The intensity and frequency of heat waves are going to increase in the future due to climate change and governments need to act now to prevent worse impacts on public health and food security, experts said on Thursday. A new study by researchers from the University of Cambridge on Wednesday said the entire Delhi is vulnerable to severe impacts of heat waves, though its recent state action plan for climate change does not reflect this. The study, published in the peer-reviewed journal PLOS Climate, suggested that heat waves have impeded India's progress towards achieving the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals more significantly than previously thought and that the current assessment metrics may not fully capture the impacts of heat waves linked to climate change on the country. Heat waves claimed more than 17,000 lives in 50 years in India, according to a paper authored by M Rajeevan, former secretary of the Union Ministry of Earth Sciences, along with scientists Kamaljit
Killer heat waves are putting "unprecedented burdens" on India's agriculture, economy and public health, with climate change undermining the country's long-term efforts
The RBI's framework for green deposits is well meant but raises many questions on its workability
The President said the climate of Himachal Pradesh attracts people from across the world, and this region of the Himalayas is rich in fauna and flora
Forest-based offsets have come under particular scrutiny lately, with report after report suggesting they don't mop up nearly as much carbon as they claim
The European Parliament approved the deals reached with EU countries in late 2022 on several key pieces of legislation that are part of the "Fit for 55 in 2030 package"
India's fight against climate change will unite the entire world, Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla told a Danish parliamentary delegation on Tuesday. Birla also said he is hopeful that the proposed "P20" summit in the near future would see purposeful dialogue on the relevance of parliamentary governance and democratic values and serve to benefit the entire world. Members of the Danish Parliamentary Committee for European Affairs, led by its chairman Niels Fleming Hansen, called on the speaker at the Parliament House. Interacting with the members of the delegation, Birla laid emphasis on regular parliamentary exchanges between India and Denmark. He suggested that a regular process of dialogue should be developed between the two countries to ensure that both the parliaments can learn from each other and share best practices. According to a statement issued by the Lok Sabha Secretariat, Birla referred to the Green Strategic Partnership between India and Denmark signed in September 2020, not
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Yadav said climate change, desertification and biodiversity loss are deeply interlinked and pose existential challenges to humanity
Union Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav on Saturday said the global goal of reaching net zero by 2050 requires enhanced descaling of emissions by developed countries
Meeting the global target of achieving net zero emissions by 2050 will require developed nations to scale up their emission reduction efforts, India said at the G7 Ministers Meeting on Climate Energy and Environment in Japan's Sapporo on Saturday. This will create opportunities for developing nations like India to address the needs of its people, which will also build resilience against the adverse impacts of climate change, environmental degradation, and pollution, Union Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav said at the plenary session of the G7 minister's meeting. He also emphasised that developing countries require access to adequate means of implementation, finance, and technology to effectively combat climate change and address environmental challenges. "The global goal of reaching net zero by 2050 needs enhanced emission descaling by developed nations. This will provide space for countries like India to achieve the development required for its people, which will provide necessa
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said that an idea becomes a mass movement when it moves from "discussion tables to dinner tables" as he called for people's participation and collective efforts in combating climate change. He also told a gathering of world leaders via video link on Friday that when people become conscious that simple acts in their daily lives are powerful, there will be a very positive impact on the environment. "People across the world hear a lot about climate change. Many of them feel a lot of anxiety because they do not know what they can do about it. They are constantly made to feel that only governments or global institutions have a role. If they learn that they can also contribute, their anxiety will turn into action," Modi said while addressing the World Bank-organised "Making it Personal: How behavioral change can tackle climate change" conference. Modi hailed the World Bank for organising the event on impact of behavioural change on climate change, saying .
The Finance Minister said: "You need to have more people talking about it, more influential people talking about it"
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Prime Minister Narendra Modi said an idea becomes a mass movement when it moves from "discussion tables to dinner tables" as he called for people's participation and collective efforts in the fight against climate change. He also told a gathering of world leaders on Friday that when people become conscious that simple acts in their daily lives are powerful, there will be a very positive impact on the environment. "People across the world hear a lot about climate change. Many of them feel a lot of anxiety because they do not know what they can do about it. They are constantly made to feel that only governments or global institutions have a role. If they learn that they can also contribute, their anxiety will turn into action," Modi said while addressing the World Bank-organised "Making it Personal: How behavioral change can tackle climate change" conference. Citing "Mission Life", which was launched by him and the UN secretary general last year October, Modi said the programme is abo
GDP does not capture issues like welfare, inequality and human development. Nor does GDP capture the damage to the environment caused by economic activity, writes T N Ninan
'Flash droughts', or droughts that start and develop rapidly, have become more frequent due to human-caused climate change and the trend is predicted to accelerate in a warmer future, according to a new research. An international team of researchers, including those from the University of Southampton, UK, said that flash droughts are fast becoming the 'new normal' for droughts, making forecasting and preparing for their impact more difficult. Their research is published in the journal Science. Flash droughts, caused by low precipitation and high evapotranspiration and leading to quick depletion of soil of water, can develop into severe droughts within a few weeks. While they start quickly, the droughts can last for months, damaging vegetation and ecosystems, and triggering heat waves and wildfires. The researchers wanted to understand if there had been a transition from conventional 'slow' droughts to flash droughts and also how the trend would develop under different carbon emiss
Climate change is increasing the intensity of forest fires, reducing vegetation and degrading natural habitats, forcing the wildlife to move out and come into conflict with humans, conservationists said on Friday. In its latest all-India tiger estimation report, released recently by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) highlighted the "silent and surmounting" threats of climate change-related impacts on habitats and the loss of the quality of forests over time. It added that climate change threatens the survival of tigers in the Sunderbans and is one of the major challenges facing the wildlife in the Western Ghats. While the big cat population in the Sunderbans is steady, it has come down substantially in the Western Ghats where 824 tigers were recorded in 2022 against 981 in 2018. Mohammad Sajid Sultan, the NTCA's assistant inspector general of forests, said the wildlife is being affected by climate change with new pests and diseases ...
"Seafood can be poisoned by silt and wastewater runoff into the sea; flooded housing can become contaminated and moldy; and the mental health impacts of storms are often hidden and underestimated"
The discussion focused on the impact of global development challenges like climate change, pandemics, fragility and conflict on development progress and reforms at the World Bank