The annual imply near-surface temperature over Asia in 2023 was the second highest on report
Geneva:
Asia was the world’s most disaster-hit area from local weather and climate hazards in 2023, the United Nations mentioned Tuesday, with floods and storms the chief reason behind casualties and financial losses.
World temperatures hit report highs final 12 months, and the UN’s climate and local weather company mentioned Asia was warming at a very fast tempo.
The World Meteorological Group mentioned the influence of heatwaves in Asia was changing into extra extreme, with melting glaciers threatening the area’s future water safety.
The WMO mentioned Asia was warming quicker than the worldwide common, with temperatures final 12 months almost two levels Celsius above the 1961 to 1990 common.
“The report’s conclusions are sobering,” WMO chief Celeste Saulo mentioned in a press release.
“Many international locations within the area skilled their hottest 12 months on report in 2023, together with a barrage of utmost situations, from droughts and heatwaves to floods and storms.
“Local weather change exacerbated the frequency and severity of such occasions, profoundly impacting societies, economies, and, most significantly, human lives and the setting that we stay in.”
The State of the Local weather in Asia 2023 report highlighted the accelerating price of key local weather change indicators corresponding to floor temperature, glacier retreat and sea stage rise, saying they’d have critical repercussions for societies, economies and ecosystems within the area.
“Asia remained the world’s most disaster-hit area from climate, local weather and water-related hazards in 2023,” the WMO mentioned.
Warmth, melting and floods
The annual imply near-surface temperature over Asia in 2023 was the second highest on report, at 0.91 levels Celsius above the 1991-2020 common, and 1.87 C above the 1961-1990 common.
Significantly excessive common temperatures had been recorded from western Siberia to central Asia, and from japanese China to Japan, the report mentioned, with Japan having its hottest summer time on report.
As for precipitation, it was under regular within the Himalayas and within the Hindu Kush mountain vary in Pakistan and Afghanistan.
In the meantime southwest China suffered from a drought, with below-normal precipitation ranges in almost each month of the 12 months.
The Excessive-Mountain Asia area, centred on the Tibetan Plateau, comprises the most important quantity of ice outdoors of the polar areas.
During the last a number of many years, most of those glaciers have been retreating, and at an accelerating price, the WMO mentioned, with 20 out of twenty-two monitored glaciers within the area exhibiting continued mass loss final 12 months.
The report mentioned 2023 sea-surface temperatures within the northwest Pacific Ocean had been the very best on report.
‘Urgency’ for motion
Final 12 months, 79 disasters related to water-related climate hazards had been reported in Asia. Of these, greater than 80 % had been floods and storms, with greater than 2,000 deaths and 9 million folks immediately affected.
“Floods had been the main reason behind demise in reported occasions in 2023 by a considerable margin,” the WMO mentioned, noting the persevering with excessive stage of vulnerability of Asia to pure hazard occasions.
Hong Kong recorded 158.1 millimetres of rainfall in a single hour on September 7 — the very best since information started in 1884, on account of a hurricane.
The WMO mentioned there was an pressing want for nationwide climate providers throughout the area to enhance tailor-made data to officers engaged on lowering catastrophe dangers.
“It’s crucial that our actions and methods mirror the urgency of those occasions,” mentioned Saulo.
“Decreasing greenhouse fuel emissions and adapting to the evolving local weather shouldn’t be merely an choice, however a elementary necessity.”
(Apart from the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV employees and is revealed from a syndicated feed.)
