Asia warming twice as fast as global average
NEW DELHI: Asia is currently warming nearly twice as fast as the global average with the 19912024 trend almost double of that of 1961-1990, fuelling more extreme weather and wreaking a heavy toll on the region's economies and ecosystems, World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) said on Monday.
It said that 2024, which recorded a rise of 1.04°C above the 19912020 average, was the warmest or second-warmest year on record (depending on different global datasets), with widespread and prolonged heat waves. WMO also flagged multiple extreme weather events that hit India last year, including rain-linked landslides in Kerala's Wayanad that killed more than 350 people and lightning that claimed around 1,300 lives across country.
WMO's 'State of the Climate in Asia' report noted that many parts of the region experienced extreme heat events in 2024, with several parts of India experiencing 'intense heatwaves', leading to more than 450 deaths in the country.
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It also highlighted that 23 out of 24 glaciers in the high-mountain Asia region 56 (centred on the Tibetan plateau) showed continued mass loss during 2023/2024. 'Reduced winter snowfall and extreme summer heat in central Himalayas (most of Nepal, Tibet, and Sikkim in India) and most of Tian Shan (the mountain range shared by China, Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan) intensified mass loss for most glaciers,' it said.
Mass loss for most glaciers in the region is quite worrying as 10 of Asia's largest rivers, such as Indus, Brahmaputra and Ganga, originate in
Hindu Kush Himalayas
. Since these rivers provide water for a quarter of the world's population, such a huge loss may impact water availability in future if the warming trend continues.
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The report highlights 'changes in key climate indicators such as surface temperature, glacier mass and sea level, which will have major repercussions for societies, economies and ecosystems in the region. Extreme weather is already exacting an unacceptably high toll,' WMO secretary-general Celeste Saulo said.
Asia is the continent with the largest land mass extending to the Arctic and is warming more than twice as fast as the global average because temperature increase over land is larger than temperature increase over the ocean. 'In 2024, most of the ocean area of Asia was affected by
marine heatwaves
of strong, severe or extreme intensity, the largest extent since records began in 1993,' the report said.
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