Latest news with #ClimateTrends
South China Morning Post
13 hours ago
- Health
- South China Morning Post
Almost 2 billion lives in South Asia at risk from rising snow and glacier melt: report
The lives of nearly 2 billion people in South Asia are at risk as snow and glacier melt across the Himalayas accelerates, aggravated by black carbon pollution from burning biomass and fossil fuels and unsustainable farming, climate experts have warned. Also known as soot, black carbon darkens snow surfaces and absorbs sunlight, causing it to act like a heat lamp and hasten melting. The fine particulate pollutant is typically released during the combustion of organic matter such as wood, crop residues and diesel. With the largest ice reserves outside the polar regions, the Himalayas are the main source of water for many rivers flowing through the densely populated Indo-Gangetic plains. But this critical function is at risk from rising black carbon emissions and climate change. The rivers nourish fertile agricultural zones across the Indian subcontinent – the world's largest rice-exporting region. They have also been the source of growing geopolitical tensions, including between India and Pakistan Average snow surface temperatures in the Himalayan peaks have risen by more than four degrees Celsius, with black carbon a key contributor, according to a report by Delhi-based think tank Climate Trends released on Friday. It warned that the impact of these emissions was worsened by deforestation, crop burning and poor land management. More than 40 per cent of India's black carbon emissions come from biofuels, according to the report, with significant contributions from large states such as Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra, where agricultural and forest fires are common. Emissions have also been recorded at high levels in the eastern Himalayas, particularly in Nepal.
Time of India
3 days ago
- Science
- Time of India
Eastern Himalayas show highest black carbon levels; snow loss tied to biomass burning
New Delhi: Snow surface temperatures in the Himalayan region have risen by more than 4°C over the last two decades due to increasing levels of black carbon emissions , a new study by Delhi-based research consultancy Climate Trends has found. The analysis, based on 23 years of NASA satellite data (2000–2023), reports accelerated melting in areas with higher black carbon deposits, particularly in the Eastern and Central Himalayas. According to the study titled Impact of Black Carbon on Himalayan Glaciers: A 23-Year Trends Analysis, the average snow surface temperature rose from -11.27°C (2000–2009) to -7.13°C (2020–2023). The study found that regions with higher black carbon concentrations showed greater snow melt and reduced snow depth. The research attributes the presence of black carbon to emissions from biomass combustion, fossil fuel use, and open burning in the Indo-Gangetic Plain. 'Glacier melt is accelerating, threatening freshwater resources to nearly two billion people downstream,' said Dr Palak Baliyan, lead author of the study. Black carbon reduces the reflectivity (albedo) of snow, causing it to absorb more solar radiation and melt faster. Although concentrations plateaued somewhat between 2019 and 2023, the long-term warming trend is clear. 'Black carbon acts like a heat lamp on snow,' the report stated. Speaking at the India Heat Summit 2025, Dr Farooq Azam, Senior Cryosphere Specialist, ICIMOD, cited 2022 as the worst year for glacier mass balance, with Himalayan glaciers such as Chhota Shigri in Himachal Pradesh losing up to two metres of ice. 'Since 2022, glacial mass loss is four times higher than normal. With more temperature, glaciers shrink and more heavy metals melt into river water,' he said. Dr Azam also said that black carbon from the Indo-Gangetic Plain is carried by winds and deposited on glaciers. 'This darkens the snow surface, reducing albedo, and accelerates heat absorption,' he added. Some studies estimate that the additional radiation absorbed due to darkened snow is equivalent to 14–15 volts per square kilometre. The study found a strong positive correlation between black carbon and snow surface temperature and a negative correlation with snow depth, even when controlling for temperature, indicating a direct impact of black carbon on snowpack. 'Reducing black carbon, especially from cookstoves, crop burning, and transport, can offer quick wins for climate and water security,' said Aarti Khosla, Director, Climate Trends. The report advocates targeted policy interventions in the Indo-Gangetic region to mitigate black carbon emissions. Dr Azam added that signs of climatic impact are evident in increased avalanches, shifting agricultural zones, and glacier loss, including the near disappearance of Yala Glacier in Nepal. 'In 2022 alone, glaciers experienced up to four times the normal mass loss, equivalent to 2 metres of ice from Chhota Shigri Glacier,' he said. The report concludes that cutting black carbon emissions can yield short-term regional cooling and help slow glacial retreat.
Time of India
6 days ago
- Health
- Time of India
No reliable data on heat stroke and heat deaths in India: Experts
New Delhi: There is no reliable data on heatstroke and heat deaths as data-reporting systems are not uniformly strong across the country, experts said on Tuesday. Talking about the impact of extreme heat at the India Heat Summit 2025, organised by research group Climate Trends, Health Ministry Advisor Soumya Swaminathan said deaths are just the tip of the iceberg. "We do not fully count all the deaths attributable to climate hazards or to heat as reporting systems are not uniformly strong across the country," she said. There is a need to strengthen death-reporting systems "because that is the best source for the government, for the policymakers to know ... what people die of is what should inform your policy and that keeps changing from time to time", Swaminathan said. She had earlier told PTI in an interview that India is "most likely" undercounting heat-related deaths due to a lack of robust data. The former chief of the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) said data has been sitting in silos and called for the establishment of an environmental health hub , where the ministries of health, environment and earth sciences come together, share data and translate information into action. Swaminathan, however, warned against focusing only on deaths. "It is not just the mortality we need to be fixated on.... (We need to ascertain) the impact on health and productivity. Ultimately, health determines your productivity and impact on the GDP," she said. Chandni Singh, a researcher at the Indian Institute of Human Settlements, said there are challenges in how India records heat deaths and there is no good dataset to refer to. "Currently, there is no nationally representative data on heatstroke and heat-related deaths. One can, however, draw inferences from the existing datasets," she said. The health ministry's National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) has been collecting and reporting heatstroke and heat-death data under the Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme (IDSP) since 2015. The India Meteorological Department (IMD) also maintains data related to heat deaths, sourced from media reports. Apart from this, Union Earth Sciences Minister Jitendra Singh has cited the National Crime Records Bureau's (NCRB) data on heat deaths in parliamentary replies. All three datasets report different figures for heat-related deaths. For example, according to the NCDC, a total of 3,775 heat-related deaths were reported between 2015 and 2019. During the same period, the NCRB recorded 6,537 heat-related deaths. Swaminathan also said that though the number of heat action plans is increasing, these are developed by a group of experts sitting together, there is very little community consultation that has gone into these and there is very little ground truthing and very little feedback collected. Krishna Vatsa, member, National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), said the country lacks a "very well established academic or technical centre.... A group of people who could help districts prepare heat action plans". "We do not have one designated, proper centre of excellence for dissemination of all the knowledge and expertise," he said. Vatsa said if it were left just to officers to write heat action plans, it would not be very successful and more handholding and technical training were needed.
NDTV
6 days ago
- Health
- NDTV
No Reliable Data On Heatstroke And Heat Deaths In India: Experts
New Delhi: There is no reliable data on heatstroke and heat deaths as data-reporting systems are not uniformly strong across the country, experts said on Tuesday. Talking about the impact of extreme heat at the India Heat Summit 2025, organised by research group Climate Trends, Health Ministry Advisor Soumya Swaminathan said deaths are just the tip of the iceberg. "We do not fully count all the deaths attributable to climate hazards or to heat as reporting systems are not uniformly strong across the country," she said. There is a need to strengthen death-reporting systems "because that is the best source for the government, for the policymakers to know ... what people die of is what should inform your policy and that keeps changing from time to time", Swaminathan said. She had earlier told PTI in an interview that India is "most likely" undercounting heat-related deaths due to a lack of robust data. The former chief of the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) said data has been sitting in silos and called for the establishment of an environmental health hub, where the ministries of health, environment and earth sciences come together, share data and translate information into action. Swaminathan, however, warned against focusing only on deaths. "It is not just the mortality we need to be fixated on.... (We need to ascertain) the impact on health and productivity. Ultimately, health determines your productivity and impact on the GDP," she said. Chandni Singh, a researcher at the Indian Institute of Human Settlements, said there are challenges in how India records heat deaths and there is no good dataset to refer to. "Currently, there is no nationally representative data on heatstroke and heat-related deaths. One can, however, draw inferences from the existing datasets," she said. The health ministry's National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) has been collecting and reporting heatstroke and heat-death data under the Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme (IDSP) since 2015. The India Meteorological Department (IMD) also maintains data related to heat deaths, sourced from media reports. Apart from this, Union Earth Sciences Minister Jitendra Singh has cited the National Crime Records Bureau's (NCRB) data on heat deaths in parliamentary replies. All three datasets report different figures for heat-related deaths. For example, according to the NCDC, a total of 3,775 heat-related deaths were reported between 2015 and 2019. During the same period, the NCRB recorded 6,537 heat-related deaths. Swaminathan also said that though the number of heat action plans is increasing, these are developed by a group of experts sitting together, there is very little community consultation that has gone into these and there is very little ground truthing and very little feedback collected. Krishna Vatsa, member, National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), said the country lacks a "very well established academic or technical centre.... A group of people who could help districts prepare heat action plans". "We do not have one designated, proper centre of excellence for dissemination of all the knowledge and expertise," he said. Vatsa said if it were left just to officers to write heat action plans, it would not be very successful and more handholding and technical training were needed.
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Business Standard
6 days ago
- Climate
- Business Standard
Burning issue: Govt adds financial muscle to heatwave plans for states
The National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), which has 250 heat action plans for cities, is not only aiming to expand those to the district level but is also planning to incorporate financial mechanisms or mitigation funds into heat action plans to deal with rising heatwaves, said a senior executive on Tuesday. This comes at a time when recent studies indicate a trend of general warming in mean annual temperature over the Indian subcontinent, threatening economic growth and a better quality of life. This assumes significance as the disaster management authority faces challenges in implementing heat action plans on the ground. India's average temperature has risen by around 0.7 degrees Celsius between 1901 and 2018, and by the end of the 21st century, it is projected to increase further by 4.4 degrees Celsius. This means vast stretches of India are now expected to face prolonged heatwaves lasting 30–40 days or more. 'One major problem that has always been flagged is how we implement the heat action plan on the ground. Our heat action plans don't have a financial mechanism, and we have kind of addressed that. We have been working hard to get the mitigation fund to support the heat action plan, and that has been allowed,' Krishna S. Vatsa, member of NDMA, said at the India Heat Summit organised by Climate Trends, a research-based consulting organisation. He added that the NDMA is currently working on the policy guidelines, and those will be issued soon. With this, there will now be financial resources available at the state level, but government resources would not suffice, he said, adding, 'There has to be a wider mobilisation of resources from the private sector, non-governmental organisations, local governments, and citizens. So, hopefully within a year or two, we will see many more innovative experiments and interventions happening at the grassroots level, which would reduce the impact of heatwaves.' Vatsa also highlighted the need to improve our technical backstopping for heatwave preparedness and mitigation in the country. About 57 per cent of Indian districts, home to 76 per cent of the country's population, are currently at high to very high risk from extreme heat. According to a report, mortality rates because of heatwaves in India have gone up by 62.2 per cent. According to a United Nations report, India reported 40,000 cases of suspected heat strokes and over 100 deaths between March and mid-June last year. Heatwaves are known to be a silent killer among natural disasters triggered by human-caused climate change. The effect of rising temperatures and the increasing frequency, duration, and intensity of hot spells poses a challenge to human safety and sustainability. Bharat Lal, secretary-general of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), at the summit, pointed out seven challenges to mitigating the effects of heatwaves. The list includes the absence of occupational heat exposure data, poor socioeconomic vulnerability mapping, inadequate urban heat island mapping, non-integration of real-time meteorological and health data, and limited use of remote sensing data. Lal informed that the commission had identified 10 solutions to address these challenges and had been working on them for the last three months. 'The first is expanding and scaling up this heat action plan. A heat action plan helped to an extent that mortality in Ahmedabad went down by 30–40 per cent. So, it means the heat action plan should be further expanded,' Lal said.
