India needs to prepare itself to face 2017 environment disasters

India needs to prepare itself to face 2017 environment disasters

IANSUpdated: Thursday, May 30, 2019, 10:10 AM IST
article-image

New Delhi : While environment diplomacy at the UN climate change conference in Marrakech last November became uncertain after Donald Trump, a climate change sceptic, won the US presidential elections, experts have suggested that India must tread its own path and start investing to prepare for the future.

“India needs to invest in infrastructure and prepare itself to face climatic repercussions this year. During the drought last year, the country’s net water reserve capacity was only 20 per cent; in March, hailstorms destroyed the wheat crop,” Sanjay Vashist, Director, Climate Action Network South Asia, told IANS.

Over 330 million people in India were affected by one of the worst droughts that spilled over to neighbouring Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Nepal as well.

Experts like S.K. Sarkar, Director, Water Division, at The Energy and Resources Institute (Teri), had cautioned that by 2050, India will be water-scarce.

“Extreme events which are more random now force millions to migrate — and for Bangladesh and Nepal, India is the destination. India needs to pull up its socks. We just faced cyclone Vardha, Chennai Floods in 2015 were devastating and so on,” Harjeet Singh, Global lead on Climate Change at Action Aid, told IANS.

A study released at the 22nd Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP22) at Marrakech, Morocco, says that natural disasters annually force about 26 million people into poverty.

Both the economic and human cost due to such disasters are underestimated by 60 per cent.

“The impact of extreme natural disasters is equivalent to a $520-billion global loss in annual consumption,” a World Bank report said at COP22. It also noted that poor people pay the heaviest price.

According to the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO), the global temperature is 1.2 degrees Celsius above the pre-industrial level, making 2016 the warmest year followed by 2015 and 2014. The Island Nations now fear of their existence. “We have to start worrying about such trends. India need to focus on mitigation or adaptation if the environmental damage is irreversible… our solution will depend on resources and we have other priorities like food security,” said Karan Mangotra, from TERI’s Centre for Global Environment Research.

RECENT STORIES

Lok Sabha Elections 2024: Uncertainty Looms Over Rae Bareli And Amethi Seats As Congress Delays...

Lok Sabha Elections 2024: Uncertainty Looms Over Rae Bareli And Amethi Seats As Congress Delays...

Delhi Shocker: 5-Year-Old Girl Raped And Murdered, Body Found Hidden Inside Factory In Bawana;...

Delhi Shocker: 5-Year-Old Girl Raped And Murdered, Body Found Hidden Inside Factory In Bawana;...

Gujarat Shocker: Young Man's Corpse Mistakenly Handed Over As Spare Parts At Sardar Vallabhbhai...

Gujarat Shocker: Young Man's Corpse Mistakenly Handed Over As Spare Parts At Sardar Vallabhbhai...

'Hero No. 1' Govinda Joins Shiv Sena In Presence Of Eknath Shinde, Likely To Contest From Mumbai...

'Hero No. 1' Govinda Joins Shiv Sena In Presence Of Eknath Shinde, Likely To Contest From Mumbai...

'Good Luck To Mann Saheb': Being In ED Custody, Arvind Kejriwal Congratulates Punjab CM On Birth Of...

'Good Luck To Mann Saheb': Being In ED Custody, Arvind Kejriwal Congratulates Punjab CM On Birth Of...