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India Today
03-07-2025
- Climate
- India Today
How climate change-fuelled drought hit India's sugar production
A new UN-backed report reveals that severe droughts since 2023 have disrupted production and supply chains of key crops like rice, coffee, and sugar, triggering global price rises and deepening food report, Drought Hotspots Around the World 2023-2025, prepared by the U.S. National Drought Mitigation Center (NDMC) and the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), highlights how climate change and increasing pressure on land and water resources have fueled some of the most widespread and damaging drought events in recorded Thailand and India, major producers of sugar, the 2023-2024 dry conditions caused a 12.4% drop in sugar harvests. This shortage contributed to an 8.9% increase in sugar and sweets prices in the United States over the past year. Similarly, rice production in Southeast Asia was severely the region's largest economy, faced steep rice shortages by late 2023, forcing imports from neighboring countries to meet demand. The resulting rice price surge became a key driver of inflation, prompting the Indonesian government to provide rice aid to over 21 million families. Bullock carts loaded with sugarcane head towards the Saiyadri Sugar Factory during the crushing season, in Karad. (PTI Photo) advertisementCoffee production also suffered. Vietnam, the world's largest producer of Robusta coffee, experienced a 20% decline in its 2023-24 harvest due to heat, drought, and pest outbreaks, pushing coffee futures to record drought conditions were intensified by the 2023–2024 El Nio event, which amplified the impacts of climate change across vulnerable Executive Secretary Ibrahim Thiaw described drought as a 'silent killer' that slowly drains resources and devastates lives. The report warns that drought is no longer a distant threat but an escalating crisis demanding urgent global cooperation. It compounds poverty, hunger, energy insecurity, and ecosystem collapse, with ripple effects disrupting economies emphasise that drought's growing frequency and severity—driven by climate change—require proactive, coordinated action, including improved early warning systems, resilient infrastructure, and sustainable water such measures, droughts will continue to threaten food security and livelihoods across the globe.- EndsTrending Reel


India Today
08-05-2025
- Climate
- India Today
Weather body predicts heavy rain in Tamil Nadu, early monsoon expected in Kerala
The India Meteorological Department (IMD) issued a heavy rain alert for multiple districts in Tamil Nadu, warning of thunderstorms, lightning and gusty winds, as the state prepares for unstable weather conditions over the coming to the IMD's regional office in Chennai, moderate thunderstorms with lightning and moderate rainfall are highly likely at one or two places over districts including Ariyalur, Perambalur, Tiruchirappalli, Mayiladuthurai, Nagapattinam, Thanjavur, Thiruvarur, Pudukkottai and Karaikal area. Light thunderstorms with lightning, and light to moderate rainfall are also expected in Cuddalore, Tenkasi, Kanyakumari and Ghat areas of the rains, temperatures remain high across the state. Vellore emerged as the hottest district on Wednesday, recording a maximum of 41 degrees Celsius. The IMD has predicted continued temperature spikes on May 10 and 11, with elevated humidity levels likely to cause discomfort in coastal and inland areas, particularly in Puducherry and Karaikal. Temperature estimates suggest interior districts could see daytime highs between 36 and 41 degrees Celsius, while coastal belts may experience temperatures between 34 and 36 degrees Celsius. In hilly regions, temperatures are expected to range from 22 to 28 degrees areas received substantial rainfall earlier this week. Thammampatti in Salem district recorded 11 cm of rain on Tuesday. Rainfall of similar intensity was observed in Tiruvallur, Sivaganga, and Villupuram. In Chennai, neighbourhoods like Valasaravakkam and Nerkundram also saw rainfall reaching up to 11 ONSET IN KERALAadvertisementMeanwhile, this local turbulence is occurring alongside broader atmospheric shifts hinting at an early monsoon onset over Kerala as southwest monsoon is expected to arrive over the Andaman and Nicobar Islands by May 13, nearly a week ahead of schedule, according to the IMD. This early progression has increased the likelihood of an early onset in Kerala, where the monsoon normally arrives around June conditions, such as neutral sea surface temperatures and the absence of El Nio or La Nia influences, are contributing to this early advance. In 2023, Kerala received the monsoon on May 30; this year's pace suggests a similar or earlier models indicate the monsoon is gaining strength over the Bay of Bengal and the Andaman Sea. The IMD is expected to announce Kerala's official monsoon onset date by the end of May after assessing sustained rainfall criteria and wind pattern shifts. IN THIS STORY#Kerala#Tamil Nadu


India Today
30-04-2025
- Climate
- India Today
Expect hotter May, double the heatwave days, warns weather panel
Most parts of India are likely to witness a hotter-than-usual month of May, with the number of heatwave days doubling to nearly seven, as opposed to the usual three, the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) warned on Wednesday. The weather body has cautioned people across the country as the temperatures are predicted to rise to a record high next day and night temperatures may remain higher than normal during this IMD further said that in most parts of the country the temperatures will remain above normal but in some parts of southern and eastern India, temperatures are expected to be below normal. The effect of extreme heat will be more visible, especially in Northern, Western, and Central number of heatwave days is expected to be higher by one to four days in most parts of Rajasthan, Haryana, Punjab, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Gangetic West Bengal, reported news agency not just scorching heat, but rainfall is also expected to be more than normal. While this month usually sees a little more than 64 mm of rainfall across the country, this year the average could reach 70 10 per cent increase over the normal recorded rainfall is expected in the northern, middle, southern and eastern parts of IMD also estimates that monsoon will hit Kerala at the end of May and this time the monsoon in the entire country will be 105% above normal. El Nio and Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD) conditions will remain neutral during this period.


India Today
23-04-2025
- Science
- India Today
Global bleaching crisis: 84% of coral reefs hit by extreme heat stress
Marine heat waves have tripled, and the world witnessed the hottest year on record in 2024. Oceans are getting hotter every day due to climate change, leading to the loss of biodiversity, including the loss of one of their jewels: authorities have warned that mass coral bleaching event has been spurred by increasing ocean temperatures, affecting more than four-fifths of the world's coral reef of corals is the process of dying of the algae present on corals. This affects the survival of corals, as they need algae. Corals provide the algae's shelter. In turn, the algae provide it with food and colour. A temperature rise will lead to the death of algae, eventually causing corals to die. Parts of the Caribbean, the Red Sea, and Australia's Great Barrier Reef have witnessed widespread mortality of corals. (Photo: Reuters) In 2024, scientists at the International Coral Reef Initiative and data from the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration declared that the world's fourth mass bleaching event is slowing the rising temperatures have proved it false, with 84% of reef areas - from the Indian Ocean to the Atlantic to the Pacific - subjected to intense heat stress for a duration expected to cause bleaching as of March 2025."The magnitude and extent of the heat stress is shocking," Melanie McField, a marine scientist working in the Caribbean told Reuters. "Some reefs that had thus far escaped major heat stress, and we thought to be somewhat resilient, succumbed to partial mortalities in 2024.""Bleaching is always eerie - as if a silent snowfall has descended on the reef," she events in 1998, 2010, and 2014-17 saw 21%, 37%, and 68% of reefs subjected to bleaching-level heat stress, after warning of the danger the coral reefs could face due to climate change and El Nio, scientists were hoping for positive news due to the arrival of La Nina. As La Nina lasted only for three months, the bleaching continued to spread. The list of coral victimised due to the effects of climate change is increasing every day, with the Solomon Islands and Papua New Guinea being added to the list of 82 affected countries and of the Caribbean, the Red Sea, and Australia's Great Barrier Reef have witnessed widespread mortality of the global extent of coral reef death will take years for scientists to analyse. However, it is a collective responsibility of global leaders and citizens to act against climate change.


India Today
21-04-2025
- Science
- India Today
Oceans are getting hotter: Temperatures rising 4.5 times faster than expected
Global sea surface temperatures (SST) have been rising 4.5 times faster since 2019 as climate change worsens the situation the period between 1985 and 1989, a warming of 0.06 Celsius per decade was observed, while the temperatures rose by 0.27 Celsius per decade from 2019 to in the journal Environmental Research Letters, the study used global satellite data records generated through the European Space Agency's (ESA) Climate Change Initiative (CCI). This measured the global mean SST from 1980 to It highlights that more greenhouse gas emissions have contributed to an increase in ocean temperatures across the globe.'Greenhouse gases trap heat in our atmosphere,' said Chris Merchant, the lead author of the study. 'Resulting in an imbalance in the energy received by our planet from the Sun, and the energy radiated back out to space, resulting in an excess energy imbalance.''This energy imbalance drives climate change. Given the accelerations in ocean warming and evolving climate dynamics, we need ongoing monitoring and data improvements to ensure our climate models can accurately reflect future temperature increases.'Even though certain weather phenomena, such as El Nio and volcanic eruptions, influence the warming of the Earth, they do not contribute significantly to long-term warming Embury, co-author and scientific leader of the ESA-CCI sea-surface temperature project, which contributed to the long-term dataset, said, 'Our study identifies the increasing accumulation of planetary energy as the dominant driver of long-term sea surface warming, while short-term variations from El Nio, volcanic activity and solar changes add variability but do not alter the overall accelerating trend.'advertisementMonitoring The Energy Cycle for a better UnderStanding Of cliMate chAnge (MOTECUSOMA), a study conducted by ESA to investigate the energy imbalance on Earth and its impact on climate change, will benefit from this added, 'Addressing these challenges requires accurate climate projections – increasing ocean heat uptake intensifies extreme weather events, disrupts ecosystems, and accelerates sea level rise, making continued observation and model refinement essential.'This study adds to the ongoing research, highlighting the adverse effects of climate change and its far-reaching impact on ecosystems, human lives, and the Watch