Alarming temperature levels in the capital city in the last two decades point to overall climate change and the fatal effects of deforestation on the environment. Shabiha Nur Khatoon presents a detailed analysis of the causation calculus of climate change.
Climate change today is a major global environmental challenge. It is a threat not just to the environment but also to growth and development of nations. Current assessments suggest that the harmful effect on human welfare due to climate change is greater than the cost of the measures required to mitigate the aftermath. The major factors behind climate change are temperature, humidity, precipitation, wind, atmospheric particles and atmospheric pressure. Therefore, the climate of a particular place depends on the terrain, altitude, nearby water bodies and their currents, and also the latitude of the place. Of all these temperature and precipitation (condensation of water vapour in the atmosphere) are the two most important components that control climate.
Thus any variance in these factors and components of the climate over a long period of time is known as climatic change or climate change. For example, we could cite one or two examples that most of us have experienced in Orissa. During the last 40 or 50 years, Bhubaneswar has never experienced hot summers at all. Till the 1980s, Bhubaneswar used to have the first showers during the third week of May. In the villages of Orissa the month of Kartika (October 15 to November 15) was the winter month, the days were short and the nights long. These changes could be natural for a variety of reasons. But the recent usage of the term “climate change” usually means changes in the climatic conditions accelerated by human intervention through rising temperature on the surface of the earth which is being referred to as “global warming”.
Causes
As one knows, the earth and the sun are undergoing natural changes due to their cooling down. Apart from that a number of factors have also led to changes in climate culminating in ice-ages. There have been at least four ice-ages before and no wonder there may be another. Actually, such shifts in the climate was responsible for change of perennial wet places with lakes turn into deserts as has happened in the case of Thar Desert about 5,000 years back. Similarly, Kashmir with a low and often sub-zero temperature is a new phenomenon through change of tropical climate. But such natural causes have been outweighed by causes due to human activities and this accentuates a wide variation in the surface temperature and so influences all the components of the climate.
Thus, climate change could be an offshoot of global warming. And global warming is primarily due to accumulation of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Moreover, carbon dioxide can survive in the atmosphere for many years, even for centuries and it hangs as a blanket upon earth. This blanket has a unique property of trapping heat. In fact, carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases are the real cause of global warming leading to climate change. Scientific evidence shows that a rise of 2 to 3 degrees Celsius of temperature over the present one can pose very serious threats to natural systems and human health. Carbon dioxide (CO2), which, while not the most potent greenhouse gas, is nevertheless the main driver of the greenhouse effect. When fossil fuels — coal, oil and natural gas — are burnt they release CO2 into the atmosphere. Because of this the layer of greenhouse gas is getting thicker, which is in turn making the earth warmer. Thus the ongoing unlimited burning of fossil fuels is the cause of climate change.
Climate change in Orissa
The recent scenario of Orissa’s fluctuating weather conditions suggest that it is reeling under climatic disorder. For more than a decade now, the state has experienced contrasting extreme weather conditions claiming many lives: from heat waves to super cyclones, from droughts to floods. As a result, Orissa’s economy has been ripped apart. Agriculture, which is regarded as the state’s backbone has been worst affected due to such changes in the microclimate and natural calamities. In the year 1998, the heat wave in Orissa was recorded as one of the worst, claiming more than 2000 lives. The mean daily maximum and minimum temperatures of the state were gradually increasing. Earlier western Orissa was a known calamity hotspot, but nowadays the coastal stretch is also experiencing heat waves. During the summer season Bhubaneswar has a mean maximum temperature above 40°C which is comparable to Sambalpur located in the western part of the state.
Like many parts of Orissa, Bhubaneswar has experienced natural disasters including extreme heat and cold, cyclones and floods, earthquakes, hailstorms and lightning strikes. Some are becoming worse as a result of climate change, experts say. There is considerable reduction in forest cover due to encroachment and land use change and economic development activities like construction of roads, canals and power stations. Forests are the major source of carbon sequestration and the womb of biodiversity, which acts as the main artery of any environment and ecosystem. The National Action Plan on Climate Change (NAPCC) estimates that 68 per cent of the forest area in the country is likely to experience shift in forest types by the end of the 21st century, which needs our immediate attention.
In 2012, Bhubaneswar became the hottest state capital in the country when the temperature was recorded 46.6 degree Celsius. Not only this, the state capital was followed by Talcher (45.1 dc), Chandbali (45 dc), Sambalpur (44.7 dc), Hikarud (44.5 dc), Angul (44.3 dc) and Bhawanipatna (44.2 dc). There was no respite in sight from the gruelling heat; the heat wave took lives of at least 30 people who died due to sun-stroke.
That’s not all! Orissa is no stranger to cyclones, but the 1999 cyclone was unprecedented for the sheer severity, with wind speed reaching over 300 km/h, leaving nearly 10,000 dead, and has gone down in history as the super cyclone.
Sunday POST spoke to some experts and environmentalists regarding climate change and the severity of the summer months in Bhubaneswar in recent years. Here’s what they said:Sarat Chandra Sahu, director of the Meteorological Centre, Bhubaneswar, said, “The declaration of heat wave in Orissa has become an annual affair. Gradual disappearance of natural water bodies and the onslaught of development have made Bhubaneswar hotter than Jaipur or Delhi. Though Bhubaneswar continues to retain its green canopy despite the super cyclone in 1999 and Phailin in 2013, and Hudhud in 2014, the mercury is shooting up during the summer months. As we all know, there are several factors which are responsible for climate change like greenhouse gases, changing land patterns — like earlier there existed grassy lands; but today to stretch the city further we are concretising land by making buildings and expanding roads which are leading to deforestation. Bhubaneswar faces extreme heat nearly every summer. In 1998, the mercury rose to an unprecedented 46 degrees Celsius (115 Fahrenheit) during a heat wave that claimed 123 lives and took the unprepared citizenry by surprise.”
He also said that while in different parts of Orissa temperatures have risen in Bhubaneswar the rise is alarming. Compared to the last decade there is increase in the temperature by 0.6 degrees Celsius this decade and it shouldn’t be taken lightly as it is a matter of concern and necessary steps should be taken to stop this fatal trend.
Environmentalist Bijay Mishra says we are badly polluting our environment. “Global warming is also responsible in making the summer months seem longer and unbearable. Summers now begins in February and ends in June. Earlier, it lasted from March to May. The other reasons for global warming are deforestation for expansion of roads, open dumping, technology and the main thing is that people are not conscious and concerned about how climate is changing drastically. For instance, take polythene; we all bring grocery items from the supermarket in polythene bags and after use we dump them in the drain which results in pollution and there is no scope for recycling,” he said.
Another environmentalist SN Patra said, “In the 1999 Orissa super cyclone over 10,000 people were killed and thousands were rendered homeless. In the drought-affected pockets of Orissa, hunger deaths occurred in 2001 because of acute food shortage and malnutrition despite a relatively good harvest and buffer stocks of 60 million tonne of foodgrain in the Food Corporation of India’s godowns. The food shortage had a lot to do with the nature of people’s interaction with the market, and exploitative work conditions. Land degradation, which today affects 175 million of India’s 329 million hectares, is also increasing because of human intervention. Natural grasslands are disappearing because of overgrazing. Water logging, over-fertilization and mining are degrading huge tracts of land. The effect of this on people’s lives can be seen in western Orissa where deforestation, mining and the decline of traditional irrigation and agricultural systems have caused land degradation on a large scale, leading to one of the worst drought conditions in the country. This, in turn, leads to large-scale seasonal and permanent migration to urban slums.