The Council on Energy Environment and Water
Context: Report by The Council on Energy, Environment and Water
Report found that 75% of districts in India, home to over half the population, were vulnerable to extreme climate risks.
While India witnessed 250 extreme climate events between 1970 and 2005, the country recorded 310 extreme climate events after 2005 alone.
Further, between 1990 and 2019, India incurred losses exceeding $100 billion.
Also, the intensity of floods increased eightfold and that of associated events such as landslides and heavy rainfall increased by over 20 times since 1970.
Drought-affected districts have increased by an yearly average of 13 times over the last two decades.
The frequency of cyclones has also doubled. Over 40% of Indian districts now show a swapping trend: flood-prone areas are becoming drought-prone, and vice-versa.
What Should India Do?
India should create an Environment and Health De-risking Mission to increase emergency preparedness, secure critical resources and build resilient infrastructure and governance systems to counter the increasing frequency and intensity of extreme climate events
Finance climate action at scale, risk financing instruments and risk retention and identification tools should be supplemented by contingency and adaptation funds such as the Green Climate Fund.
India needs a comprehensive Climate Risk Atlas to present a risk-informed decision-making toolkit for policymakers at the national, State, and district level. Such an Atlas should identify, assess and project chronic and acute risks at a granular level to better prepare against extreme climate events, urban heat stress, water stress, crop loss, vector-borne diseases, and biodiversity collapse.
India is already the fifth most vulnerable country globally in terms of extreme climate events and it is all set to become the world’s flood capital.
Read full article: By Abinash Mohanty The Hindu
About Council On Energy, Environment and Water
- commonly known as CEEW, is a Delhi-based not-for-profit policy research institution
2. Founded in 2010
3. Some of CEEW’s research areas include resource efficiency and security; water resources; renewable energy; sustainability finance; energy-trade-climate linkages; integrated energy, environment and water plans; and climate geoengineering governance.
4. The think-tank advises the Indian government
Read more: CEEW