India underestimating heatwave impact

India underestimating heatwave impact

Section: Geography

Section: Climatology

Context: Climate experts and policymakers should re-evaluate the metrics for assessing the country’s climate vulnerability as heatwaves in India and the Indian subcontinent become recurrent and long-lasting.

More on the News:

• India has been underestimating the impact of heatwaves on its development. More than 90 per cent of the country is at risk of suffering losses in livelihood capacity, food grains yields, vector-borne disease spread and urban sustainability.
• The government’s estimate is from the National Climate Vulnerability Index (CVI), developed by the Department of Science and Technology.
• CVI is a composite index that uses various indicators to evaluate climate impact on India’s socio-economic features and livelihood, biophysical, institutional and infrastructural characteristics.
• CVI is a robust metric. But it underestimates the vulnerability from heatwaves as it does not include any physical risk factors from extreme heat, according to a new study by the University of Cambridge.
• Climate experts and policymakers should re-evaluate the metrics for assessing the country’s climate vulnerability as heatwaves in India and the Indian subcontinent become recurrent and long-lasting, they added.

Heat Waves:

• A heat wave is a period of abnormally high temperatures, more than the normal maximum temperature that occurs during the summer season in the North-Western and South Central parts of India.
• It is a condition of air temperature which becomes fatal to the human bodywhen exposed.
• The IMD declares a heatwave when the maximum temperature crosses a certain threshold — 40°C in the plains, 37°C along the coast, and 30°C in hilly regions.
• Alternatively, a heatwave is declared if the maximum temperature rises by between 5°C and 6.4°C above normal.
• A severe heatwaveis declared when the maximum temperature rises more than 6.4°C above normal.
• A third condition for a heatwave arises when an area records a maximum temperature of more than 45°C and up to 47°C on any given day.