India making all efforts to combat climate change: Harsh Vardhan on IPCC fatal heatwave warning

India is making all efforts to combat climate change, Union Environment Minister Harsh Vardhan Tuesday said on Tuesday in response to the Intergovernmental Panel for Climate Change warning that India could witness deadly heatwaves.

A report released by the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel for Climate Change (IPCC) on Monday stated that India could witness deadly heatwaves if the planet’s temperature goes up by two degrees Celsius.

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“We have not been waiting for a report to take action against climate change. We are already putting all our efforts to ensure that the global temperature does not further increase,” Vardhan told reporters at an event in Delhi.

A report on ‘Strengthening Forest Fire Management in India, jointly prepared by the Environment, Forest and Climate Change Ministry and the World Bank, was released at the event.

The environment minister, addressing the event, expressed confidence that “India would be able to combat climate change” with all measures ready.

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India and other countries with large populations dependent on agriculture and fishery will be highly impacted due to greater sea level rise, higher frequency of droughts and floods, and heatwaves, the environmental think-tank - Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) – said.

The IPCC report on global warming predicted that “at +1.5, twice as many mega cities as present such as Lagos in Nigeria and Shanghai in China are likely to become heat stressed, potentially exposing more than 350 million more people to deadly heat stress by 2050.”

“At +2 degree Celsius warming, Karachi (Pakistan) and Kolkata (India) could expect annual conditions equivalent to their deadly 2015 heatwaves (medium confidence),” it said. ‘

Junaid Ahmad, Country Director, the World Bank, addressing the event, also said the world is relying on India more than before to address the challenges of climate change.

(With inputs from agencies)