The World Meteorological Organization’s State of the Climate in Asia 2024 report warns that the region is warming nearly twice as fast as the global average, driving more extreme weather and posing serious threats to lives, ecosystems, and economies. In 2024, Asia experienced its warmest or second warmest year on …
BETWA SHARMA CANCUN As delegates strug gle to arrive at a consensus on key climate change issues at the annual climate change conference in Cancun, the World Meteorological Organisation has released a report which says 2010 is the hottest year ever recorded. "The year 2010 is almost certain to rank …
Meena Menon Need strong action to enforce mitigation, adaptation steps: World Climate Research Programme director Attendants use an Earth viewer on Tuesday in Cancun, Mexico, where global talks on climate change opened on Monday. CANCUN: The frequency of extreme climate events, their magnitude and extent are increasing and there is …
The occurrences of some exceptionally very heavy rainfall during the recent years and causing flash floods in many areas forced to study the long term changes in extreme rainfall over India. The study includes the analysis of the frequency of rainy days, rain days and heavy rainfall days as well …
The Bali Action Plan shines with lots of hopes for developing countries that in two years there would be a shared vision to combat global warming. In that plan, the shared vision was portrayed as a ‘long term cooperative action” which would include a “long term global goal for emission …
As in previous years, the Global Climate Risk Index 2011 analyses to what extent countries have been affected by the impacts of weather-related loss events (storms, floods, heat waves etc.). The most recent available data from 2009 as well as for the period 1990-2009 were taken into account. This year
This short note provides a brief extract from WMO's annual report on the Status of the Global Climate and a summary for 2010. It summarises significant events observed during the past year, including El Ni
This document is intended to provide an overview on why and how adaptation policies should consider the vulnerability of, and new risk elements for, health and environment arising from water services management during adverse weather episodes. It reviews the issue of trends and impacts of extremes events and raises awareness …
On a brief visit to Pakistan this week I noted that the recent floods have left deep impressions on the country’s policy and political leadership. They spoke about the scale of devastation, human suffering and the massive challenge of rehabilitation. They also noted, interestingly, that in their view there was …
People living in different coastal areas of Bangladesh have been suffering from lack of food security. There are many reasons behind that such as lower crop productivity and less cropping intensity due to increased salinity, increased incidences of pests & diseases, erratic rainfall, higher temperature, drought, tidal surges, cyclone, submergence, …
This report explores the answer to a difficult question: what are the potential costs for coastal adaptation from 2010 until 2050 in response to human-induced climate change? It analysis sea-level rise as a climate driver, and considers the possibility of enhanced storm impacts due to higher water levels in areas …
A cloud burst over arid Himalayan town of Leh in Ladakh on August 6, pouring some 250 mm of rain in an hour. The sudden downpour triggered flash floods and mudslides, killing over 180 people and wiping out the old town of Leh and two villages. Weathermen say the high-altitude …
New York City just had its hottest June-to-August stretch on record. Moscow, suffering from a once-in-a-millennium heat wave, tallied thousands of deaths, a toll that included hundreds of inebriated, overheated citizens who stumbled into rivers and lakes and didn
With high Andean peaks and a humid tropical forest, Bolivia is a country of ecological extremes. But the unusually low winter temperatures experienced by the country's tropical region in July and August hit freshwater species hard, killing an estimated 6 million fish and thousands of alligators, turtles and river dolphins.
This publication provides background information and a framework for discussing mountain issues in the context of the current climate change dialogue. It synthesizes the state of current knowledge and provides an overview of the evolution and status of the global Mountain agenda from the time it was agreed upon during …
Cloudbursts are usually triggered by mountain formations that lead to lifting of moisture-laden winds and forming of a convective cloud. Cloudbursts are common in the western Himalaya. Western disturbances over the Leh region on August 5 might have also triggered the cloudburst, said M Rajeevan, of National Atmospheric Research Laboratory, …
Justin GillisMost researchers trained in climate analysis offer evidence to show that weather extremes are getting worse.It will be a while before scientists publish definitive analyses of the Russian heatwave and the Pakistani floods, which might shed light on the role of climate change.The floods battered New England, then Nashville, …
The Leh cloudburst has again brought out the glaring lack of adequate documentation on such sporadic weather events. J Srinivasan, chairman of Divecha Centre for Climate Change and head of Centre for Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences, Indian Institute of Science, tells TOI
Several regions of the world are currently coping with severe weather-related events: flash floods and widespread flooding in large parts of Asia and parts of Central Europe while other regions are also affected: by heatwave and drought in Russian Federation, mudslides in China and severe droughts in sub-Saharan Africa. While …
