Heat Waves and Vulnerability of India

In Context 

• Severe heat wave conditions are being consistently reported over large parts of India.

What is Heat Wave?

• It is a period of abnormally high temperatures, more than the normal maximum temperature that occurs during the summer season.
• It typically occurs between March and June, and in some rare cases even extends till July. 
• The extreme temperatures and resultant atmospheric conditions adversely affect people living in these regions as they cause physiological stress, sometimes resulting in death.

Criterion for declaring heat waves in India

• Heat wave is considered if the maximum temperature of a station reaches at least 40°C or more for Plains and at least 30°C or more for Hilly regions.
  • Based on Departure from Normal Heat Wave: Departure from normal is 4.50°C to 6.40°C 
    • Severe Heat Wave: Departure from normal is >6.40 degree C
  • Based on Actual Maximum Temperature Heat Wave: When actual maximum temperature ≥ 45 degree C 
    • Severe Heat Wave: When actual maximum temperature ≥47 degree C.
  • If the above criteria met at least in 2 stations in a Meteorological subdivision for at least two consecutive days and it was declared on the second day.

Causes 

• The prevalence of extreme temperatures around the world is the result of local factors and also global warming.
  • Scientists have made clear how greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions exacerbate temperatures in the oceans, leading to soaring temperatures. 
• Anthropogenic GHG emissions are culprit in the current plight from intense weather.
  • Crucially, heatwaves and wildfires are ‘unimaginable’ without human-caused climate change.

Impacts 

• The intensity and frequency of heatwaves have soared in South Asia and they are set to worsen in the years ahead. 
  • Over the last 100 years, global temperatures have risen by 1.5°C and, at the current rate, could reach 4°C by 2100. 
    • So far in the year, 2022 has been the fifth-warmest year on record.
• Extreme heat conditions have hit swathes of India in the northern States of Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, and New Delhi.
  • now increasingly also in the south.
• Labour-intensive agriculture and construction have become near impossible during afternoons.
• High economic losses:
  • The impacts are dire across the world and they are proving to be Europe’s deadliest climate disaster. 
  • India faces the largest heat exposure impacts in South Asia. 
    • Study finds that 1,41,308 lives were claimed by acute weather in India during 1971-2019, of which the loss of 17,362 lives was due to unrelenting heat, with mortality rates rising by two-thirds during the time period. 

• Worldwide economic losses, by one estimate, could reach U.S.$1.6 trillion (?1.6 lakh crore) annually if global warming exceeds 2°C. 

• Vulnerability of outdoors workers:
  • India, China, Pakistan, and Indonesia, where large numbers of people work outdoors, are among the most vulnerable.

• India’s outdoor workers, reeling under daily temperatures more than 40°C, are on the frontlines of the climate catastrophe. 

• Heatwaves are rooted in degraded land and relentless deforestation, which exacerbate wildfires. 
• Agriculture, being water-intensive, does not do well in heat wave-prone areas.

Measures need to be taken

• Initiation of  safety nets are required as a large segment of India’s population is dependent on outdoor work. 
  • India must initiate safety nets which are a combination of targeted transfers and insurance schemes to improve the resilience of outdoor workers. 
  • Transfers are best linked to the beneficiaries’ own efforts to build resilience, for example, adapting agricultural practices to the uptick in heatwaves.

• Promotion of better agricultural practices which are not water-intensive, and to support afforestation that has a salutary effect on warming.
• Climate mitigation or decarbonisation of economies on the part especially of the big emitters, such as the United States, the European Union, China, and India remains an imperative. 
  • Reversing climate change is predicated on leading emitters, including India, moving away from carbon-emitting fossil fuels, and replacing them with cleaner, renewable fuels. 

• Adaptation 
  • Financial transfers can be targeted to help farmers plant trees and buy equipment better suited for the extreme weather. 
    • For example, support for drip irrigation can reduce heavy water usage. 
    • Averting slash and burn agriculture and stubble burning is not only key to cutting air pollution but also cooling temperatures. 
    • Urban greenery such as street trees, urban forests and green roofs can help cool urban areas. 
• Collaboration for insurance
  • Insurance schemes can help transfer some of the risks of severe heat faced by industrial, construction and agricultural workers to insurers.
    • But Insurance against natural hazards is minimal not only in India but also Asia where less than 10% of the losses are typically covered. 
  • Government and insurers need to collaborate in providing greater coverage of losses from extreme weather events, including for calamities from brutal heat.

• Projections of IMD 
  • It can guide future scenarios, which the Central government can use to develop subsidies and insurance schemes linked to State and district-level actions for building resilience to climate change. 
• Priority
  • India offers a range of food and fuel subsidies, but most of them are poorly targeted. 
    • As the efficiency and the equity of existing subsidies are re-examined, the provision of transfers and insurance linked to building climate resilience should become a priority.

• Awareness
  • Workers in cities and villages can benefit from early warning systems and better preparedness as well as community outreach programmes during an episode.