Mitigating Climate Change Impact

The latest warning on climate change impact sounded by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has held out the mirror to the world leaders and global communities about the worrying health of the earth. If the report is ignored and concerted action for retarding the alarming pace of climate change is not taken some of the changes will only become irreversible. The second part of the Sixth Assessment Report, Climate Change 2022 finalized by the IPCC on February 27 has listed the priorities for policymakers that deserve immediate attention and due policy formulation without delay. The report cautions that if global warming transiently exceeds 1.5°C in the coming decades or later (overshoot), then many human and natural systems will face additional severe risks. Depending on the magnitude and duration of overshoot, some impacts will cause the release of additional greenhouse gases and some will be irreversible, even if global warming is reduced, it adds. It explains that global warming, reaching 1.5°C in the near term, would cause unavoidable increases in multiple climate hazards and present multiple risks to ecosystems and humans. The level of risk will depend on concurrent near-term trends in vulnerability, exposure, level of socioeconomic development and adaptation (high confidence). It sounded the hope of mitigation that near-term actions that limit global warming to close to 1.5°C "would substantially reduce projected losses and damage related to climate change in human systems and ecosystems, compared to higher warming levels, but warns that such actions cannot eliminate them all. "Climate change impacts and risks are becoming increasingly complex and more difficult to manage. Multiple climate hazards will occur simultaneously, and multiple climatic and non-climatic risks will interact, resulting in compounding overall risk and risks cascading across sectors and regions. Some responses to climate change result in new impacts and risks," states the report. Harping on urgent action to deal with rising risks, the IPCC pointed out that increased heatwaves, droughts and floods are already exceeding plants' and animals' tolerance thresholds, driving mass mortalities in species such as trees and corals and these weather extremes are occurring simultaneously, causing cascading impacts that are increasingly difficult to manage. Already millions of people especially in Africa, Asia, Central and South America, on Small Islands and in the Arctic have been exposed to acute food and water insecurity as a result, the report highlights and recommends that to avoid mounting loss of life, biodiversity and infrastructure, ambitious, accelerated action is required to adapt to climate change, at the same time as making rapid, deep cuts in greenhouse gas emissions. The global panel has expressed concern that so far, progress on adaptation is uneven and there are increasing gaps between action taken and what is needed to deal with the increasing risks. These gaps are largest among lower-income populations, the report finds. The latest report has several new components including a special section on climate change impacts, risks and options to act for cities and settlements by the sea, tropical forests, mountains, biodiversity hotspots, dryland and deserts, the Mediterranean as well as the polar region. An atlas on observed and projected climate change impacts and risks from global to regional scales offers insights for policymakers and executives. In Asia, the report highlights that increased floods and droughts together with heat stress will hurt food availability and prices of food resulting in increased undernourishment in South and Southeast Asia. With flood and erosion situations worsening in Assam and occurrence extreme weather situations, the policymakers in the state will have many technical details in the report to refer to while formulating a climate change mitigation roadmap. The recent instance of unprecedented hailstorms in Guwahati and other parts of the state left most people gripped by the apprehension of more extreme weather conditions in the coming days. Drastic fall in the water level of the Brahmaputra has kept alive such apprehension and scientists coming up with proper scientific explanations in the backdrop of the latest IPCC report will go long a way in answering the questions of the general public. Another key impact of climate change in respect of Asia brought to the fore by IPCC is a rise in migration which has special significance to Assam. The IPCC claims that there is high evidence, a medium agreement that increased climate variability and extreme events are already driving migration and medium evidence, medium agreement projecting longer-term climate change will increase migration flows across Asia. It pointed out that in 2019, Bangladesh, China, India and the Philippines each recorded more than 4 million disaster-induced displacements. Assam already is facing demographic threat due to unabated and illegal migration from Bangladesh and erstwhile East Pakistan. The Central and the State governments need to act fast on the IPCC report and put priority strengthen border security to curb illegal crossing from Bangladesh into Assam.