Category: Environment

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-Top News Environment World News

July 21 was Earth’s hottest day since 1940

heatwave.

This record follows 12 consecutive months of global temperatures exceeding the 1.5°C threshold…reports Asian Lite News

On July 21, the Earth recorded its hottest day in at least 84 years, with a global average temperature of 17.09°C, according to the European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S). This new high surpasses the previous record of 17.08°C set on July 6, 2023.

This record follows 12 consecutive months of global temperatures exceeding the 1.5°C threshold. Since July 2023, there have been 57 days with temperatures surpassing the previous daily record of 16.8°C, set in August 2016.

Carlo Buontempo, director of C3S, noted the staggering difference in temperatures over the past 13 months compared to previous records. He warned of new records as the climate continues to warm. Analysis shows that 2023 and 2024 have seen higher annual maximum daily global temperatures, with the hottest years on record spanning from 2015 to 2024.

The global average temperature typically peaks between late June and early August, driven by the northern hemisphere’s summer. Current temperatures are influenced by unusually high temperatures over Antarctica and reduced sea ice extent, which has led to above-average temperatures in parts of the Southern Ocean.

The European climate agency indicates that while 2024 may surpass 2023 as the warmest year ever, the final determination depends on the intensity of La Niña. Berkeley Earth estimates a 92% chance that 2024 will set a new annual heat record and a 99% chance of an annual temperature anomaly exceeding 1.5°C above the 1850-1900 average.

The Paris Agreement aims to limit global temperature rise to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels to avoid severe climate impacts. However, with the Earth’s surface temperature having already increased by around 1.2°C due to rising greenhouse gas concentrations, the risk of extreme weather events like droughts, wildfires, and floods continues to grow.

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-Top News China Environment

China activates emergency response to floods, typhoon

Affected by the typhoon, parts of the two provinces will experience gale and rainfall….reports Asian Lite News

China’s State Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters have activated a Level-IV emergency response to flooding and a typhoon in the provinces of Fujian and Zhejiang.

Typhoon Gaemi, the third typhoon of this year, was located 710 km southeast of Taiwan’s Yilan County at 5 a.m. on Tuesday, and is expected to make landfall on the coast of Fujian and Zhejiang before moving north toward inland regions, Xinhua news agency reported.

Affected by the typhoon, parts of the two provinces will experience gale and rainfall.

The headquarters, the Ministry of Emergency Management and other government departments on Tuesday deployed joint typhoon and flood relief measures in 12 provinces, urging all-out preparation efforts ahead of the typhoon and torrential rains to avoid casualties.

A Level-IV response is the lowest level in China’s four-tier emergency response system.

Taiwan braces for Typhoon Gaemi

Despite the looming threat of Typhoon Gaemi making landfall on Wednesday, Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defence has assured that the armed forces are fully prepared to face the storm while moving ahead with their scheduled annual war games Han Kuang exercises.

Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defense (ROC) took to its official X handle and said, “Typhoon Kaemi approaches. ROC Armed Forces are ready to respond the potential disasters and continue our drills.”

It added, “If Penghu’s weather is safe for drills, we will have a live broadcast at tomorrow morning at 05:30. Welcome, join us.”

Earlier in the day, the Ministry of National Defence had said, “ROC Armed Forces have set up contingency runway, conducted tactical manoeuvre for force protection. As a typhoon approaches, we will continue our drills while ensuring our safety.”

Notably, Typhoon Gaemi is expected to make landfall on Wednesday on the northeastern coast of the island, along with strong winds and heavy rainfall, Taiwan’s weather administration said, according to VOA.

Defense Ministry spokesman Sun Li-fang told reporters that “the impact of the typhoon” on the east coast has prompted the military to cancel some air and sea exercises, VOA reported.

The Han Kuang exercises are pivotal for Taiwan’s defence strategy, encompassing both live-fire drills and computerised simulations designed to enhance combat readiness amidst regional tensions.

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Economy Environment India News

SC directs Centre to evolve national policy on GM crops

Supreme Court

The State Governments shall be involved in evolving the National Policy on GM crops, court directed…reports Asian Lite News

Supreme Court on Tuesday directed the Centre to evolve a National Policy with regard to GM crops in the realm of research, cultivation, trade and commerce in the country, but split on the issue of granting conditional approval for environmental release of DMH-11.

A bench of justices, BV Nagarathna and Sanjay Karol, disagreed with each other on aspects of the environmental release of genetically modified mustard, but they agreed to give directions to the Centre to evolve a National Policy with regard to GM crops in the realm of research, cultivation, trade and commerce in the country.

“The said National Policy shall be formulated in consultation with all stakeholders, such as, experts in the field of agriculture, biotechnology, State Governments, representatives of the farmers, etc. The National Policy to be formulated shall be given due publicity,” the court said.

For the said purpose, the MoEF&CC shall conduct a national consultation, preferably within the next four months, with the aim of formulating the National Policy on GM crops, the bench ruled.

The State Governments shall be involved in evolving the National Policy on GM crops, it further directed.

“Respondent – Union of India must ensure that all credentials and past records of any expert who participates in the decision-making process should be scrupulously verified and conflict of interest, if any, should be declared and suitably mitigated by ensuring representation to wide range of interests.

Rules in this regard may be formulated having a statutory force,” the top court said.

In the matter of importing GM food and more particularly GM edible oil, the respondent shall comply with the requirements of Section 23 of FSSA, 2006, which deals with the packaging and labelling of foods, the top court said.

“Having regard to the difference of opinion expressed by us on the decision of the GEAC and MoEF granting conditional approval for environmental release of DMH-11, the Registry shall place the matter before Hon’ble the Chief Justice of India for constituting an appropriate Bench to consider the said aspect afresh,” the court said.

Justice Nagarathna ruled that the approval for environmental release of transgenic mustard hybrid DMH-11 violate the precautionary principle inasmuch as there has been no determination made, as to, whether transgenic mustard hybrid DMH-11 is an HT crop and if so, the nature of risk that would be caused by the said plant to the environment including other plants as well as to human beings and animals.

Expressing dissent, Justice Sanjay Karol held that the decision of the GEAC to grant conditional approval is not vitiated by non-application of mind or any other principle of law, on part of the body, which itself is an expert body.

According to Justice Nagarathna, “the recommendations of GEAC dated October 18, 2022, as well as the decision taken by the respondent Union of India on October 25, 2022, with regard to approving environmental release of transgenic mustard hybrid DMH-11 on the application made by the applicant, namely, CGMCP, University of Delhi (South Campus’), are vitiated and hence, they are liable to be quashed and are quashed.”

“I further observe that the recommendation of the Expert Committee constituted by the GEAC in the year 2022 is of no consequence and not binding,” Justice Nagarathna said.

But Justice Sanjay Karol opined that the composition of the GEAC is in accordance with the Rules.

“Judicial review into the decision-making of all bodies concerned with GMOs is possible. The question of a ban on Ht crops is not warranted in view of the precautionary principle and it is a decision squarely within the domain of policy,” Justice Karol said.

“The composition of the GEAC is in accordance with the Rules, to which the challenge of constitutionality, has failed, and in the absence of any change in the Rules, no fault can be found with the same,” Justice Karol said.

“The decision of the GEAC to grant conditional approval is not vitiated by non-application of mind or any other principle of law, on part of the body, which itself is an expert body,” Justice Sanjay Karol said.

Various petitions were moved in the Supreme Court challenging the Union Environment Ministry’s decision to grant approval for commercial cultivation of Genetically Modified (GM) mustard.

In an affidavit filed earlier by Centre, the govt submitted that the Union of India is committed to increasing farm productivity and the income of farmers through development of low-input- high-output agriculture and make the country self-sufficient in edible oil and grain legumes.

To achieve this objective, several nations around the world have safely employed genetic engineering (GE) technologies. To safely encourage this endeavour in India, an elaborate statutory scheme exists to ensure effective regulatory review for the research, development and commercial use of GE technologies, as per the affidavit filed by Centre.

Approximately 55-60 per cent of edible oil in India is imported. Strengthening of plant breeding programmes, including use of new genetic technologies such as GE Technology, is critical for meeting emerging challenges in Indian agriculture and ensuring food security while reducing foreign dependency, the Centre has said.

Centre had submitted that issues raised by the petitioners fall within the domain of the executive, aided by scientific and other technical experts and the research, development and use of genetic engineering technologies is a highly technical matter guided by views that emerge from scientific consensus among subject experts. As such, it is most humbly submitted that the inquiry of this Court may be limited to whether there is an adequate regulatory mechanism in place governing this field and whether there has been material compliance with the same, the union government had submitted.

Centre had also said that the controversy raised by the Petitioners concerns a conditional approval made to the CGMCP for environmental release of transgenic mustard hybrid DMH-11 and its parental lines bn 3.6 and modbs 2.99 containing barnase, barstar and bar genes prior to commercial release. This conditional approval has been made after a long and exhaustive regulatory review process which commenced as far back as in 2010.

It is to be noted that this approval of environmental release prior to commercial release is for the purpose of undertaking seed production and testing of hybrid of DMH-11 and developing new parental lines and hybrids under the supervision of Indian Council for Agricultural Research (ICAR). As such, this conditional approval pertains to an environmental release prior to commercial release and is subject to necessary regulatory and technical oversight, the government has said. (ANI)

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-Top News Environment USA

US: Single-use plastics out of federal use by 2035

The White House expected its new action could “significantly impact the supply” of these ubiquitous plastic products….reports Asian Lite News

The White House unveiled a plan to phase out the use of single-use plastics from all federal operations by 2035, as part of a broader effort to tackle the growing plastic pollution crisis.

In an 83-page document, the Biden administration said it is “committed to taking ambitious actions throughout the lifecycle of plastic to end plastic pollution and is working with the global community to do the same”, Xinhua news agency reported.

Under the new goal, the government will phase out federal procurement of single-use plastics from food service operations, events, and packaging by 2027, and from all federal operations by 2035.

According to the document, this is the first comprehensive, government-wide strategy in the United States to target plastic pollution at the stages of production, processing, use, and disposal.

The White House expected its new action could “significantly impact the supply” of these ubiquitous plastic products.

At least 460 million metric tons of plastic are produced every year, equivalent to the weight of more than 300,000 blue whales, according to data from the United Nations (UN) Environment Program.

As the hardy material breaks down in the environment, it creates microplastics — tiny particles smaller than five millimeters, which have been found everywhere, including in human bodies.

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Environment India News

Heavy rains lash Mumbai, cause waterlogging and traffic jams

Rain lashed parts of Mumbai on Saturday morning, causing waterlogging and traffic snarls in several areas. The city has been experiencing heavy rains over the past few days…reports Asian Lite News

Mumbai received heavy rainfall on the intervening night of Saturday and Sunday, leading to severe waterlogging in various parts of the city.

The Andheri Subway was affected by the intense rain, and several areas, including the vicinity of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport, were inundated.

The heavy downpour also led to severe traffic jams on the Western Express Highway.

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has issued a Nowcast warning for intense spells of rain at isolated places in the districts of Raigad and Thane for the next 3 to 4 hours on Sunday.

“Intense spells of rain are very likely to occur at isolated places in the districts of Raigad and Thane during the next 3-4 hours,” IMD Mumbai said in the early hours of Sunday.

Earlier, Mumbai’s civic authorities requested residents to avoid going out unless necessary as the IMD issued an orange alert for the city, predicting heavy to very heavy rain.

“The IMD has issued an orange alert (heavy to very heavy rain) for Mumbai. People are requested to avoid going out unless necessary,” the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation said in a statement on Saturday.

An orange alert was also issued for Thane, Palghar, Raigad, Ratnagiri, and Sindhudurg districts in Maharashtra’s Konkan region.

Rain lashed parts of Mumbai on Saturday morning, causing waterlogging and traffic snarls in several areas. The city has been experiencing heavy rains over the past few days.

According to the IMD, the maximum and minimum temperatures in Mumbai are expected to be around 29 and 24 degrees Celsius, respectively.

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has forecasted heavy to very heavy rainfall in the city and suburbs at a few places today.

The possibility of extremely heavy rainfall has also been predicted in isolated places. Occasional winds at a speed of 45 to 55 km per hour are also very likely.

Further, the BMC also predicted a warning of 3.17 metres high tides at 5:22 a.m. and 3.52 metres high tides at 5: 14 p.m.

Low Tides are predicted at 2.35 metres at 10: 47 a.m. and 1.60 metres at 11:57 p.m.

Additionally, the average rainfall recorded between yesterday morning and today morning is 115.81 mm.

Meanwhile, the India Meteorological Department forecast moderate to intense spells of rain very likely to occur at isolated places in the districts of Mumbai, Sindhudurg and Ghat areas of Pune.

Previously, the Mumbai civic authority had requested the residents of the city to avoid going out and travelling unless very necessary, as the IMD had issued an orange alert for the city, predicting heavy to very heavy rainfall.

“The IMD has issued an orange alert (heavy to very heavy rain) for Mumbai today. People are requested to avoid going out unless necessary,” the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) said in a statement.

An orange alert was also issued for the regions of Thane, Palghar, Raigad, Ratnagiri, and Sindhudurg districts in Maharashtra’s Konkan area.

Death toll rises to 91 in Assam floods

The flood situation in Assam has claimed 91 lives across the state, the Assam State Disaster Management Authority (ASDMA) said on Saturday.

Earlier, ASDMA said on Friday that the number of deaths in Assam floods has increased to 90. Seven more people died in the state on Friday, according to an ASDMA report.

According to the Disaster Reporting and Information Management System (DRIMS), the Brahmaputra River in Neamatighat, Tezpur, and Dhubri, the Burhi Dihing tributary in Chenimari (Khowang), the Disang River in Nanglamuraghat, and the Kushiyara River in Karimganj are flowing above danger levels.

Twenty-one districts in the state have been affected, including Cachar, Nalbari, Kamrup, Golaghat, Goalpara, Morigaon, Dibrugarh, Dhubri, Nagaon, Hailakandi, Dhemaji, Majuli, Sivasagar, South Salmara, Darrang, Karimganj, Barpeta, Kamrup (M), Biswanath, Chirang, and Jorhat.

While the flood situation in the state has been improving marginally, over 12.33 lakh people are still affected by the deluge.

A total of 2,406 villages under 75 revenue circles and 32,924.32 hectares of crop area were under water.

Dhubri district is the worst affected, with 3,18,326 people impacted, followed by 1,48,609 people in Cachar, 95,277 people in Golaghat, 88,120 people in Nagaon, 83,125 people in Goalpara, 82,494 in Majuli, 73,662 people in Dhemaji, and 63,400 people in South Salmara district.

Over 2.95 lakh people are taking shelter in 316 relief camps and distribution centres in flood-affected districts.

The ASDMA flood report also stated that 6,67,175 animals have been affected by the deluge.

Meanwhile, 180 wild animals, including 10 rhinos, have died in the flood in Kaziranga National Park so far.

Sonali Ghosh, Field Director of Kaziranga National Park, said that 10 rhinos, 150 hog deer, 2 swamp deer, and several sambar deer drowned in floodwaters, while 2 hog deer died in vehicle collisions, 13 other animals died under care, and one otter pup died from other causes.

During the floods, park authorities and the forest department rescued 135 animals, including two rhino calves and two elephant calves. Thirty-five forest camps in the national park are still under water. (ANI)

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Environment India News

Rain brings Mumbai to its knees again

Mumbai, Jul 08 (ANI): A local train runs on a waterlogged track after heavy rainfall in Chunabhatti area of Mumbai on Monday. (ANI Photo)

Of this, 210 mm fell between 2.30 am and 4 am. Between 8.30 am and 5.30 am, Santacruz received 14.1 mm of rain…reports Asian Lite News

Life was thrown out of gear on Monday in Mumbai as it received over 300 millimetres of rain within 24 hours till Monday morning — its first heavy rainfall of the season, with traffic chaos and train cancellations across the city. Schools were closed and the government issued an advisory urging people to avoid unnecessary travel.

A 72-year-old woman was killed in a short-circuit incident reported in Santacruz, while another woman was severely injured in Belapur while attempting to board an overcrowded train on the Harbour Line.

The downpour that began around Sunday midnight intensified during the early Monday with Indian Meteorology Department’s (IMD) Santacruz observatory recording 268 mm of rainfall in 24 hours ending at 8.25 am on Monday — the highest single-day rainfall for July since 2019.

Of this, 210 mm fell between 2.30 am and 4 am. Between 8.30 am and 5.30 am, Santacruz received 14.1 mm of rain.

The 268 mm recorded at Santacruz on Monday marked the second-highest single-day July rainfall in a decade. The highest was 375.2 mm on July 2, 2019, with the all-time record of 944.2 mm during the infamous July 26, 2005 deluge.

IMD’s coastal observatory at Colaba recorded 84 mm rain by 8.25 am on Monday, with an additional 101.8 mm between 8.30 am and 5.30 am. The weather department defines very heavy rainfall as 115.6 mm to 204.4 mm within a 24-hour period.

Due to the intensified rainfall from midnight on Monday, a yellow alert declared by the IMD for Mumbai in its five-day forecast issued Sunday, was upgraded to a “red alert” until 8.30 am on Tuesday. “The sudden intense rainfall was due to an offshore trough that intensified after 12.30 am on July 8, ” said an IMD official on Monday.

Flash floods were reported in multiple areas Monday, with suburban pockets receiving over 300 mm rainfall. As per BMC’s Automatic Weather System, Powai recorded 330 mm, followed by Bhandup at 315 mm, Andheri (East) at 253 mm, Bandra Kurla Complex at 232 mm, and Chembur at 226 mm. Other parts of Mumbai Metropolitan Region recorded comparatively lower rainfall.

The heavy rainfall severely impacted railway services, with services on the Harbour and Central Lines temporarily halted and delays of up to 40-45 minutes on the Western Line. The Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport cancelled 51 flights by Monday afternoon due to adverse weather conditions.

Chief Minister Eknath Shinde posted on X: “…daily life has been disrupted with traffic congestion and railway disruptions. Authorities are working to clear water from tracks and restore normalcy. Emergency services are on high alert. Citizens are advised to venture out only if necessary…”

Traffic snarls were reported across Mumbai, particularly in the western suburbs, where vehicles were stuck on waterlogged roads. Andheri and Malad subways were closed for vehicular movement due to inundation.

While there was a low tide around 7 am on Monday, high tide was reported from 2 pm. The convergence of high tide and heavy rainfall delayed water receding in some areas until around 6 pm.

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-Top News Environment USA

Western US scorched by record heat, wildfires

California’s Death Valley, known for its extreme temperatures, reached 53.9 degrees Celsius on Sunday….reports Asian Lite News

A persistent heat wave is shattering temperature records across the Western United States, putting millions of people under extreme heat warnings and fueling dangerous wildfires that forced evacuations in several states.

Nearly 75 million people, primarily in the West, are under some form of extreme heat advisory on Sunday as a powerful heat dome hovers over the region, according to the National Weather Service, which has issued excessive heat warnings stretching from Arizona and Nevada through California and northward into Oregon and Washington, reports Xinhua news agency.

On Sunday, Las Vegas, Nevada, experienced a new all-time high temperature of 48.9 degrees Celsius, surpassing its previous record by three degrees, the National Weather Service Las Vegas said in a post on social media X, formerly Twitter. The record was officially recorded at Harry Reid International Airport.

California’s Death Valley, known for its extreme temperatures, reached 53.9 degrees Celsius on Sunday. The day before, a high temperature of 53.3 degrees Celsius was recorded at Death Valley National Park, where a visitor died from heat exposure and another was hospitalised for severe heat-related illness, according to a report by NBC News.

Other cities across the region also saw their record books rewritten. Palm Springs, California, reached a blistering 51.1 degrees Celsius on Friday, the hottest temperature ever recorded in the town. This surpassed the previous record of 50.6 degrees Celsius, set four times before, most recently in 2021.

The extreme temperatures are not limited to desert areas.

Sacramento, California’s capital, has experienced temperatures over 40.6 degrees Celsius for three consecutive days, while inland areas of Monterey County, typically cooled by the nearby Pacific Ocean, have seen temperatures soar well over 43.3 degrees Celsius.

The extreme heat was fuelled by a strong ridge of high pressure parked over Central California. This weather pattern prevents hot air near the surface from rising higher in the atmosphere, effectively trapping the heat and creating a “heat dome” effect.

As the region swelters, the risk of wildfires has dramatically increased. Officials across Western states warned that the combination of extreme heat and winds had spawned many new wildfires in the past week.

One significant blaze, the French Fire in Mariposa County, California, began on Thursday near Yosemite National Park. By Sunday night, it had burned through 908 acres (3.67 square kilometers) and was 55 per cent contained, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.

In California’s Santa Barbara County, firefighters are battling the Lake Fire, which exploded over the weekend to more than 13,000 acres. As of Sunday morning, it was only 8 per cent contained. The blaze is threatening homes in the area, including Michael Jackson’s former Neverland Ranch.

Further north, crews are combating the Royal Fire, which burned in the Tahoe National Forest Sunday night. Forest service officials have reported that the fire was located in remote and rugged terrain, presenting significant challenges for firefighting operations.

The heat wave and associated wildfires have prompted evacuations in multiple counties across California, including Santa Barbara, Placer, Tuolumne, Mariposa, Fresno and Butte counties.

As the heat wave continues, authorities are continuing to urge residents to take precautions. These include staying adequately hydrated, minimising outdoor activities during the hottest times of the day, and never leaving children or pets unattended in vehicles.

Climate experts warned that extreme heat events are expected to increase in frequency and intensity due to climate change.

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-Top News Environment India News

PM2.5 pollution killed 33,000 Indians, Delhi worst-hit

New Delhi: Mobile anti-smog guns spray water to curb air pollution in New Delhi, Tuesday, Dec. 12, 2023.(Photo: IANS/Wasim Sarvar)

Delhi had the highest across all cities studied, followed by Mumbai (about 5,100 each year), while Shimla had the lowest air pollution levels yet it claimed 59 lives per year….reports Asian Lite News

Short-term air pollution exposure claimed 33,000 lives annually in 10 cities in India and Delhi tops the list with 12,000 deaths every year, according to a study published on Thursday in The Lancet Planetary Health.

The study showed increases in the risk of death were steep at lower concentrations of PM2.5 and tapered off at higher concentrations. Even levels of air pollution below the current National Ambient Air Quality Standard of 60 micrograms per cubic meter lead to increased daily mortality rates in India, showed the findings led by an international team of researchers from Ashoka University, Sustainable Futures Collaborative (SFC) — an independent Delhi-based research organisation — and Boston University (US).

Delhi had the highest across all cities studied, followed by Mumbai (about 5,100 each year), while Shimla had the lowest air pollution levels yet it claimed 59 lives per year.

The other cities include Kolkata (4,700 each year), Chennai (2,900 each year), Ahmedabad (2,500 each year), Bengaluru (2,100 each year), Hyderabad (1,600 each year), Pune (1,400 each year), Varanasi (830 each year).

“We found that about 33,000 deaths per year across these cities are attributable to air quality levels that exceed the WHO 24-hr exposure guideline (15 micrograms per cubic meter of air), with Delhi topping, followed by Mumbai,” said Bhargav Krishna, Environmental health and policy researcher at SFC, in a post on X.com.

The team based the study on short-term exposure to PM 2.5 (particulate matter 2.5 microns in size) and daily mortality in 10 cities between 2008 and 2019.

For the study, they used novel causal modelling techniques that isolate the heightened impact of local sources of air pollution such as waste burning and vehicular emissions among others, and generated estimates of mortality attributable to air pollution for cities (such as Mumbai, Bengaluru, and Kolkata) and at lower concentrations previously unstudied in India

The results showed that between 2008-19, 7.2 per cent of deaths were due to high short-term air pollution in these cities.

Further, using a hybrid machine learning-based exposure model the team observed a significant number of deaths even in cities like Chennai,

Bengaluru, Hyderabad, and Pune — generally considered to have good to moderate air quality under our current air quality standards. 

“Every 10 micrograms per cubic meter of air increment in PM2.5 was associated with a 1.42 per cent increase in daily deaths. This number almost doubled to 3.57 per cent when we used a causal instrumental variable model that isolates the effect of local air pollution,” Bhargav said.

The study stressed the need to make the national air quality standards more stringent and to redouble efforts to control air pollution.

“Our current definition of what is good air quality needs to change to better reflect the science. Remedial action on air quality needs to expand far beyond a black and white classification of clean and ‘non-attainment’ cities,” Bhargav said. 

He further noted that the current policy instruments such as Graded Response Action Plans (GRAP) focus largely on seasonal extremes. Instead, there is a need to drive year-round action as a large proportion of risk is concentrated in low to moderate air pollution levels, where GRAP is essentially ineffective.

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-Top News Arab News Environment

‘Arab region faces major climate change threats’

Aboul Gheit said that migration to and from the Arab region contributes to shaping the social and economic reality of the region…reports Asian Lite News

Ahmed Aboul Gheit, Secretary-General of the League of Arab States, affirmed that the Arab world is one of the regions directly affected by the major threats of climate change and natural disasters.

He noted that Arab and global awareness of environmental migration issues has increased over the past decade, which was reflected in the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration.

Aboul Gheit highlighted the valued Arab efforts and initiatives presented during the last two sessions of the Conference of Parties (COP) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), which were held in the Arab region, specifically in Egypt and the UAE.

He said this in his speech during the Second Regional Review Conference of the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly, and Regular Migration in the Arab region, held today at the headquarters of the General Secretariat of the League of Arab States. The conference was attended by Amy Pope, Coordinator of the United Nations Network on Migration and Director-General of the International Organisation for Migration, and Rola Dashti, Under-Secretary-General and Executive Secretary of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA).

Aboul Gheit said that migration to and from the Arab region contributes to shaping the social and economic reality of the region, its neighbourhood, and the world as a whole. It also gains special importance today more than ever in this region which hosts an estimated 41.4 million migrants and refugees and the origin of around 32.8 million migrants and refugees.

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Asia News Environment India News

Over 16 lakh people hit by floods in Assam

According to ASDMA officials, the flood also inundated over 39,451 hectares of crop areas in 2,800 villages….reports Asian Lite News

The flood situation in the northeastern state of Assam has further deteriorated as eight fresh deaths were reported, taking the toll to 46, an official said on Wednesday, adding over 15 lakh people have been affected so far.

An Assam State Disaster Management Authority (ASDMA) official said that on Wednesday, two persons died in Sonitpur district and one each died in Dibrugarh, Darrang, Golaghat, Biswanath, Tinsukia and Morigaon districts.

According to ASDMA officials, the flood also inundated over 39,451 hectares of crop areas in 2,800 villages.

Over 11.20 lakh domestic animals were also badly affected in the current flood.

The Brahmaputra, Barak, and all their tributaries are flowing above the danger level in many places. The flood damaged 74 roads, 14 embankments, and 6 bridges.

The state government has opened 515 relief camps where around 26,000 people took shelter, while 359 more relief distribution centres are also functioning in different districts.

Many national and state disaster response forces teams have also been deployed for rescue and relief operations.

Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma reviewed the flood scenario in Kaziranga National Park and Tiger Reserve on Tuesday.

The park authorities issued traffic diversions to ensure the safety of animals. The movement of heavy commercial vehicles through the park has been restricted.

Sarma also visited the flood-affected Golaghat district.

He said that several battalions of NDRF and SDRF were working to deal with the situation.

“We have taken help from the Indian Air force wherever required. We have decided to carry out a damage assessment and provide relief to the flood affected people by August 15,” the Chief Minister said.

He said: “To carry out this exercise, ministers will fan out in different districts and camp for three days. I will go to Barak Valley for a couple of days. In September-October, we will be able to allocate funds for the damaged infrastructure and get the same repaired by March next year.”

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