Reclaiming democracy via voters’ whip

Context: Rising climate disruption worldwide need us to seriously ponder on how we are going to adjust our lives to this new climate normal.

Threat of global climate change:

• Heatwaves in North America, devastating cyclones in the pre-monsoon weeks and extreme rainfall events in India, massive floods in China and floods in  Germany are all part of the same larger story.
• The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has been warning of the catastrophic impacts of global warming for decades.

Challenges in tackling climate change:

• Wrong policymaking: The public discourse on climate change often focuses on future projections of temperature rise under different emission scenarios. 
  • This leads to the wrong perception among policymakers and the general public that climate change is still a few decades away.
• Fast-changing weather patterns: The Indian monsoon has seen definite deviations — an overall weakening of the monsoon circulation, longer dry spells, higher frequency and intensity of extreme rainfall and reduction in the total rainfall in the June-to-September season
  • Such warming is not only affecting the monsoon circulation but also increasing the frequency, intensity and duration of cyclones and causing extreme rainfall.
  • For E.g. the tropical cyclone Tauktae that hit the Gujarat coast in the pre-monsoon weeks remained active even 24 hours after its landfall.
• Inadequate climate diplomacy: Climate diplomats are still engaged in the crucial issues of climate finance, emission reduction and the target of limiting temperature rise to 1.5 degrees, with the latest of achieving net-zero emissions by 2050.
  • All these are long-term goals and ambitions, with little impact on the situation on the ground.

Way Forward:

• Recognise the intrinsic connection between climate change and extreme weather events.
• Need to boost research in climate science to gain further insights:
  • This is better done by fine-tuning weather forecasting and dovetailing forecast with administrative and community action on the ground.
  • IMD has begun issuing an ‘impact forecast’ that covers the likely outcome of predictions in a given area, taking into account its topography and other parameters.
  • For instance, when heavy rainfall is predicted in a particular district, people can be warned if it will lead to flooding.
  • In the same way, an early warning system for landslides and other steps are taken to reduce risk in identified locations.
• Need to review all relevant policies and take corrective action: To reduce the impact of extreme weather events such as heavy rainfall and resulting floods.
  • A long-term solution would be to redrawing city plans, wherever they exist, to restoring lakes and natural drainage systems and building stormwater systems.
  • All cities on our coasts — Mumbai, Chennai, Visakhapatnam etc. — need to be climate-resilient or prepared for extreme rainfall events as well as sea-level rise and storm surges.
  • Climate concerns should be kept in mind while building large infrastructure projects and industries. EIA should be made more stringent.