Not a day or week passes without an extreme event such as a heat wave, high-intensity rainfall leading to floods and landslides, lack of rain or unseasonal rains destroying fruits and vegetable crops, or hurricanes striking coastal areas. Every month in 2023 set a new record for being the hottest on record, and every month of 2024 has already surpassed those records, with the hottest day in history recently recorded. Karnataka has experienced extreme droughts and flood-causing rainfall events in recent months and years. In recent weeks, states from Kerala to Rajasthan to Himachal Pradesh have faced extreme rainfall and flooding.
Climate change is both an immediate crisis and a long-term concern, with significant consequences on health, biodiversity, water availability, food production, coastal infrastructure, and rural and urban habitats. While the science continues to evolve, what we already know is enough to take decisive action. Climate change is one of the innumerable challenges facing state governments. Can the Karnataka government take climate concerns seriously, to help the state cope with its adverse impacts and provide leadership for the rest of the country?
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N H Ravindranath (Retired professor, IISc) co-authored the article.
Cover Image by Vectorarte on Freepik
