2021 brought unprecedented amounts of rainfall to many parts of India. With monsoon being an integral part of India’s climate and global warming has begun to show its effect with erratic rainfall steadily becoming the norm, the livelihood of people is at risk as timely rainfall is needed in agriculture and other aspects of life. Studies using climate models have shown that in the coming years the Indian monsoon would increasingly become heavier and erratic. A German-led study published in April 2021 in particular warned,
“For every degree Celsius of warming, monsoon rainfalls will likely increase by about 5 percent”
The study also reported that the increase in rainfall will bring contribute to precipitation in the Himalayan region, the northeast of the Bay of Bengal, and the west coast of India in particular.
What does this mean for the people of India?
As previously mentioned, a large population depends on the monsoon directly for their livelihoods while the remaining, although not directly will still end up being affected by this change in the monsoon system. For example, farmers depend greatly on the monsoon to water their crops, too much precipitation however would damage the crops instead, and this leads not only to their livelihoods being affected but also others who along the crop supply chain. In another example, monsoon-related disasters such as flash floods and landslides not only cause property damage but also lead to loss of lives.
What can be done?
Unchecked emissions will only exacerbate the current trend of global warming increase leading to consequences that may be too large to deal with in the future. Thus, countries and policymakers must keep in mind to cut down greenhouse gas emissions as much as possible to mitigate the effects of global warming.
In recent times:
In this year alone, various parts of the country have been subjected to harsh and unprecedented amounts of rainfall.
In July of this year, the Western Ghats received extreme rainfall of increasing as each day passed between 19-23 July, 23rd July recorded 594mm of rain alone. As of 25th July, at least 112 people have been killed and 99 people remain missing. About 890 villages were badly affected across 9 districts in Maharashtra.
Delhi on the other hand witnessed the wettest October for the first time in 65 years since 1960.
Flash floods and landslides caused by heavy rainfall in Uttarakhand have led to the loss of 77 lives so far.
Kerala also saw flash flooding and landslides due to heavy rainfall. This has left at least 23 people dead with more still missing.