By K R Sudhaman
It is unfortunate that the climate change and global warming are not getting the attention it deserves. Global conferences set long term goals, which are too little too late. UN convention on climate change comes out with targets year after year and latest global conference, CoP28 held in December last has again come out with some targets to achieve near net zero emission of methane and drastic reduction in use of fossil fuel by 2050. All these are fine but the question is whether the world will be liveable by then in view of massive destruction floods and droughts cause to humanity. Is global administration really serious or is it that these conferences end up as mere talking shop.
Take the case of recent floods in Tamil Nadu. First the cyclone caused havoc in Chennai and its four neighbouring districts with a rainfall of around 40 cm in just one or two days when these areas receive just 20-25 cm of rains in the northeast monsoon spanning over two months in November-December. In 2015 cyclone, the worst in 100 years, Chennai received around 50 cm of rain. These are unprecedented events, which are worst than cloudbursts, that happen in Himalayas. This Chennai rain was followed by yet another disaster in four southern districts of Tamil Nadu including Kanyakumari and Thoothukudi. These four districts too had around 40 cm of train in a day or two when average rainfall during this time of year is around 2-2.5 cm. This year it might have been Chennai but the fact of the matter floods are ravaging most of the metropolitan cities one year or other due haphazard development, be it Mumbai, Kolkata, Delhi, Bengaluru and many more.
More importantly, these disasters have become a regular phenomenon and India witnessed an extreme weather event almost every other day in the first nine months of 2023. Close to 3000 people have been killed. Over 80,000 houses destroyed, 1.84 million hectares crop area devastated. More than 92,000 livestock snuffed out.
It is therefore not only Tamil Nadu, but the entire country is suffering from extreme weather disaster, which included extreme heat, cold waves, cyclones and lightning to heavy rains, floods and landslides. According to New CSE Down to Earth assessment between January one and September 30, 2023, such events hit the country with tenacious and frightening regularity and impact on 86 per cent of the days. Madhya Pradesh had the highest number of extreme events in this period and Bihar, the highest number of deaths.
These statistics were released by the centre for science and environment and Down to Earth as part of pre-COP28 assessment of extreme weather events in India in 2023. These are mindboggling numbers and indicate the frequency and expanding geography of extreme weather events in the country. It also shows that what the country has witnessed in 2023 is new “abnormal” in a warming world, according to Sunita Narain, CSE director general.
As the extreme weather was witnessed on 235 days of the 273 days from January one to September 30 2023, no state in the country has been spared, be it southern states, Punjab, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, east and northeast. Added to this, this is cyclone and floods in Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu in December of 2023.
What is more alarming, according to Sunita Narain is that it is not about a single event, but about the increased frequency of such events. An extreme event that we used to witness once every 100 years, has now begun to occur every five years, or even less. This is breaking the back of poorest people, who are the worst affected and fast losing their capacities to cope.
Also comparative analysis made in the report indicates that 2023 was worse than 2022 in the sense all the 36 states and union territories were affected in 2023 as against 34 in 2022. Besides, the extent of cropped areas that has suffered damages has widened. It was limited to 15 states in 2022 and in 2023, 20 states were affected.
These are very serious issues but there seems to general apathy among the public, politicians, administration and people who matter. Take the case of condition in Delhi during winter months due to air pollution. Year after year, there seems to be no serious effort. Everybody blamed the other party for scoring brownie points without making any concerted effort to find a solution. This is true of the recent Tamil Nadu floods. Everybody seemed to be interested in some short time gain out of such natural calamities rather than trying to find a permanent solution to mitigate this huge human problem for the common good of the society at large. Apart from ,depoliticising this grave issue, good Samaritans should join hands to create awareness and make every person do their bit to arrest this trend as otherwise it could disastrous for future generations. (IPA)
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