Martianization - Fatal heat waves are testing India's ability to protect 1.4 billion people

 Photo: Bloomberg

Attempts in Kolkata and across India to improve resilience to extreme heat have often been equally ill-conceived, despite a death toll estimated at more than 24,000 since 1992

By Rajesh Kumar Singh  

In scorching heat on a busy Kolkata street last month, commuters sought refuge inside a glass-walled bus shelter where two air conditioners churned around stifling air. Those inside were visibly sweating, dabbing at their foreheads in sauna-like temperatures that were scarcely cooler than out in the open. 

Local authorities initially had plans to install as many as 300 of the cooled cabins under efforts to improve protections from a heat season that typically runs from April until the monsoon hits the subcontinent in June. There are currently only a handful in operation, and some have been stripped of their AC units, leaving any users sweltering.

 

“It doesn’t work,” Firhad Hakim, mayor of the city of 15 million in India’s eastern state of West Bengal, said on a searing afternoon when temperatures topped 40C. “You feel suffocated.”

Attempts in Kolkata and across India to improve resilience to extreme heat have often been equally ill-conceived, despite a death toll estimated at more than 24,000 since 1992. Inconsistent or incomplete planning, a lack of funding, and the failure to make timely preparations to shield a population of 1.4 billion are leaving communities vulnerable as periods of extreme temperatures become more frequent, longer in duration and affect a wider sweep of the country.

 

 

Kolkata, with its hot, humid climate and proximity to the Bay of Bengal, is particularly vulnerable to temperature and rainfall extremes, and ranked by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change as among the global locations that are most at risk. 

An increase in average global temperatures of 2C could mean the city would experience the equivalent of its record 2015 heat waves every year, according to the IPCC. High humidity can compound the impacts, as it limits the human body’s ability to regulate its temperature.

Even so, the city — one of India's largest urban centers — still lacks a formal strategy to handle heat waves.

 

2015 - 2024

 

 

Several regions across India will see as many as 11 heat wave days this month compared to 3 in a typical year, while maximum temperatures in recent weeks have already touched 47.2C in the nation’s east, according to the India Meteorological Department. Those extremes come amid a national election during which high temperatures are being cited as among factors for lower voter turnout.

At SSKM Hospital, one of Kolkata’s busiest, a waiting area teemed last month with people sheltering under colorful umbrellas and thronging a coin-operated water dispenser to refill empty bottles. A weary line snaked back from a government-run kiosk selling a subsidised lunch of rice, lentils, boiled potato and eggs served on foil plates.

 

 

“High temperatures can cause heat stroke, skin rashes, cramps and dehydration,” said Niladri Sarkar, professor of medicine at the hospital. “Some of these can turn fatal if not attended to on time, especially for people that have pre-existing conditions.” Extreme heat has an outsized impact on poorer residents, who are often malnourished, lack access to clean drinking water and have jobs that require outdoor work, he said.

Elsewhere in the city, tea sellers sweltered by simmering coal-fired ovens, construction workers toiled under a blistering midday sun, and voters attending rallies for the ongoing national elections draped handkerchiefs across their faces in an effort to stay cool. Kolkata’s state government in April advised some schools to shutter for an early summer vacation to avoid the heat.

 

 Since 2013, states, districts and cities are estimated to have drafted more than 100 heat action plans, intended to improve their ability to mitigate the effects of extreme temperatures. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government set out guidelines eight years ago to accelerate adoption of the policies, and a January meeting of the National Disaster Management Authority pledged to do more to strengthen preparedness.

 

 

The absence of such planning in Kolkata has also meant a failure to intervene in trends that have made the city more susceptible.

Almost a third of the city’s green cover was lost during the decade through 2021, according to an Indian government survey. Other cities including Mumbai and Bangalore have experienced similar issues. That’s combined with a decline in local water bodies and a construction boom to deliver an urban heat island effect, according to Saira Shah Halim, a parliamentary candidate in the Kolkata Dakshin electoral district in the city’s south. “What we’re seeing today is a result of this destruction,” she said.

 

 

Hakim, the city’s mayor, disputes the idea that Kolkata’s preparations have lagged, arguing recent extreme weather has confounded local authorities. “Such a kind of heat wave is new to us, we’re not used to it,” he said. “We’re locked with elections right now. Once the elections are over, we’ll sit with experts to work on a heat action plan.”

Local authorities are currently ensuring adequate water supplies, and have put paramedics on stand-by to handle heat-induced illnesses, Hakim said. 

Focusing on crisis management, rather than on better preparedness, is at the root of the country’s failings, according to Nairwita Bandyopadhyay, a Kolkata-based climatologist and geographer. “Sadly the approach is to wait and watch until the hazard turns into a disaster,” she said.

 

 

Even cities and states that already have heat action plans have struggled to make progress in implementing recommendations, the New Delhi-based think tank Centre for Policy Research said in a report last year reviewing 37 of the documents. 

Most policies don’t adequately reflect local conditions, they often lack detail on how action should be funded and typically don’t set out a source of legal authority, according to the report.

As many as 9 people have already died as a result of heat extremes this year, according to the meteorological department, though the figure is likely to significantly underestimate the actual total. That follows about 110 fatalities during severe heat waves during April and June last year, the World Meteorological Organization said last month.

 

 

Even so, the handling of extreme heat has failed to become a “political lightning rod that can stir governments into action,” said Aditya Valiathan Pillai, among authors of the CPR study and now a fellow at New Delhi-based Sustainable Futures Collaborative.

Modi's government has often moved to contain criticism of its policies, and there is also the question of unreliable data. “When deaths occur, one is not sure whether it was directly caused by heat, or whether heat exacerbated an existing condition,” Pillai said. 

In 2022, health ministry data showed 33 people died as a result of heat waves, while the National Crime Records Bureau – another agency that tracks mortality statistics – reported 730 fatalities from heat stroke.

 

Those discrepancies raise questions about a claim by India’s government that its policies helped cut heat-related deaths from 2,040 in 2015 to 4 in 2020, after national bureaucrats took on more responsibility for disaster risk management.  

Local officials in Kolkata are now examining potential solutions and considering the addition of more trees, vertical gardens on building walls and the use of porous concrete, all of which can help combat urban heat. 

India’s election is also an opportunity to raise issues around poor preparations, according to Halim, a candidate for the Communist Party of India (Marxist), whose supporters carry bright red flags at campaign events scheduled for the early morning and after sundown to escape extreme temperatures.

“I’m mentioning it,” she said. “It’s become a very, very challenging campaign. The heat is just insufferable.”

 

India heat wave kills thousands 

Desastres ambientais elevam número de deslocados no Brasil (Tendência é Mundial). DW

 

Eldorado do Sul foi atingida por enchentes em 2023 e novamente agora

Suzana Velasco

há 22 horashá 22 horas

País registrou 745 mil deslocamentos internos por desastres em 2023, o maior número já contabilizado. Com inundações no Rio Grande do Sul, recorde deve ser superado neste ano.

 

Em 2010, Nedine Beauger perdeu sua casa no terremoto em Porto Príncipe, no Haiti, e se tornou uma entre um milhão de desabrigados no país. Morou entre abrigos e ruas por dois anos, até que em 2015 decidiu emigrar para o Brasil. Em contato com uma comunidade de haitianos no Facebook, escolheu Porto Alegre. Aos 42 anos, mãe solo de uma filha de 5, ela se vê mais uma vez sem casa, mas agora longe da família, atingida pelas enchentes que assolam o Rio Grande do Sul.

"Foi difícil recomeçar no Brasil, saía para procurar trabalho sem falar português. Agora perdi tudo de novo, não sei para onde poderei ir", conta a haitiana, que morava no Sarandi, um dos bairros mais afetados pelas chuvas em Porto Alegre.

Hospedada na casa de um amigo haitiano depois de cinco dias num abrigo com a filha, Beauger faz parte dos mais de 600 mil deslocados pelas inundações no Rio Grande do Sul. O total não está distante dos 745 mil deslocamentos por desastres registrados em todo o ano de 2023 no Brasil, segundo relatório anual da organização não-governamental  Observatório de Deslocamento Interno (IDMC

, na sigla em inglês), divulgado nesta terça-feira (14/05).

 

Os números do IDMC são os mais altos para o Brasil desde o início dos registros, em 2008, e se referem a deslocamentos, não necessariamente a indivíduos, que podem se deslocar mais de uma vez. Em 2023, os deslocamentos foram causados sobretudo por chuvas no Amazonas, Pará, Acre e Maranhão e nos três estados da região Sul. No ano passado, o mundo também bateu recorde de deslocamentos por desastres: foram 26,4 milhões causados por inundações, deslizamentos, secas e queimadas, de acordo com o observatório.

Sejam desalojadas, caso de quem tem moradia temporária em outras casas, ou desabrigadas, essas pessoas não são refugiadas climáticas, porque não cruzaram as fronteiras nacionais, sustenta Andrea Pacífico, coordenadora desde 2012 do Núcleo de Estudo e Pesquisa sobre Deslocados Ambientais da Universidade Estadual da Paraíba.

 

Deslocados invisíveis

A pesquisadora lembra que não existem tratados internacionais para a proteção daqueles que costumam ser denominados "refugiados ambientais", termo usado pela primeira vez por um especialista do Programa das Nações Unidas para o Meio Ambiente, em 1985. Mas muitos países, como o Brasil, têm legislações com um entendimento ampliado para solicitações de refúgio ou de visto humanitário, que foi concedido, por exemplo, a muitos haitianos após o terremoto de 2010.

"Os estrangeiros que chegam ao Brasil por desastres naturais têm os direitos garantidos pela Lei de Migração de 2017, mas os deslocados internos ainda são invisíveis. Falamos desalojados, desabrigados, removidos", afirma Pacífico, que é professora de Relações Internacionais.

Ela ressalta que, apesar da ausência de tratados internacionais e da diferença entre refugiados e deslocados, o próprio Alto Comissariado da ONU Para Refugiados (Acnur) auxilia deslocados internos. "Se o Brasil passar a usar o termo, terá que responder internacionalmente por essas pessoas."

Com foco na proteção específica dessas populações, a deputada federal Erika Hilton (PSOL/SP) apresentou no dia 7 de maio um projeto de lei que cria a Política Nacional dos Deslocados Ambientais e Climáticos. Ele já ganhou a coautoria de 20 deputados, com o objetivo de pressionar o Congresso por uma tramitação de urgência.

Também no dia 7, a Comissão de Constituição e Justiça da Câmara dos Deputados aprovou um projeto de 2022 que dá prioridade a vítimas de desastres ambientais para a compra ou reconstrução de moradias no programa do governo federal Minha Casa, Minha Vida. O texto agora segue para o Senado.

Já no projeto de lei apresentado por Hilton, o acesso a moradia para deslocados ambientais é mais amplo, sem estar vinculado a um programa. O texto prevê ainda a alteração da CLT para dar estabilidade de dois anos aos deslocados ambientais.

 

Problema de definição e acesso a dados

O novo projeto de lei começou a ser gestado há dois anos pela ambientalista Naira Santa Rita Wayand após ela perder sua casa com inundações e deslizamentos em Petrópolis, município do Rio de Janeiro, em fevereiro de 2022. No ano passado, Wayand fundou o Instituto DuClima, que participou da elaboração do projeto junto com o Instituto Marielle Franco e a Rede Sul-Americana para as Migrações Ambientais (Resama).

"Meu apartamento era no primeiro andar, não ficava em área de risco, e a água chegou até o segundo. Enquanto isso, o Morro da Oficina ia abaixo", lembra ela, que se mudou com a mãe e o filho de 2 anos para Juiz de Fora, em Minas Gerais.

Wayand contou com a ajuda de seu empregador para se instalar em Juiz de Fora, onde a mãe fazia tratamento de saúde. Enquanto isso, percebeu uma grande alta de preços dos aluguéis em Petrópolis, o que chama de "capitalismo de desastre". "Não saí porque quis, mas porque fui forçada. Mas no meu caso, como todos os outros dos últimos 20, 50 anos, não houve auxílio do Estado", afirma.

Como ativista, Wayand defende o uso do termo "deslocados ambientais", mas reconhece que falar em "refugiado ambiental" causa comoção e muitas vezes é usado para a mobilização política, como fez a própria divulgação do projeto de lei.

 

Além do problema de definição, o acesso a dados comparativos é dificultado pela variedade de desastres e diferentes metodologias. A seca, por exemplo, não costuma ser considerada causa de deslocamentos no Brasil, afirma Andrea Pacífico, que tem pesquisa sobre o sertão do Nordeste.

"Meu pai e mãe são do sertão de Alagoas, sempre ouvi sobre as dificuldades dos sertanejos. Eles não têm nada de retirante. São forçados a migrar por sobrevivência", diz ela, que há três anos faz pesquisa de campo com deslocados por barragens na Paraíba.

De acordo com Ricardo Fal-Dutra Santos, coordenador regional do IDMC para as Américas, Europa e Ásia Central, como a seca é um desastre de evolução lenta, é mais difícil identificá-la como causa de deslocamento. Ainda assim, o relatório do observatório aponta 32 mil deslocamentos devido à seca na Amazônia em 2023, contra 700 em 2022. "É um aumento significativo", afirma. "O que continua uma lacuna para nosso entendimento são os números baixos de deslocamentos por queimadas, que sabemos que ocorrem, mas não se refletem nos dados no Brasil."

Natureza cíclica

De acordo com Santos, para a adoção de políticas públicas, é importante notar que os desastres têm uma natureza cíclica. No Rio Grande do Sul, a gravidade de enchentes anteriores foi desconsiderada, e famílias atingidas continuaram nos mesmos lugares que foram novamente destruídos, em intensidade muito mais forte. Agora, cidades inteiras do Rio Grande do Sul terão que ser reconstruídas, como Eldorado do Sul, Lajeado e Muçum.

(Martianization) - ‘Impossible’ heatwave struck Philippines in April, scientists find Human-caused climate crisis brought soaring temperatures across Asia, from Gaza to Delhi to Manila

 

A man tries to cool himself during hot temperatures in Manila, Philippines, last month. Photograph: Aaron Favila/AP

 

 

 

The record-breaking heatwave that scorched the Philippines in April would have been impossible without the climate crisis, scientists have found. Searing heat above 40C (104F) struck across Asia in April, causing deaths, water shortages, crop losses and widespread school closures.

The extreme heat was made 45 times more likely in India and five times more likely in Israel and Palestine, the study found. The scientists said the high temperatures compounded the already dire humanitarian crisis in Gaza, where displaced people are living in overcrowded shelters with little access to water.

The results of the latest study to assess the role of human-caused global heating in worsening extreme weather shows how severe the impacts are already, with only 1.2C of average heating above preindustrial levels over the past four years.

 

Another “impossible” heatwave hit west Africa and the Sahel in late March, again causing deaths, and reaching 48.5C in Mali. Deaths from extreme heat are poorly recorded in many countries but previous research suggests millions of people have died early over the past two decades. In Europe, where recording is better, heat-related deaths rose by 25% in the past decade.

The scientists warned of worse to come. If global temperature rises to 2C, repeats of April’s extreme heat will be expected every two to three years in the Philippines and every five years in Israel, Palestine and nearby countries. Hundreds of the world’s top climate scientists told the Guardian recently that they expected global inaction in ending fossil fuel burning to result in at least 2.5C of heating.

“From Gaza to Delhi to Manila, people suffered and died when April temperatures soared in Asia,” said Dr Friederike Otto at Imperial College London, part of the World Weather Attribution (WWA) study team. “The additional heat, driven by emissions from oil, gas and coal, is resulting in death for many people.”

Dr Carolina Pereira Marghidan, a heat risk consultant at the Red Cross Red Crescent Climate Centre, said: “The heat really compounded an already dire humanitarian crisis in Gaza, with displaced populations having limited to no access to food, water, healthcare, and generally living in overcrowded shelters which trap heat, or living outdoors.”

 

The WWA research examined three areas that suffered extreme heat in April. Global heating made temperatures 1.7C hotter in Israel, Palestine, Syria, Lebanon and Jordan, and 1C hotter in the Philippines, where 4,000 schools were closed and portable pools set up to help people cool down. The south Asian region examined encompassed India, where the temperature reached 46C, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Laos, Vietnam, Thailand and Cambodia.

“Climate change is an absolute gamechanger when it comes to extreme heat,” said Otto. The study used weather data and climate models to compare the likelihood of heatwaves in today’s hotter climate and in a climate without human-caused heating. The researchers found that the current El Niño climate cycle, which raises global temperatures, had very little effect on the increased likelihood of the heatwaves.

“Asia contains some of the largest and fastest-growing cities in the world,” said Pereira Marghidan. “This rapid urbanisation has in many cases led to unplanned development, increased concrete across the cities, and extreme losses of green space in many cities.” She said outdoor workers such as farmers and street vendors and those in informal housing were particularly vulnerable and that the study showed the need to improve heatwave early warning and planning programmes.

Hundreds of attribution studies have shown how global heating is already supercharging extreme weather across the world. Dr Mariam Zachariah at Imperial College London, who was part of the study team, said: “Unless the world takes massive, unprecedented steps to reduce emissions and keep warming to 1.5C, extreme heat will lead to even greater suffering in Asia.”

(Artic Melting) - Afghanistan flash floods kill more than 300 as torrents of water and mud crash through villages - theguardian.com

 

 Afghan men shovel mud from a house following flash floods after heavy rains at a village in the Baghlan-e-Markazi district of northern Afghanistan’s Baghlan province on Saturday. Photograph: Atif Aryan/AFP/Getty Images

More than 300 people were killed in flash floods that ripped through multiple provinces in Afghanistan, the UN’s World Food Programme said, as authorities declared a state of emergency and rushed to rescue the injured.

Many people remained missing after heavy rains on Friday sent roaring rivers of water and mud crashing through villages and across agricultural land in several provinces, causing what one aid group described as a “major humanitarian emergency”.

Survivors picked through muddy, debris-littered streets and damaged buildings on Saturday as authorities and non-governmental groups deployed rescue workers and aid, warning that some areas had been cut off by the flooding.

 

Northern Baghlan province was one of the hardest hit, with more than 300 people killed there alone, and thousands of houses destroyed or damaged, according to the World Food Programme.

“On current information: in Baghlan province there are 311 fatalities, 2,011 houses destroyed and 2,800 houses damaged,” said Rana Deraz, a communications officer for the UN agency in Afghanistan.

There were disparities between the death tolls provided by the government and humanitarian agencies.

The UN’s International Organisation for Migration said on Saturday that there were 218 deaths in Baghlan. Abdul Mateen Qani, spokesman for the interior ministry, told Agence France-Presse that 131 people had been killed in Baghlan, but that the government toll could rise.

“Many people are still missing,” he said.

Another 20 people were reported dead in northern Takhar province and two in neighbouring Badakhshan, he added.

 Taliban government spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said on Twitter/X: “Hundreds of our fellow citizens have succumbed to these calamitous floods.”

 He added: “The deluge has wrought extensive devastation upon residential properties, resulting in significant financial losses.”

 

Torrential rains caused heavy damage in Baghlan, Takhar and Badakhshan, as well as western Ghor and Herat provinces, officials said, in a country racked by poverty and heavily dependent on agriculture.

“My house and my whole life was swept away by the flood,” said Jan Mohammad Din Mohammad, a resident of the Baghlan provincial capital, Pul-e-Khumri.

His family had managed to flee to higher ground but when the weather cleared and they returned home, “there was nothing left, all my belongings and my house had been destroyed”, he said.

“I don’t know where to take my family … I don’t know what to do.”

Emergency personnel were rushing to rescue injured and stranded Afghans. The air force said it had started evacuation operations as skies cleared on Saturday, adding that more than 100 injured people had been transferred to hospital.

“By announcing the state of emergency in [affected] areas, the ministry of national defence has started distributing food, medicine and first aid to the impacted people,” it said.

A vehicle laden with food and water was seen in Baghlan’s Baghlan-i-Markazi district, as well as others carrying the dead to be buried.

  The bodies of Afghans killed in the floods are placed on the ground in Baghlan province, northern Afghanistan, on Saturday. Photograph: Mehrab Ibrahimi/AP

 

The UN secretary general, António Guterres, “expresses his solidarity with the people of Afghanistan [and] extends his condolences to the families of the victims”, said his spokesperson, Stephane Dujarric, adding that the UN was working with local authorities on providing assistance.

The International Rescue Committee (IRC) was also preparing a rapid response, adding that the floods should act as an “alarm bell” reminding world leaders and donors not to forget a country devastated by decades of conflict and beset by natural calamity.

“These latest floods have caused a major humanitarian emergency in Afghanistan, which is still reeling from a string of earthquakes” this year and severe flooding in March, IRC country director Salma Ben Aissa said.

Since mid-April, flash flooding and other floods had left about 100 people dead in 10 of Afghanistan’s provinces, authorities said.

Farmland has been swamped in a country where 80% of the more than 40 million people depend on agriculture to survive.

Afghanistan – which had a relatively dry winter, making it more difficult for the soil to absorb rainfall – is highly vulnerable to climate change.

The nation, ravaged by four decades of war, is one of the world’s poorest and, according to scientists, one of the worst prepared to face the consequences of global warming.

The UN special rapporteur for human rights in Afghanistan, Richard Bennett, said on Twitter/X that the floods were “a stark reminder of Afghanistan’s vulnerability to the climate crisis”.

“Both immediate aid and long term planning by the Taliban and international actors are needed.”

(Antarctic Melting) - Disease and hunger soar in Latin America after floods and drought, study finds - theguardian.com

 

Flooding in Porto Alegre was caused by devastating torrents and has killed at least 95 people. Photograph: André Penner/AP

 

Hunger and disease are rising in Latin America after a year of record heat, floods and drought, a report by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) has shown.

The continent, which is trapped between the freakishly hot Pacific and Atlantic Oceans, probably suffered tens of thousands of climate-related deaths in 2023, at least $21bn (£17bn) of economic damage and “the greatest calorific loss” of any region, the study found.

The climate chaos, caused by a combination of human-driven global heating and a natural El Niño effect, is continuing with devastating floods in the southern Brazilian city of Porto Alegre, which have killed at least 95 people and deluged swathes of farmland after the world’s hottest April in human history.

Global heat records have now been broken for 11 months in a row, causing death and destruction across many parts of the planet. Latin America and the Caribbean have experienced some of the worst effects.

In a summary of last year’s toll in this region, the WMO said disasters and climate change, along with socioeconomic shocks, are the main drivers of acute food insecurity, which affects 13.8 million people.

 

Acapulco in Mexico had a category 5 hurricane last year, the first ever to make landfall on the Pacific coast. Photograph: David Guzmán/EPA

 

As the climate warms, diseases are spreading across a greater area. The WMO noted that more than 3m cases of dengue fever were reported in the first seven months of 2023, breaking the previous annual record for the region. Uruguay experienced its first cases of chikungunya and Chile widened alerts about the Aedes aegypti mosquito vector.

There were an average of 36,695 heat-related excess deaths each year in the region in the first two decades of this century. Last year’s toll has not yet been calculated, but it is likely to exceed the average given the record temperatures and prolonged heatwaves in many areas.

Mexico had a record high of 51.4C on 29 August, and many areas sweltered in a prolonged heatwave. By the end of the year, 76% of Mexico was experiencing some degree of drought. In October Acapulco was hit by the first ever category 5 hurricane to make landfall on the Pacific coastline. Hurricane Otis killed at least 48 people, damaged 80% of the city’s hotels and left damages calculated at $12bn.

Other areas of Central and South America endured unusually fierce heat and prolonged drought. The Panama Canal had 41% less rainfall than normal, causing difficulties for one of the most important conduits of world trade.

Brazil, the biggest country in Latin America, experienced record winter heat in excess of 41C and severe droughts in the Amazon rainforest, where the Rio Negro recorded its lowest level in more than 120 years of observations, fires raged around Manaus and more than 100 baiji river dolphins died in the hot, shallow, polluted waters of Lake Tefé.

The south of Brazil has repeatedly suffered deadly flooding. At least 65 people died in São Paulo in February 2023 after torrential rains and landslides. Another 48 were killed and 20,000 displaced in the state of Rio Grande do Sul in September after 300mm of rain fell in 24 hours and now the same southern state is deluged once again. Streets have turned to rivers in Porto Alegre, the capital, forcing the international airport to close while the football pitch of the Arena do Grêmio resembles a lake.

 

 In Lake Tefé, Brazil, river dolphins died in hot, shallow and polluted waters. Photograph: Bruno Kelly/Reuters

 

Last year, floods also took lives, disrupted business or ruined crops in Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, Paraguay, Peru and Bolivia.

Combined with drought, this has hurt agricultural production in one of the world’s most important food production regions. Wheat production in Argentina fell 30% below the five-year average, and a similar loss is expected in the harvest of the grain in the Brazilian state of Paraná and Rio Grande do Sul. Some of these losses have been offset by record maize production in other parts of Brazil, but food prices are rising. Overall, Latin America has suffered significant calorific losses, the report said. In countries that are also experiencing political and economic problems, such as Venezuela, Haiti and parts of Colombia, this is creating a food crisis.

The costs in human lives, lost food production and economic damage are expected to rise for as long as humans continue to burn gas, oil, coal and trees, which emit heat-trapping gases into the atmosphere.

“Sadly, this is probably only the beginning,” said Prof José Marengo, the lead author of the WMO report and director of the Brazil National Center for Monitoring and Early Warning of Natural Disasters. “Extreme events are becoming more frequent and the period of return is becoming shorter.”

 

 

 

(Antarctic Melting) - Temporais no RS deixam 100 mortos e 128 desaparecidos - Tragédia no Rio Grande do Sul deixa clara a necessidade de discutir como mitigar e se adaptar às mudanças climáticas

 

 Antarctic Melts

SITUAÇÃO NO RS APÓS AS CHUVAS 05/05/2024

• 66 mortes
• 101 desaparecidos
• 155 feridos
• 707.190 pessoas afetadas
• 15.192 desabrigados
• 80.573 desalojados
• 418 mil imóveis sem energia
• 1 milhão de imóveis sem água

Estado, que tem sofrido ora com tempestades e ora com estiagens, precisa de ajuda emergencial, mas também para ações preventivas

Por Míriam Leitão

02/05/2024 10h58  Atualizado há um dia

Uma visão aérea mostra áreas inundadas na cidade de Encantado, Rio Grande do Sul: Mais de 10 pessoas morreram em enchentes causadas por chuvas torrenciais — Foto: Gustavo Ghisleni / AFP

O Rio Grande do Sul tem sofrido de forma contundente com os extremos climáticos. Neste momento são as chuvas, mas como me lembrou o próprio governador Eduardo Leite, numa conversa recente, nos últimos anos o estado foi vítima de três estiagens que levaram a uma queda da produção de grãos de 40%. E aí depois vieram as tempestades, em setembro passado, que agora se repetem em um cenário de ainda maior gravidade.

Governo do Rio Grande do Sul declara estado de calamidade pública: Decreto foi publicado na noite de quarta-feira, no Diário Oficial, e permanecerá em vigor por 180 dias

Dez mortos pelas chuvas no RS: cenário é de piora e 'gravidade extrema' para os próximos dias, apontam meteorologistas

Quando se fala em mudanças climáticas, há dois pontos importantes: mitigação e adaptação. A adaptação é exatamente esse esforço de encontrar formas de proteger a população, diante da perspectiva de desastres climáticos. E essa é uma tarefa de todos, da defesa civil de todo o Brasil, dos planejadores urbanos, dos administradores, é um trabalho coletivo que tem que ser feito, não pode mais ser adiado.

Os últimos anos no Rio Grande do Sul foram difíceis, o que demanda uma atenção extra com o estado. Do ponto de vista da economia, o Rio Grande do Sul tem feito um trabalho muito bom. O governador Eduardo Leite, vêm colocando em ordem as contas públicas, mas as tragédias climáticas frequentes impõem um desafio extra não só pelo lado da economia, mas pelo humano. Os relatos são dramáticos, há quem perdeu em menos de um ano, por conta da chuva, duas vezes tudo o que tinha em casa.

O Rio Grande do Sul precisa de ajuda do governo federal para apoiar tanto o resgate dos moradores em risco, quanto as ações preventivas, afinal como todos sabemos os efeitos das mudanças climáticas devem se agravar.

Chuvas no RS: número de mortos após tempestades chega a 56 

 

Chuvas no RS: número de mortos sobe para 83; são 111 desaparecidos

 

Sobe para 85 o número de mortos após enchentes que atingem o RS 

Chuvas no RS: estado tem 95 pessoas mortas e 131 desaparecidas