special desk
An international climate report on G20 countries released last year said global temperatures could rise by up to four degrees Celsius if carbon emissions continued to rise rapidly. Due to this, the havoc of heat wave in India will increase even more between 2036 and 2065. It is estimated that it is expected to increase for 25 times longer than normal.
The report was released ahead of the G20 summit to be held in Rome from 30 to 31 October last year. The report was prepared by a team of over 40 scientists from the Euro-Mediterranean Center on Climate Change. This research center serves as the Italian focal point of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). According to this report, climate change will have devastating effects on every member of the G20 in the future.
The report warns that climate change is already affecting the G20 countries. There has been a 15% increase in heat-related deaths in all G20 countries over the course of 20 years. The report also revealed that from rising sea levels to dwindling availability of clean water, and deaths from dengue outbreaks to extreme heat, there will be no aspect of life that remains untouched by climate change in G20 countries. Will go
Within 30 years, climate change will have a serious impact on the world’s richest economies. If action is not taken now to stop the increasing emissions of greenhouse gases, no country will be able to escape from heat wave, drought, rising sea level, lack of food supply and increasing threat to tourism. To stabilize the economy, G20 countries need to sharply cut their emissions, which account for 80 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions.
worst effect on india
In this regard, Anjal Prakash, a climate scientist and one of the lead authors of the latest IPCC report, said that there are many climate hotspots in India. It extends from 7,500 km long coastline to the Himalayas in many states of North and East India. There is a possibility of heat wave in 54 percent dry area. According to him, India is very vulnerable in this matter and if immediate action is not taken then the situation may deteriorate soon.
According to the report, if the increase in global temperature reaches 4 degrees Celsius, then between 2036 and 2065, heat wave havoc in India will be 25 times longer than normal. On the other hand, even if the increase in temperature reaches even two degrees Celsius, the havoc of heat wave will last five times longer. Not only this, even if we are able to stop the increase in temperature by 1.5 degree Celsius, even then the havoc of heat wave will increase by about one and a half times.
The increasing havoc of heat in India will also affect the livelihood of the people. It is estimated that labor output will decline by about 13.4 percent by 2050 even in the low emissions scenario. On the other hand, this figure will increase to 24 percent by 2080 under the medium emissions scenario. If the increase in temperature increases to 4 degrees Celsius, then by 2050 the demand for water for agriculture will increase by 29 percent. At the same time, agricultural drought will increase by 48 percent between 2036 and 2065. On the other hand, in the scenario of 2 degree Celsius increase, it will fall by 20 percent in the same time period.
According to the report, India will lose about 0.8 to two percent of its GDP in the moderate climate change scenario by 2050. Whereas in the high emission scenario, this cost can be doubled, which can increase to 10 per cent. If emissions continue to grow at a rapid pace, then by 2050, about 18 million people in the country will be in the grip of river floods, which is 15 times more than at present. Significantly, 13 lakh people are currently facing the danger of such floods.