing the planet to warm faster and is impacting millions of peoples. According to a report by an international group of climate scientists as part of the World Weather Attribution Group says the event of South Asia Heat wave April 2023 are 30 times more likely to happen in future. The team of scientists measured the Heat Index, which is the measure of both high temperature and humidity levels on human body. They found the HI to be over 41°C which is considered “dangerous” for the human body. April was extremely hot and Pragyaraj recorded 44.6°C on April 17. States that include Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Haryana, Punjab, West Bengal, etc were all battering from the heat wave. On April 16, 13 people lost their lives in Navi Mumbai, Maharashtra, due to exposure to the heat at a public event of current Minister of Home Affairs Mr. Amit Shah. The Wire reported that there were more than 600 hospitalisations due to the heat exposure. Heat wave is also responsible for over 90 deaths in the state of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, where 45°C was recorded during the month of June until the arrival of the Monsoon. Almost all deaths in Uttar Pradesh occurred in one district, Ballia. Now some might think what is the link of heat wave with the climate change? But there is a direct link with that. The lower atmosphere of the Earth is getting warmer and warmer due to rising greenhouse gas levels in the temperature which makes the climate change to affect the frequency and strength of these events, making them “extreme”. That is why the climate change is responsible for this intense heat wave event in India and other parts of South Asia.
Forest Fire
There are two ways a forest fire starts- one by lightning and another when someone set them on fire, by leaving something burning behind. The research shows that the climate change causes warmer and drier conditions which turn a forest fire into a long season wildfire, even though the fire was started due to lightning or someone set the forest to fire. According to Forest Survey of India, more than 36% of country’s forest area is prone to frequent forest fires. According to a 2021 analysis by the Council on Energy, Environment and Water, the frequency of forest fire in India has increased by 52% in the last two decades, from the year 2000 to 2020. In 2023, India saw the warmest February and the following month saw a 115% increase in the forest fire in early March compared to 2021. In early March, Goa also saw a spate of forest fires. The Forest Department in its inquiry report concluded that it was all due to high temperature and low moisture and humidity. The fires were man-made because Goa does not have any history with the forest fire. The fires in Goa became severe due to dry conditions and little rain since October. The inquiry report also reported that there were 72 fire incidents, out of which 32 affected three wildlife sanctuaries. There have been already fires in the non fire-prone wet forests of Goa, and in Karnataka, Odisha and Uttarakhand. There is a direct connection between the rising temperature and the forest fire that cannot be denied. The rise in forest fire across India raises a question for the authorities that they need to answer that how much prepared they are to combat the rise in forest fires in India, with the increase in temperature?
Flood
Climate Change is increasing the frequency and intensity of extreme flood events. In June, heavy rain caused damage, flooding and landslides in several districts in the state of Meghalaya. As of June 17, eight peoples were reported dead in the state due to landslide and flooding-5 died from the landslide and 3 died from the flood. Cyclone Biparjoy also caused flooding in the parts of Rajasthan and Gujarat. On June 14, heavy rains caused landslide in Gangtok leaving 8 peoples buried under the rubble. Later, all of them were rescued but one of them died. As of June 16, the flood in Assam affected more than 1 million peoples, across 25 districts. Heavy rains also caused landslide in Boragaon area of Guawhati in which 4 peoples died. In an another incident, two peoples were reported dead after a landslide in Goalpara. As of June 29, 2023 a total of seven peoples have died in Assam due to severe flooding. You might think its normal every year for the floods to affect peoples in India. But hey, you are wrong here. Floods are normal but their intensity and frequency has increased due to climate change. Climate change has impacted the precipitation cycle. Now it rains more than snowing. Winters are warmer now.
Summary
For anyone who is reading this might feel kinda bored because all what I talked about in this article was numbers and figures. This is not a period drama where a king will have to choose the kingdom over the life of few peoples. This is democracy where every life matters. The peoples are dying. Their crops are being damaged, ecosystems are collapsing and the ice in the Himalayan glaciers is melting. Those in power need to be hold account for denying the worst impacts of the climate crisis. This summary of six months about the climate crisis impacts is not complete because there are a lot of stories that are yet to be covered, a lot of unheard stories of those impacted by the climate change. Increasing heat wave is creating the conditions for the drought, landslides and floods are claiming lives and the increasing intensity of the cyclone is signaling towards the need to take climate action now!!
About The Climate Diary Of India
The Climate Diary of India is a project about impacts of climate change in India over the period of a year. It is a two part summary, each part containing information about the climate crisis impact in six months.
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This article was first published on Youth Ki Awaaz. The Climate Diary Of India: Part-I
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