El Nino effect being witnessed could strengthen at the end of this year to adversely impact the rabi season and cause heat waves during next year’s summer in India, said Asian Development Bank (ADB) Climate Change specialist Dr. Ancha Srinivasan.
Dr. Srinivasan mentioned that the Pacific phenomenon is currently weak but there are signs it could strengthen, while adding that any affirmative prediction of the phenomenon and events related to it, is currently difficult to make. El Nino is the warming phase of Pacific waters that is known to have extreme impact on the global weather.
Dr. Srinivasan was speaking about disaster preparedness in a changing climate at a talk organised by the State Bank of India’s Staff College on Monday.
Citing 40 past studies done between 1975 and 2015, he said that Asia is most vulnerable to climate change and India ranks second after Bangladesh. Mumbai and Kolkata are among top five cities in the world which are at risk of being extremely impacted by climate change.
“Asia-Pacific witnesses 47 per cent of world’s disasters and 75 per cent of global human fatalities are in our region. All the top five high risk cities in terms of extreme impact are Asian,” he said, adding that number of flood events in Asia between 1980 and 2013 has increased.
“By 2030 most of Asia will be water stressed,” he further said.
Addressing the issue of disaster preparedness, Dr. Srinivasan said that exposure and vulnerability of human populations to disasters are the only two factors modifiable to improve preparedness. He cited instances of Beijing and Bangkok, which witnessed floods in the recent past, where ADB was involved in reconstruction and improving preparedness.
He also pointed out several hurdles to improving preparedness including outdated or inadequate legislation. Mentioning India’s National Water Policy as a case in point, he said the policy does not for instance mention the water required for cooling coal-fired plants but only discusses energy needs they meet.
‘Mumbai and Kolkata are among top five cities in the world which are at risk of being extremely impacted by climate change’
