In 2023, total 2,483 deaths were reported due to disastrous weather events, followed by 2,767 deaths in 2022 and 1,944 deaths in 2021

Deaths due to extreme weather events going up: Centre to House

Centre told Parliament deaths due to extreme weather events are growing in India. In 2023, total 2,483 deaths were reported due to disastrous weather events, followed by 2,767 deaths in 2022 and 1,944 deaths in 2021, the government noted. Maximum number of deaths due to extreme weather took place in MP (308) mostly by lightning (167) and floods and rains (136), followed by Uttar Pradesh (273) which recorded 94 deaths due to lightning and heat wave death toll stood at 86 while floods and heavy rains official toll stood at 81. Bihar (263) recorded 250 lightning deaths, 12 died in heat waves and 1 death was attributed to flood. 

Supreme Court orders states to demarcate around 30,000 wetlands

India’s Supreme Court has ordered the protection of around 30,000 more wetlands aside from the 201,503 protected by a 2017 order, reported HT. The top court asked states and Union Territories to ensure the demarcation and ground truthing within three months, “a significant step in the protection of habitats usually ignored by governments,” the HT reported. The court order covers only wetlands that are more than 2.25 hectares in size. The number of wetlands is based on satellite data from SAC-ISRO, which is why it needs to be ground-truthed, the report stated. 

The court further directed suo motu monitoring of 85 Ramsar sites. In April 2017 ,the top court passed a direction asking high courts where 59 Ramsar sites were identified to initiate suo motu proceedings to conserve these water bodies, the newspaper stated. The petitioners urged the court that an additional 26 sites also need to be monitored. These sites fell under the monitoring of the high courts at Patna, Bombay (Bombay and Goa bench), Karnataka, Gauhati (Aizawl bench) and Uttarakhand, the report added.

The Bay of Bengal coastline accounts for the largest percentage of sandy coastline hardened (84%)

Using satellite imagery, scientists have found that 33% of the world’s sandy coastline is currently hardened by concrete infrastructure, in addition to sea level rise-driven coastal erosion. The most hardened coastal regions are the Bay of Bengal, Western & Central Europe, the Mediterranean, Western North America, and East Asia, according to a new study.

The study added that sea level rise is expected to cause chronic shoreline retreat, affecting over 10% of the world’s population in low-elevation coastal zones (LECZ). Sandy beaches supported by man-made structures are more vulnerable to substantial beach area loss due to restricted landward migration, affecting ecosystem services. However, the global extent of ‘hardened’ sandy coastlines at risk of ‘severe beach loss’ has not been comprehensively quantified. 

IPBES plenary: Science panel will deliberate on two new reports to support biodiversity conservation policies

More than 850 scientists and representatives of more than 150 countries will participate in the Nexus Assessment at the 11th plenary of Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) beginning December 10, 2024, in Namibia. Nexus Assessment explores the link between crises in biodiversity, water, food, health and climate change. It will offer decision-makers options with co-benefits across these challenges, instead of addressing each in silos, DTE reported. 

The report has been prepared over three years at a total cost of more than US$1.5 million and will be released on December 17, 2024. A total of 165 international experts from 57 countries used 6,500 references to write the report.

The second report is the IPBES Transformative Change Assessment, which focuses on the underlying drivers of biodiversity loss and the kind of system-wide changes needed to conserve and restore biodiversity for a more just and sustainable world, the outlet reported.

Experts quit carbon market watchdog in row over quality label for forest credits

Two members have quit the board of a key carbon credit watchdog in protest over its decision to endorse offset rules they say lack integrity, reported Climate Home News.  The Integrity Council for the Voluntary Carbon Market (ICVCM) gave its high-quality label to three methodologies for producing carbon offsets that aim to reduce deforestation under so-called REDD+ projects – the first to be approved for forest offsets. Their previous REDD+ methodologies that came under fire for overstating their emissions-cutting benefits.

The outlet said carbon market experts Lambert Schneider and Juerg Fuessler have come out publicly against the decision which they say sets a “problematic precedent” and calls into question the ICVCM’s assessment process. They both announced this week they had stepped down from the body’s expert panel which plays an advisory role in the ICVCM’s decision-making. Schneider formally left the post in September.

New research suggested that people aged under 35 are set to suffer the brunt of heat-related deaths as temperatures climb, reported the Guardian.

The outlet added that while older people are susceptible to heatwaves, they mostly face age-related deaths. As the world heats up, it will be younger people that will suffer disproportionately as the mortality burden shifts, with the new study estimating a 32% increase in deaths of people under 35 years old this century from heat if greenhouse gases emissions aren’t radically cut.

Climate change fuelled back-to-back storms in Philippines in 2024: Study

According to a new study from the World Weather Attribution research team climate change triggered back-to-back typhoons that struck the Philippines this year, and boosted the chances of the storms making landfall, reported Agence France-Presse. The article stated that five typhoons and a tropical storm hit the nation in a 23-day period in October and November, killing more than 170 people and causing at least $235m in damage. It notes that the study concluded the warmer seas and atmosphere that helped form and fuel the typhoons were made twice as likely by climate change.

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