Mumbai gets heatwave warning, Delhi records warmest Feb night in 74 yrs

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) issued a heatwave warning for Mumbai, which is unusual for February. Mumbai typically enjoys pleasant weather in February with a sea breeze coming towards the mainland, reported Indian Express and other newspapers. But the breeze was delayed by easterly winds, the report said. 

 The coastal city has two IMD weather observatories—at Santacruz and Colaba. IMD rules state that a heatwave warning is to be issued whenever these two stations record an average maximum temperature of 37 degrees Celsius for two days. On Monday, the maximum temperature recorded at Santacruz stood at 38.4°C, while Colaba recorded 36.8°C.

On February 27, at 19.5°C, the temperature in Delhi was seven degrees above the season’s normal, which was also the warmest February night in 74 years, IMD said.

Mint reported that “India is witnessing a heatwave season early this year with west coast temperatures (coastal Maaharashtra and Goa) soaring this week…. The early arrival of heatwave is being attributed to an extremely rain-deficient winter season, among other reasons.”

Avalanche hits Uttarakhand’s Chamoli, 57 workers trapped

A massive avalanche hit Uttarakhand’s Chamoli district near Mana village on Friday, trapping 57 construction workers engaged in a road construction project near the Border Roads Organisation (BRO) camp. The incident has severely hampered rescue efforts due to blocked roads and lack of mobile connectivity. The Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP), the army, and disaster response teams (SDRF and NDRF) are working to reach the affected area.

So far, ten workers have been rescued and taken to an army camp in critical condition. Authorities are attempting to clear roads to facilitate rescue operations. Chamoli District Magistrate Sandeep Tiwari confirmed the number of those trapped, while BRO commander Colonel Ankur Mahajan stated that the full extent of injuries remains unclear. Chief minister Pushkar Singh Dhami acknowledged the situation and assured ongoing rescue efforts. High-altitude teams are on standby for further assistance. The operation remains challenging due to the remote and inaccessible terrain.

Study: Rich countries driving biodiversity loss in other nations through agricultural, forestry imports

A new study published in Nature showed that consumption of products by developed countries was responsible for biodiversity loss in other countries, DTE reported. The Princeton University study looked at how countries cause biodiversity loss outside their own borders through their demand for agricultural and forestry products grown in other countries, the outlet pointed out. The report explained that import of food or timber from other countries, lead those other countries to destroy their forests to produce the exports. The report found that consumption by high-income nations was responsible for 13.3% of all species range loss across the globe, DTE report said. 

The report explained that countries caused international biodiversity losses 15 times greater than their domestic impacts with the US, Germany, Japan and China being the top contributors. Interestingly, 18 of the 24 countries studied had higher international than domestic impacts on biodiversity loss. Countries tend to have the largest impact on species in the tropical regions closest to them. For instance, US consumption had the most significant impact on wildlife in Central America, while China and Japan’s demand affected species in the rainforest regions of southeast Asia.

Global warming may turn ice-free areas of Maritime and Peninsular Antarctica into potential soil organic carbon sinks

According to a new study, climate change could lead to the creation of new carbon sinks in some ice-free areas of Antarctica, new research found. The research combined soil field data, machine learning and projections of future climate change scenarios to examine how warming could affect soil carbon storage at the southern pole. It found that “the effects of climate change, primarily changes in temperature and precipitation” could cause soil carbon in ice-free areas of Maritime and Peninsular Antarctica to increase, creating new carbon sinks.

Spikes in UK wildfire emissions driven by peatland fires in dry years

Over the period 2001-21, fires on peatlands in the UK released 800,000 tonnes of carbon, contributing around 90% of the country’s total annual fire-driven carbon emissions, a new study found. The authors used a “fire emission model” to quantify carbon emissions from wildfires, using “high-resolution land-surface data and fire-weather indices”. By integrating future climate projections, the authors find that a global warming level of 2°C above pre-industrial temperatures would drive up the UK’s fire-driven carbon emissions from peatlands by 60%, due to increased burn depths. They conclude that “protecting peatlands from fires in the UK would be a cost-effective way to slow climate change by avoiding future emission”.

Climate change: World’s glaciers melting faster than ever recorded

According to the “most comprehensive scientific analysis to date”, the world’s glaciers are melting faster than “ever recorded under the impact of climate change”, BBC news reported. The report said mountain glaciers act as a freshwater resource for millions of people around the world, locking up enough water to raise sea levels by 32cm (13in), if they melted entirely, the outlet continues. But between 2000 and 2023, they lost more than 6,500 billion tonnes – or 5% – of their ice, the outlet pointed out. The glaciers lost an average of 273 billion tonnes of ice every year, or 30 years of water for the entire global population, the report said. 

Sweden’s top court rejects Greta Thunberg lawsuit on climate action

The Supreme Court of Sweden ruled that Greta Thunberg and hundreds of other climate activists cannot proceed with a class-action lawsuit to force the state to take stronger action against climate change, reported Reuters. The case, filed in 2022, argued that the state “violates” the European Convention on Human Rights by not doing enough to limit climate change or mitigate its effects. The newswire reported that the case was the first-of-its-kind in Scandinavia, arguing the government must reduce greenhouse gas emissions to within the limits of what is “technically and economically feasible”. ,

One in 3 food giants, including Pepsi, Coke, silent on fertiliser risks, finds new report

A third of the world’s largest food companies (including Coke, Pepsi and Adani Wilmar) fail to acknowledge risks associated with fertiliser use and very few consistently publish comprehensive disclosures, according to a new analysis by sustainable finance think tank Planet Tracker, reported DTE. 

The outlet noted that the study examined 5,000 filings from 45 major food companies — representing combined revenues of $2.6 trillion — between 2018 and 2023. It assessed whether food producers (upstream), manufacturers (midstream) and retailers (downstream) highlighted fertiliser-related risks to investors and other stakeholders.

The report said even among companies that did disclose such risks, many provided only superficial details. The study said more companies need to provide evidence that they assess the risks associated with fertiliser misuse in their own operations and value chains, such as the potential financial cost and declining agricultural yields from fertiliser overuse. 

The study assessed some of the world’s biggest food giants, including Coca-Cola, Diageo, Adani Wilmar, PepsiCo, Walmart, Nestlé, Carrefour, Heineken and Mondelez.

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