Keeping a watch on India’s climate

India saw extreme weather events on 88% of the days in the first nine months of the year, according to the Delhi-based Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) report, ‘Climate India 2022’. The report adds that the country recorded its warmest March and the third warmest April in over a century and that weather events have killed 2755 people, affected 1.8 million hectares of crop area, basing its claim on an analysis of data from the India Meteorological Department and the disaster management division of the Union home ministry.

India recorded extreme weather events on 241 of the 273 days from January 1 to September 30, 2022. This means that close to 90% of the first nine months of this year, India had an extreme weather event breaking in one or more parts of the country. It also experienced record-breaking temperatures for several months and regions across the country were deluged because of very and extremely heavy rainfall. This led to floods and the loss of life and livestock. This speaks of the increased frequency and intensity of the extreme events that we are seeing in our rapidly warming world.

All Indian states are significantly climate vulnerable and the gap between the least vulnerable state (Maharashtra) and the most vulnerable state (Jharkhand) is small. Madhya Pradesh saw the highest number of days with extreme weather events; but Himachal Pradesh saw the highest number of human deaths at 359 deaths. Madhya Pradesh and Assam saw 301 human deaths each. Assam reported the highest number of damaged houses and animal deaths. Central India recorded the highest losses with extreme weather events recorded on 198 of 273 days that claimed 887 lives, affected 136,780 ha crop area, damaged 28,032 houses and killed 7,519 animals. The northwestern region recorded extreme weather events on 195 of 273 days, which killed 735 persons, damaged 393,726 ha crop area, damaged 5,122 houses and killed 1,707 animals. What the country has witnessed so far in 2022 is the new abnormal in a warming world. The CSE report cites a 2020 report by the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction that says globally, there has been “a sharp increase [in disasters] over the previous twenty years”.

This report, as per the CSE, is, therefore, an attempt to build an evidence base on the frequency and expanding geography of extreme weather events in India. It provides season-by-season, month-by-month, and region-by-region analyses of extreme weather events and the loss and damage they caused in the first nine months of 2022. All Indian states are significantly climate vulnerable and the gap between the least vulnerable state (Maharashtra) and the most vulnerable state (Jharkhand) is small, as per the Centre’s “Climate Vulnerability Assessment for Adaptation Planning in India Using a Common Framework 2019-20”. Yet robust data on extreme weather events, which are increasing in frequency and intensity due to climate change, is not available publicly. The report provides season-wise, month-wise and region-wise analysis of extreme weather events and their associated loss and damage. Along with this report, the CSE has also launched the ‘India’s Atlas on Weather Disasters, an open-access online public interactive database on extreme weather events that will be updated every month. The “India 2022: An assessment of extreme weather events”, has also scanned media reports to track the events — particularly in the pre-monsoon period when official data is inadequate. The media reports have provided further information on the extent of loss and damage as well.

 This extreme weather report card is important to understand, according to the CSE. It tells of the number of such events; the fact that this will lead to cumulative and extensive damage. It calls for the need to recognize that its impact has the human face of its victims. It speaks of the need to do much for managing these extreme events — the need to move beyond management of the disaster to reducing risks and improving resilience and improve the systems for flood management — deliberately building drainage and water recharge systems on the one hand and investing in green spaces and forests so that these sponges of water can be revitalised for the coming storms. It also speaks of the need to demand reparations for the damage from the countries that have contributed to the emissions in the atmosphere and are responsible for this damage. The models that explain the impacts of climate change are clear that extreme weather events will increase in frequency and intensity as we are seeing today.