Heatwaves in South Asia to Become More Common

The residents of South Asia for the last couple of years have faced severe heat waves resulting in the deaths of thousands. 

According to new research, the fatal heat waves would be more frequent in the future. The situation is more likely to be three times worse, if global warming isn’t controlled.

However, there is a way to stop this. Mr. Moetasim Ashfaq, a climate scientist at the US-based Oak Ridge National Laboratory, said “The future looks bad for South Asia, but the worst can be avoided by containing global warming to as low as possible”. If the world can meet the goal, set under the Paris agreement, and succeed in limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial times.  

According to the same study, it is imperative that South Asia try to curb the global warming level now and not in the future. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has advised that emissions must fall by 45% by the year 2030, compared to the global emission levels of the year 2010.

Related: Environmental risks to Pakistan 

Before the COP26 UN climate talks in November, 75 countries had presented plans to cut down on the level of emissions. A UN report says, “The plans have barely made a dent in the huge cuts needed to meet the global climate goal”.

The study mentioned above, looked at the “wet bulb temperature” which records humidity and temperature, along with projected population growth and climate simulations, to calculate the approximate number of individuals that can be severely affected by these heat waves.

According to the health experts, if the Wet Bulb Temperature exceeds 35 Celsius the body cannot cool itself, which is extremely unsafe.  This could severely affect the agriculture sector of Pakistan.

Let’s hope KMC’s Green Karachi campaign and similar projects are able to bring down some of the greenhouse gas emissions. 

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