As if these signs are not ominous enough, the WMO statement goes on to reveal that the incidence of devastating weather bouts, which inflict economic damage in excess of $1 billion, has soared menacingly. The US alone witnessed 14 such events in 2018. The catastrophic deluge in Kerala in August 2018, which caused an economic loss of worth around $4.3 billion, also belonged to this category of weird weather. The state’s rainfall in that month was 96 per cent above normal with a couple of weekly spells pouring more than double the usual rainfall. This WMO report assumes special significance as it has come ahead of the “climate action summit” in September in New York, where the heads of states will review the progress towards attaining the Paris agreement’s coveted goal of limiting temperature rise to below 2 degrees Celsius from pre-industrial levels.
The WMO findings do not inspire much confidence in fulfilling this aspiration. This is more so because most countries are losing the political will to sacrifice economic development to protect the environment. They are reneging on the self-determined climate action commitments, even if without explicitly saying so. Some, notably the world’s biggest polluter, the US, have gone to the extent of threatening to withdraw from the Paris agreement. Financial contributions to the Global Green Fund, meant to assist poor nations to slash their emissions and go in for climate-resilient development, too, have not been forthcoming. Moreover, the anticipated reduction in the use of environment-vitiating fossil fuels, including coal, does not seem to materialise, though the renewable energy rates have dipped below the power produced from coal and other mineral resources. Even India can ill-afford to forgo the use of coal, regardless of taking significant strides in the renewable energy sector.
With such being the ground reality, world leaders need to come up with revamped action plans in the forthcoming climate summit. For vulnerable countries like India, in particular, a prudent course of action would be to build capacity to live with the changed climate by conceiving climate-smart development strategies. Adaptation, indeed, holds the key to withstand climate change.
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