Working towards a climate-resilient future

A recent conference 'India 2047: Building a Climate-Resilient Future' brought together leading experts in climate science, public health, medicine, labour, business, agriculture, and urban planning for a series of interdisciplinary dialogues on advancing climate resilience.

- Meena Janardhan

The conference, according to its website, addressed the effects of extreme climatic events such as extreme heat intensifying across the Global South - particularly in India - with far-reaching impacts on the environment, economy, and society demanding urgent, evidence-based solutions.

Startlingly, as an analysis in the ScienceAdviser pointed out, at this conference, scientists said that despite its extreme heat waves, the country's decades-long warming trend amounts to half the global average. The analysis goes on to highlight a surprising statistic. On a world map showing how 2024 temperatures deviated from a historical baseline, many countries were coloured deep red, denoting an increase of I°C to 2°C. But one large, pale spot stood out in the tropics. As Indians gird themselves for what could be a third summer in a row of extreme heat, the analysis says, they might be surprised to hear their country is warming more slowly than many others. Last year, India saw its highest recorded temperature and its longest spell of heat waves. But annual mean temperatures have risen by less than 0.7°C since 1901-about half the global average. Scientists do not fully understand why.