Bhubaneswar: More than 84 per cent (pc) of districts in India are susceptible to extreme heat waves with around 70 pc  of them also witnessing a rise in frequent and extreme rainfall, a new study by IPE Global and Esri India has pointed out.

Released recently at a National Symposium titled "How can India address climate extremes" organised by IPE Global, Esri India, UNESCO, and Climate Trends, the study, the first of its kind, shed light on the worrying trend of frequent and unpredictable extreme weather events in the recent decades.

The report https://www.ipeglobal.com/more-than-70-pc-of-indian-districts-are-exposed-to-extreme-rainfall-events/revealed that during the months of March-April-May (MAM) and June-July-August-September (JJAS), India has seen a 15-fold increase in extreme heat wave days over the past 30 years. Alarmingly, the last decade alone has witnessed a 19-fold increase in extreme heat wave days.

The study https://www.ipeglobal.com/most-indian-districts-recording-extremely-humid-heat-during-monsoon-report/also found that monsoon seasons in India are now increasingly characterised by extended summer-like conditions, except on non-rainy days. It even stated that around 8 out of 10 Indians will be susceptible to extreme event exposure by 2036. The shift in weather pattern will also cast a severe shadow on domains like agriculture, infrastructure, and public health.

Stressing on the significance of a data-driven approach for tackling the challenges, Managing Director of Esri India Agendra Kumar said the surge in frequent heat waves and rainfall are severely impacting human lives, livelihood and infrastructure for which informed policies backed by data need to be formulated.

Abinash Mohanty, Head of Climate Change and Sustainability Practice at IPE Global and the study's author attributed the the current trend in weather events to 0.6°C temperature rise in the last century. "The current trend of catastrophic extreme heat and rainfall events is a result of  El Niño is gaining momentum and making its early presence felt globally, with India facing extreme events more in patterns than waves," he said, adding that events like the recent landslides in Kerala's Wayanad caused due to erratic rainfall indicate the need for immediate action on urgent basis.

The study identified several states, including Gujarat, Rajasthan, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Meghalaya, and Manipur, as hotspots facing both extreme heat stress and erratic rainfall. It also noted that districts on both the eastern and western coasts are experiencing more unpredictable rainfall events.

To mitigate these risks, the study recommends establishing a heat risk observatory (HRO) to identify, assess, and project chronic and acute heat risks at a hyper-granular level https://www.climatecentre.org/13853/report-climate-change-added-nearly-a-months-worth-of-extreme-heat-over-last-year/