Context:

Climate change is fueling more frequent and severe heat waves, leading to heightened wildfire risks, warns a report from the WMO.

WMO Report Highlights:

• Heatwaves Fuel Wildfires: Heatwaves in 2022 intensified wildfires in the United States and Europe, with added danger from desert dust, resulting in hazardous air quality.
• Rising GHG Emissions: Heatwaves contributed to increased carbon emissions, elevating greenhouse gas levels in the atmosphere.
• Desert Dust Surge: Unusually high desert dust intrusion hit the Mediterranean and Europe in August 2022, potentially harming air quality and ecosystems.
• Human Health Impact: Heatwaves deteriorate air quality, harming human health, ecosystems, agriculture, and daily life. Elevated ozone levels globally caused crop losses of 4.4% to 12.4%.
• Marine Heatwaves Surge: Climate change amplifies and prolongs marine heatwaves, causing ocean temperatures to significantly surpass normal averages, disrupting marine ecosystems and habitats.

Extreme Heat’s Implications

• Heat-Related Illnesses: Prolonged extreme heat can cause heatstroke and heat exhaustion, posing health risks like respiratory and cardiovascular diseases.

• Reduced Work Productivity: Heatwaves decrease productivity among exposed workers, impacting India’s economy. 
  • UNEP reports a 75% risk to India’s heat-exposed workforce.
• Crop and Livestock Vulnerability: Extended heatwaves adversely affect crop yields and livestock, especially in the presence of heat stress. For instance, ICAR’s 2022 report showed a 15-25% wheat yield reduction during a coinciding heatwave.
• Urban Heat Island Effect:Urban areas experience an “urban heat island effect,” with buildings and infrastructure storing and releasing heat. This causes urban temperatures to be 1-7 degrees Fahrenheit hotter than surrounding areas, day and night.

Way Forward:

• Heat Preparedness Strategies: Establish heat readiness plans for vulnerable populations, including cooling centers, and enforce workplace heat stress standards.
• Reduce Urban Heat Islands: Implement measures to reduce the urban heat island effect. These include installing cool and green roofs, promoting cool pavement, planting shade-providing trees, and encouraging evapotranspiration for air cooling.
• Enhancing Energy Efficiency: Promote energy-efficient practices to lessen electricity grid demand, especially during heatwaves.
• Improved Early Warning Systems (EWS): Early Warning Systems: To communicate heatwave threats, provide preventive guidance,  and forecast disaster impact scenarios.
• Natural Disaster Designation: Officially classify heat waves as natural disasters, enabling regional heatwave action plans to be crafted by state and district administrations.

News Source: DTE