CLIMATE CHANGE AND ITS ATROCITIES
Climatic change refers to the long-term shift in temperature and weather patterns ,mainly caused by the human activities, especially the over exploitation of natural resources and fossil fuels.
In recent past the entire world has experienced one or other kind of natural disaster most common of them are forest fire, flash flood, earthquake,Cold Waves,heat waves,and severe droughts . These natural calamities not have only caused the destruction of Life but it also has created a severe damage to the biodiversity.
According to the recent reports published by United Nations :The world will face around 560 disaster every year by 2030.The world has experienced 350-500 medium to large disasters every year over the last 20 years.This is the five times higher than the previous three decades,the Global Assessment Report (GAR)2022 released by United Nations.
In our country we have witnessed one of the devastating floods in Assam and perhaps the worst in several years. According to the reports 54 lakh people were affected across 32 districts.It is given that entire Northeast India is a flood-prone zone due to their geographical and topographical region making it one of the highest rainfall zones in the world. Additionally it is crisscrossed by number of major rivers originating from lower Himalayan ranges causing flash floods
Mami Mizutori ,special representatives of the secretary General for Disaster Risk Reduction said in a statement that poor governance and risk management systems are fundamentally underestimating true global risk and putting all our socio-economic gains in danger.
The rapid rise in the disaster frequency can be attributed to Climate change and inadequate risk management. Disaster events in 1970 -2020 and projected increase in 2021-2030.
Another best example of Climatic change in recent time is flash floods caused by monster monsoon in our neighbouring country Pakistan. In Pakistan more than 1100 people have been killed, a million homes have been destroyed and 33 million people have been directly affected. Total damage exceeds US$10billion and further disruption to the country's economy and critical food production inevitable.According to Intergovernmental panel on climate change(IPCC),extreme rainfall is becoming ore frequent and intense in many parts of the world due to human emissions greenhouse gases. In case of pakistan it is on the far western edge of the south Asian monsoon region,with mostly arid regions. It generally receives far less rainfall than parts of indian, However this was Completely unprecedented that it received rainfall of 500 percent to 700percent in the month of August.
According to IPCC there has been a significant increase in heavy rainfall events in south Asia in the recent decades.Researchers have reached to certain point where they have explained the roles of climate change behind this disaster.
First, A warmer water atmosphere can holds more moisture, for every degree the atmosphere warms it can hold about 6% to 7% more moisture, which often result in more rainfall .SouthAsia has warmed around .7%
Second,the monsoon itself, the winds brings great volumes of moisture that precipitate into deluges when they meet higher ground, especially in Himalaya.
Pakistan also experienced extended heat waves this year,which were amplified by climate change.
Third,it has more than 6500 glaciers inits Northern region.As these glaciers melt ,their water contribute to the floooding.Projections are very clear that with the further rise in Climatic changes the entire region of SouthAsia will be face more severe disaster.
Frequent disasters will increase the poverty burden of the world. As per reports,An additional 37.6 million people are estimated to be living in conditions of extreme poverty by 2030.
The poorest are the most vulnerable and will bear the brunt of the disaster. A majority of countries that face a high disaster risk are the developing countries, these are India ,Pakistan, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Vietnam, the Philippines.
Economic loss will be much higher in coming years as the intensity of disaster will increase tremendously.
Global warming reaching 1.5 degree Celsius in the coming years will cause unavoidable increases in multiple climate hazards. Low and middle income countries,on average will lose one percent of their national GDP to disaster every year.In case of Asia and Africa it will be on average 1.6 percent of GDP.
Way forward, Various measures can be taken to lessen the impact of these disaster, though we cannot completely avoid them ,but we can decrease their impact.These can be financial ,governmental,development, risk management, and insurance sector. Insurance is considered key tool to building back from disaster. It is a kind of wake-up call to adapt to Climatic emergency by estimating the disaster losses better, and insuring them.
26th conference of parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on climate change called for doubling finance to support developing countries in adopting to the World Economic Forum.
According to World Economic Forum, Climate action failure has been identified as the number one global risk with potentially the most severe impact over the next decade.
Amina j Mohammed, deputy secretary -General of the United Nation , said that The world needs to do more to incorporate disaster risks in how we live, build and invest, which is setting humanity on spiral of self destruction.
https://www.downtoearth.org.in/blog/climate-change/turn-of-the-tide-in-120-years-past-present-and-future-of-climate-78
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