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In a massive move for the country’s growing climate woes, India is aiming to control weather phenomena like rainfall, lightning, and hail within five years. Dubbed "<keyword id="23131560" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Mission-Mausam" source="keywords">Mission Mausam</keyword>," this government-backed initiative includes the development of <keyword id="23148975" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Mausam-GPT" source="keywords">Mausam GPT</keyword>, a weather AI model designed to enhance prediction accuracy and even manipulate the weather. This would make India one of the first countries to experiment with <keyword id="21369368" type="General" weightage="100" keywordseo="weather-modification" source="keywords">weather modification</keyword> on a significant scale. <h2>Mission Mausam</h2>India’s "Mission Mausam" aims to reshape the future of weather management by using technology to control rain. Over the next 18 months, the government will start with lab simulations to either enhance or suppress rainfall. The ultimate goal, as outlined by Earth Sciences Secretary M. Ravichandran, is to roll out full-scale weather modification within five years. He stated that the initiative could even target events like Independence Day, where “one can think about suppressing rain.” By deploying <keyword id="20644540" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="cloud-seeding" source="keywords">cloud seeding</keyword> techniques alongside AI-driven weather prediction tools like "Mausam GPT," the mission seeks to significantly improve India’s ability to manage extreme weather conditions. A key aspect of the plan involves building a robust system of advanced radars, supercomputers, satellites with high-performance sensors, and GIS-based decision support systems. This cutting-edge tech is expected to boost India’s short- and medium-range weather forecasting accuracy by 5-10%, ensuring no event — such as cloudbursts — goes undetected. <div type="Article" hostid="261" msid="113251187" title="India braces for an intensely harsh winter as La Niña takes hold" mstype="2" mssubtype="0"></div>India is not new to weather manipulation efforts. The government has been running pilot projects, such as the Cloud Aerosol Interaction and Precipitation Enhancement Experiment (CAIPEEX) in Maharashtra, to study cloud properties and enhance rainfall. <h2>Why is weather manipulation necessary and is it safe?</h2>Extreme weather events in India, like deadly floods, droughts, and hailstorms, have noticeably increased in frequency due to <keyword id="19907392" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="climate-change" source="keywords">climate change</keyword>. Mission Mausam could potentially give India an edge in combating these disasters. For example, imagine preventing a flood by suppressing rain or creating artificial rain during a drought. India’s investment of Rs 2,000 crore over two years certainly reflects the seriousness of the mission, which is expected to expand further as research progresses. However, weather modification, including cloud seeding, is not without controversy. Globally, cloud seeding has had limited success, with countries like the US, Russia, and China also experimenting with these methods but facing inconsistent results. Even former MoES Secretary Madhavan Rajeevan has noted that “the technology is complex” and still in its developmental stages. <div type="Article" hostid="261" msid="112825937" title="Shivaji Maharaj Statue collapse: Identifying 5 reasons behind the accident" mstype="2" mssubtype="0"></div>Further, the potential downsides can't be ignored. While controlling the weather could save lives, meddling with natural processes is risky. Weather manipulation might have unintended ecological consequences, like shifting rainfall patterns that could harm ecosystems and agriculture. It may also pose geopolitical risks, as neighbouring countries could accuse India of altering weather systems that affect their own climates. Ultimately, while the idea of managing the weather may seem appealing, it opens up a Pandora’s box of environmental and ethical challenges that need careful consideration.

The Indian government is taking steps to control rainfall and weather within five years — is it too risky of a move?

The deadly landslides in Kerala's ecologically fragile Wayanad district were triggered by a heavy burst of rainfall, made 10 per cent heavier by <keyword id="19907392" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="climate-change" source="keywords">climate change</keyword>, according to a new rapid attribution study by a global team of scientists. Researchers from India, Sweden, the US and the UK warned that such events will become more common as the climate continues to warm. To measure the impact of human-caused climate change, the scientists from the <keyword id="12008149" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="World-Weather-Attribution" source="Orion">World Weather Attribution</keyword> (WWA) group analysed climate models with high enough resolution to accurately reflect rainfall in the relatively small study area. The models indicated that the intensity of rainfall has increased by 10 per cent due to climate change, they said. The models also predict a further four per cent increase in rainfall intensity if the average <keyword id="21951013" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="global-temperature" source="keywords">global temperature</keyword> rises by two degrees Celsius compared to the 1850-1900 average. The scientists, however, said there is a "high level of uncertainty" in the model results as the study area is small and mountainous with complex rainfall-climate dynamics. Having said that, the increase in heavy one-day rainfall events aligns with a growing body of scientific evidence on extreme rainfall in a warming world, including in India, and the understanding that a warmer atmosphere holds more moisture, leading to heavier downpours. According to scientists, the atmosphere's capacity to hold moisture increases by about 7 per cent for every one-degree Celsius rise in global temperature. The Earth's global surface temperature has already increased by around 1.3 degrees Celsius due to the rapidly rising concentration of greenhouse gases, primarily carbon dioxide and methane. Scientists say this is the reason behind worsening <keyword id="19912530" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="extreme-weather-events" source="keywords">extreme weather events</keyword>, such as droughts, heat waves and floods worldwide. The WWA scientists said that while the relationship between land cover, land use changes and landslide risk in Wayanad is not fully clear from existing studies, factors, such as quarrying for building materials and a 62 per cent reduction in forest cover may have increased the slopes' susceptibility to landslides during heavy rainfall. Other researchers have also linked the <keyword id="22597176" type="General" weightage="100" keywordseo="Wayanad-landslides" source="keywords">Wayanad landslides</keyword> to a combination of forest cover loss, mining in fragile terrain and prolonged rain followed by heavy precipitation. S Abhilash, the director of the Advanced Centre for Atmospheric Radar Research at Cochin University of Science and Technology (CUSAT), had earlier told PTI that the warming of the Arabian Sea is leading to the formation of deep cloud systems, resulting in extremely heavy rainfall in Kerala in a short period and increasing the risk of landslides. "Our research found that the southeast Arabian Sea is becoming warmer, causing the atmosphere above Kerala to become thermodynamically unstable. This instability is allowing the formation of deep clouds," he had said. According to the landslide atlas released by ISRO's National Remote Sensing Centre last year, 10 out of the top 30 landslide-prone districts in India are in Kerala, with Wayanad ranked at the 13th spot. A study published by Springer in 2021 said all landslide hotspots in Kerala are in the Western Ghats region and are concentrated in Idukki, Ernakulam, Kottayam, Wayanad, Kozhikode and Malappuram districts. It said about 59 per cent of total landslides in Kerala have occurred in plantation areas. A 2022 study on depleting forest cover in Wayanad showed that 62 per cent of forests in the district disappeared between 1950 and 2018, while plantation cover rose by around 1,800 per cent.

Wayanad landslides linked to 10% heavier rainfall due to climate change: Study

<ul class="summary-list"><li>President-elect Donald Trump has questioned the reality of the climate crisis.</li><li>He's expected to withdraw the US from the Paris Agreement, which he also did in his first term.</li></ul>President-elect Donald Trump has long questioned the reality of the climate crisis, describing it as a "scam" and accusing policies to tackle the crisis of destroying US jobs.Many expect him to withdraw the US from the Paris Agreement to limit emissions upon taking power in January, as he did in his first term.But his hostility to green policies conflicts with another of his priorities — challenging the rise of China."A second US withdrawal from the Paris Agreement would present a significant opportunity for China to expand its leadership role in multilateral climate issues," Herbert Crowther, an analyst with the Eurasia Group in New York told Business Insider.Trump's victory is overshadowing this week's UN climate summit in Baku, Azerbaijan, where pledges from Biden administration officials are tempered by the fact they won't be around for long.And China is already positioning itself to fill the power vacuum and build its global influence."In the week since the election, we're already seeing China try to claim the mantle of global climate leadership and portray itself as the more "responsible" actor in this space," Lily McElwee, fellow in the Freeman Chair in China Studies at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, DC, told Business Insider."Beijing is out in force at COP29 calling for the United States under Trump to engage in 'constructive dialogue' and highlighting China's contributions to decarbonization through major investments in electric vehicles and other greentech industries."<div type="image" title="Chinese solar power station" height="576" width="1024" msid="115335201" hostid="261" sizebytes="137800"></div><h2 id="f89b9ca3-aa4a-4bb2-a5bf-27324f610f4d">The green tech superpower</h2>China has a curious position as both the world's largest polluter, and a powerhouse of green technology.It tops the <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://interactive.carbonbrief.org/the-carbon-brief-profile-china/index.html#">rankings for greenhouse emissions</a>, which helped power its huge economic growth in recent decades. In 2020, President Xi Jinping pledged that China would become <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://chinaeucn.com/carbon-neutrality-china/#:~:text=In%20September%202020%2C%20president%20Xi,carbon%20neutrality%20to%20the%20world.">carbon neutral by 2060,</a> and it's on track this year to record its first drop in greenhouse <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/china-meeting-us-climate-solar-panels-coal-power-energy-security-2024-5">emissions since 2016.</a>At the same time, China has pushed harder to produce its own green technology — and sell it to the rest of the world.It is the world's largest producer of electric vehicles and solar panels, and the percentage of its energy coming from renewable sources <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.iea.org/reports/renewables-2023/executive-summary#">is rapidly growing.</a>That work brings practical and economic benefits. Analysts also point to other motives for Beijing's green push: influence and power."Where the Trump administration sees renewable energy as a threat to jobs, China is leveraging clean energy as part of a long-term strategic gambit," wrote <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.brookings.edu/articles/chinas-belt-and-road-initiative-is-poised-to-transform-the-clean-energy-industry/">Daniel Araya of the Brookings Institute in Washington, DC, in 2018.</a>China, as part of its "Belt and Road" initiative to grow its global influence, has provided developing countries with renewable energy technologies, including wind farms."Green tech plays a critical role in Xi's economic vision. While China has spent a decade trying to catch up to the United States and other advanced economies in existing tech (like semiconductors), it is increasingly focused on securing leadership in emerging industries like cleantech," said McElwee.The strategy is paying off, with global demand for renewable energy production technologies predicted to surge, and China set to account for 60% of installed global renewable energy capacity by 2030, according to an <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.iea.org/news/massive-global-growth-of-renewables-to-2030-is-set-to-match-entire-power-capacity-of-major-economies-today-moving-world-closer-to-tripling-goal">October report by the International Energy Agency.</a>The US lags China as a clean tech economic power.Trump has been explicit about his plans to repeal and otherwise roll back climate policies from the Biden administration.That included <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.politico.com/news/2024/09/05/trump-inflation-reduction-act-00177493">a pledge</a> just before the election to "rescind all unspent funds" from President Joe Biden's Inflation Reduction Act, which provided billions in funding for clean tech.<h2 id="d064aeb1-2497-4d9c-b893-7e2c1b98241d">Will China step up? </h2>There are also doubts over how much China is willing to take an international leadership role on climate issues.It's been wary of international agreements to tackle climate change in the past, and last year was accused by European officials of <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.reuters.com/business/environment/china-denies-reports-it-obstructed-g20-climate-discussions-2023-08-02/#:~:text=China%20denies%20reports%20it%20obstructed%20G20%20climate%20discussions%20%7C%20Reuters">obstructing G20 efforts </a>to tackle the climate crisis, Reuters reported. Assuming a leadership role would likely require China to send money to other countries, said Crowther. "The key question for officials in Beijing will now turn to whether China wants to deepen its financial commitments to helping other countries—particularly emerging markets—accelerate their own energy transitions," he said.Crowther said the run up to next year's COP30 summit in Brazil would provide clues of China's intentions. Ultimately, Xi may be more interested in cementing China's economic advantages than in concrete diplomatic pledges. "Although Beijing will try to boost its image as a global leader on climate change, I don't know how much substance will follow," said McElwee.

Trump called the climate crisis a scam. It could prove a gift to China.

Climate Action 15: 2024's top global innovators powering green solutions

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Over a million species are <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/animals-saved-endangered-species-act-passed-eagle-grizzly-wolf-alligator-2023-11">at risk of extinction</a> due to climate change. </li><li>But some animals are more resilient to temperature changes and could thrive in a warming world.</li></ul>In the game of <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/biden-trump-climate-policies-ev-subsidies-renewables-fossil-fuel-drilling-2024-7">climate change</a>, there are both winners and losers.Experts predict that one-third of Earth's plants and animals — millions of species — could disappear by 2050 if the current rate of <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/google-microsoft-ai-search-war-will-add-to-carbon-emissions-2023-2">greenhouse gas emissions</a> persists. And some are already disappearing.But other animals are more resilient to temperature changes and <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/the-atlantic-wolffish-is-being-driven-to-extinction-2018-12">habitat disruption</a>. There are a few species that could not only survive but thrive in a warming world.Climate models have shown that "we have a lot of species that might actually benefit from climate change," expanding their ranges into new geographic areas that were previously inhospitable to them, Giovanni Strona, quantitative ecology researcher at the European Commission's Joint Research Centre, told Business Insider.Many of these climate change "winners" are hardy, fast-breeding scavengers that already live in some of the most degraded habitats on Earth: cities. They're not all cute and cuddly, and some are considered pests that pose <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/reduce-hazardous-forever-chemicals-exposure-pfas-at-home-2022-9">risks to human health</a>.Whether you like them or not, it doesn't look like these four critters are going away any time soon.<h2 id="6e3ccb79-94d3-4f58-b3e8-cfc9daa4ac11">Cockroaches probably won't need to worry about a food shortage</h2><div type="image" title="cockroach" height="667" width="1000" msid="112024671" hostid="261" sizebytes="34886"></div>Roaches are a city-dweller's worst enemy. These indestructible insects can inhabit every corner of their urban environment, from the dredges of subway tunnels to <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/rupert-murdoch-cuts-price-of-nyc-penthouse-in-half-2024-6">skyrise apartments</a>.And once they've moved in, it's extremely difficult to get rid of them. That's because the humble cockroach has evolved to be one of the <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/origin-cockroaches-evolution-human-made-environments-study-2024-5">most resilient animals in the world</a>.These ancient arthropods have been around for over 300 million years, surviving every challenge they've faced. They even made it through the <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/molting-feathers-help-birds-survive-when-dinosaurs-went-extinct-2023-7">Cretaceous-Paleogene extinction</a>, which eliminated 80% of Earth's animal life.What didn't kill them only made them stronger. <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/roblox-streamer-powenvy-tiktok-viral-messy-dirty-roaches-bedroom-2023-12">Cockroaches</a> have lived through periods of extreme environmental change, including significant climatic shifts. They prefer hot, humid conditions, and can survive temperatures up to 120 degrees Fahrenheit.What's more, cockroaches can live for a month without food, and a week without water. When it comes to what they eat, they aren't picky, which means they probably don't have to worry about climate change eliminating their food source.These characteristics and their long history of survival lead scientists to believe that cockroaches will do just fine in a warmer world, and perhaps even <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/animals-that-can-survive-apocalypse-2019-7">outlive humans</a>.<h2 id="8abd8a8d-f358-4fd9-8509-15905483e765">Rats can probably evolve to tackle anything climate change throws their way</h2><div type="image" title="Rats" height="2000" width="3008" msid="112024666" hostid="261" sizebytes="329522"></div>Like cockroaches, <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nyc-rat-czar-stop-feeding-pigeons-tactics-2024-4">rats</a> eat pretty much anything and can live almost anywhere. But the real source of their resilience is their adaptability.<a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nyc-rat-extermination-weapon-rodent-population-takeover-climate-change-2023-11">Rats reproduce in massive numbers</a>. They breed year-round, producing roughly six litters annually. The average litter size is eight to 18 pups, so that's up to 108 rats a year from a single female.Because of how rapidly they reproduce, rats evolve faster than many other mammals, adapting to changes in their environment or climate faster and more effectively.Plus, there's strength in numbers. Having lots and lots of babies means that rats can sustain large population numbers, so when challenges arise, there's a greater chance that at least some individuals will survive.Research has shown that <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/climate-extremes-worsen-most-infectious-diseases-from-leprosy-to-covid-2022-8">rising global temperatures</a> will only make it easier for rats to reproduce. Because as winters grow warmer, fewer rats will die from the cold, leaving more rats to reproduce year-round.We're already beginning to see their numbers increase worldwide. <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/new-york-city-explosive-increase-rats-over-last-65-years-2023-3">New York City's rat population</a> has increased by nearly one million over the last decade, M&amp;M Pest Control <a target="_blank" href="https://mandmpestcontrol.com/there-are-now-3-million-rats-in-new-york-city-study/">estimated</a> in 2023.If climate change is driving a "ratpocalypse," as some evidence <a target="_blank" href="https://mediaengagement.org/blogs/rat-boom-and-leptospirosis-spike-in-nyc-linked-to-climate-change/">suggests</a>, that could have big consequences for human health.Rats can carry diseases that are dangerous to humans, such as hantavirus, leptospirosis, and <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/microbiologist-how-to-avoid-food-poisoning-2023-9">salmonella</a>. If they thrive in a warming world, that means these diseases could too.<h2 id="c2a5e096-ef23-4254-9b7d-dcb465a4d7ce">Mosquitos can grow faster in a warming world</h2><div type="image" title="A mosquito crawling on a person's skin against a green background." height="1414" width="2120" msid="112024664" hostid="261" sizebytes="64912"></div>Mosquitos aren't just annoying, they're also a major driver of disease worldwide.These tiny bloodsuckers can carry a whole host of <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/mosquitos-with-west-nile-virus-becoming-immune-bug-spray-2023-8">viruses and parasites</a>, including malaria, dengue, Zika virus, and more. When transmitted to humans, these illnesses can be fatal. Each year, over one million people around the world die from mosquito-borne illnesses.<a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/map-shows-west-nile-virus-has-been-detected-us-states-2022-7">Mosquito-borne illness</a> is most prevalent in Africa and tropic regions of southeast Asia and South America. That's because mosquitos thrive in warm, wet climates.But as climate change raises temperatures and alters precipitation trends, their range is expanding and <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/marylander-caught-malaria-first-locally-acquired-case-years-2023-8">shifting to new geographic areas</a>. For example, a disease-carrying species of mosquito from South America appeared in Florida in 2021.Additionally, studies have shown warmer temperatures can speed up a mosquito's growth, <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/guides/health/treatments/how-to-get-rid-of-mosquito-bites">biting rates</a>, and the incubation of disease inside them.This means that climate change could cause mosquito-borne illnesses to spread to new places, and increase case numbers worldwide. Some evidence suggests that we're already seeing this happen.In 2023, <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/locally-transmitted-florida-malaria-texas-first-time-in-20-years-2023-6">Florida and Texas</a> <a target="_blank" href="https://news.stanford.edu/stories/2023/08/mosquito-diseases-move">saw</a> their first cases of locally-transmitted malaria in 20 years. And In Europe, dengue outbreaks <a target="_blank" href="https://www.ecdc.europa.eu/en/news-events/increasing-risk-mosquito-borne-diseases-eueea-following-spread-aedes-species">spiked</a> significantly in 2022, largely driven by heat waves and flooding.So, we can expect mosquitoes to stick around for a long time if warming continues.<h2 id="3dfabded-046d-43ca-b390-acecf7c0dd7b">Ticks are staying active year-round now that winters are more mild</h2><div type="image" title="deer tick" height="775" width="1200" msid="112024670" hostid="261" sizebytes="59408"></div>Move over mosquitos, there's another blood-sucking insect taking our warming world by storm.Ticks thrive in warm, humid climates. They typically remain dormant during the winter, but as this season grows milder, they're staying active year-round. They're also emerging earlier and feeding longer throughout the year.Additionally, warmer temperatures are <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/asian-longhorned-ticks-kill-cattle-spread-disease-2023-11">expanding their range</a> northward into areas where they were previously uncommon, including northeastern states such as Vermont.That's bad news for human health, because like mosquitos, ticks carry dangerous diseases. <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/25-year-old-man-died-misdiagnosed-lyme-disease-infected-heart-2023-2">Lyme disease</a>, anaplasmosis, and babesiosis are just a few examples of tick-borne illnesses. All three of them can become serious if left untreated.In the US, cases of Lyme disease have nearly doubled since 1991, with the Northeast seeing the sharpest rise in cases. Studies suggest climate change has contributed significantly to this increase. And another 2023 study found that ticks are more resilient to <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/southwest-airlines-flight-attendants-extreme-heat-safety-exploding-soda-cans-2024-7">extreme temperatures</a> than scientists previously believed.All of this suggests ticks are weathering climate change with little issue and they'll likely stick around as temperatures continue to rise.If you live in an area where ticks are present, it's a good idea to take preventative measures against them year-round. <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/top-10-riskiest-states-for-pet-dog-cat-illness-2024-5">And that goes for your pets too</a>. But you should still be extra vigilant from April to September when ticks are most active.

Rats, roaches, and other creatures are winning against climate change, and it's bad news for humans

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Scientists predicted how climate hazards will worsen in nearly 1,000 major cities by 2100.</li><li>Heat waves, energy demand, and mosquito-borne diseases will spike as global temperatures rise.</li></ul>Monthlong heat waves. Skyrocketing energy demand. Greater risks of <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/west-nile-triple-e-mosquito-virus-diseases-us-2024-9">mosquito-borne diseases</a>.These are the climate hazards that people living in nearly 1,000 of the world's largest cities will continue to face as global average temperatures rise through the end of the century, a new analysis by the World Resources Institute, an environmental-research group, found. And the impacts won't be felt equally. People living in low-income cities in sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America, and Indonesia face the greatest threats.The findings come as <a target="_blank" rel="noopener" href="https://climate.copernicus.eu/copernicus-summer-2024-hottest-record-globally-and-europe">2024 is on track to be the hottest year on record</a>, and billions of people are expected to move into urban areas in the coming decades. More than half the world's population, or 4.4 billion people, lives in cities. By 2050, city dwellers are forecast to make up two-thirds of humanity, with the vast majority of that growth in Africa and Asia. Some 2 billion people currently live in the cities that WRI studied, from Seattle and Rio de Janeiro to Johannesburg and Bengaluru, India."Most climate modeling looks at hazards, exposure, and risks at a national scale because that's where a lot of policymaking and international agreements are focused," Eric Mackres, the senior manager of data and tools at the WRI Ross Center for Sustainable Cities and a coauthor of the study, said. "But that's disconnected from where people live. We wanted to put more localized information in the hands of those decision-makers so they're informed about the risks that they are likely to experience."<h2 id="c108ac2f-66b9-4462-bb7a-b51785a2b482">Local climate hazards</h2>To make predictions at a city level, Mackres said WRI built on global climate modeling done by hundreds of other researchers. These models contain daily information — both historical data and projections through 2100 — on air temperature, humidity, and precipitation. WRI used that data to make its own projections about the length and frequency of heat waves, how often people will need to cool their homes and workplaces, and the number of days with optimal temperatures for mosquitoes in cities with at least half a million people. WRI compared how those local hazards are expected to change as global average temperatures rise from 1.5 degrees Celsius to 3 degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels — a threshold scientists say the world is likely to cross by 2100.The world has warmed by about 1.2 degrees so far compared with mid-1800s levels, and the consequences are playing out around the world.<div type="image" title="A graph shows how long heat waves will last in seven regions around the world under 1.5 degrees of global warming compared to preindustrial levels." height="1080" width="1080" msid="113493288" hostid="261" sizebytes="66672"></div>In Bengaluru, India's fifth-most-populous city, extreme heat has caused severe water shortages and surging energy demand. Under 1.5 degrees of warming, heat waves could last about 13 days on average and stretch to nearly 38 days as global temperatures rise, WRI found. Bengaluru last year <a target="_blank" href="https://wri-india.org/news/release-bengalurus-first-ever-climate-action-plan-launched">launched its first climate-action plan</a>, which includes planting trees and expanding green spaces to help cool down urban centers.An enormous outbreak of dengue fever is underway in Brazil. In Rio de Janeiro, peak days for transmission of mosquito-borne illnesses could increase from 69 to 118 a year, WRI found. The city is investing in vaccines, and community health workers are hunting down places that help mosquitoes breed, including standing water, to reduce risks.Meanwhile, places that haven't had to consider cooling strategies are now being forced to, including the US Pacific Northwest. Seattle was once the least-air-conditioned city. Now it ranks second behind San Francisco after a series of deadly heat waves prompted residents to install AC. The trend is playing out in cities that are already hot, too, like Tehran, Iran, and Marrakech, Morocco, and spiking energy demand along the way. If that demand is met with fossil fuels like oil, gas, and coal, it could exacerbate the climate crisis, WRI said.WRI noted that there are limitations to its research, in part because there are a lot of unknowns about the future. National governments and cities can slow the climate crisis and protect people from its impacts, including by shifting away from fossil fuels and investing in infrastructure that's more resilient to heat and storms."Our findings are not a foregone conclusion," Mackres said. "These are choices we have between 1.5 and 3 degrees of warming, and none are out of the realm of possibility. It's really important that national decision-makers understand the impacts on cities and the actions that cities can take to both reduce climate change and to adapt to what's coming."<a target="_blank" href="https://public.flourish.studio/visualisation/19141193/">You can explore the data for your city here.</a>

A new tool shows what the climate crisis could feel like in your city

<ul class="summary-list"><li>A prolonged drought in southeast Asia contributed to massive fish deaths in southern Vietnam.</li><li>The climate crisis and human development threaten the Mekong Delta, a key global agricultural center.</li></ul>A weekslong drought across parts of southeast Asia has killed hundreds of thousands of fish in a reservoir in Vietnam and pushed a key metric for coffee prices to record levels — just two indicators of the kind of havoc the climate is wreaking on people and the economy.In Vietnam, the maze of wetlands that comprise the Mekong Delta is called the country's "rice bowl" because of the vast agriculture it supports. The climate crisis and human development threaten the water the region relies on, especially in El Niño years like this one.As Vietnam's freshwater levels drop, salt water intrudes, causing massive economic devastation. From 2020 to 2023, the Mekong Delta lost 70 trillion Vietnamese dong, or $2.96 billion, annually because of salt intrusion, the country's Ministry of Natural Resources and the Environment <a target="_blank" href="https://e.vnexpress.net/news/environment/mekong-delta-loses-3b-a-year-to-salt-intrusion-4723065.html">said</a> in mid-March. Those figures are expected to climb in coming years, the ministry said.While Vietnam is no longer a heavily agricultural economy, the industry still accounted for about 12% of its GDP last year, according to the <a target="_blank" href="https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/NV.AGR.TOTL.ZS?locations=VN">World Bank</a>.It's too early to know exactly how this year's drought, exacerbated by El Niño, will affect harvests and exports. But early gauges indicate trouble for at least one key export. Vietnam's coffee association said in late March that exports of robusta coffee — the bean used in espresso and instant coffee — could decline as much as 20% in the 12 months ending in September, compared with the same period last year. Vietnam is the world's largest robusta producer, and futures prices for the bean <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/coffee-prices-vietnam-robusta-futures-high-asia-expensive-drought-espresso-2024-4">hit a 16-year high</a> last week.Meanwhile, in southern Vietnam, hundreds of thousands of fish died in a reservoir last month as temperatures peaked over 100 degrees Fahrenheit and no rain fell for weeks, the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20240501-mass-fish-die-off-in-vietnam-as-heatwave-roasts-southeast-asia">AFP reported</a>. Residents blamed the weather and the reservoir's management.Business Insider could not locate the owner of the reservoir for comment.<div type="image" title="Vietnamese fisherman collects dead fish in a reservoir." height="682" width="1024" msid="109880703" hostid="261" sizebytes="114460"></div>Irrigation measures, including those put in after a disastrous 2020 drought, have helped keep much of the Mekong Delta wet despite the widespread dryness, <a target="_blank" href="https://twitter.com/MekongMonitor/status/1785331362112663872">reported</a> the Mekong Dam Monitor last week. The group, run by a US think tank, highlighted that two southern provinces still had "extreme dryness" — and those areas are harvesting crops this month, the group said.Water levels are below average in 13 of the country's 24 monitoring stations, largely in the far north and far south, according to the intergovernmental agency <a target="_blank" href="https://www.mrcmekong.org/">Mekong River Commission</a>.While Vietnam has built significant infrastructure to combat increasingly brutal droughts, farmers told <a target="_blank" href="https://e.vnexpress.net/photo/environment/central-highlands-suffering-from-extreme-drought-4734165.html">local media</a> last month they're still struggling. Some of the reservoirs they need to tap are contaminated with chemicals like alum, while other irrigation options are costly. A farmer in a central province said two acres of his rice burned from the drought."Every year we harvest about 18 bags of rice, each bag is 60 kilograms, but this year there is a lack of water, so maybe we'll only get a few bags," Ksor Phung told VnExpress.At least three provinces declared states of emergency last month, asking for government help to address water shortages and salinity problems.The drought in Vietnam underscores how the climate crisis is hitting agriculture worldwide. Lower and less predictable crop yields can translate to lower productivity, higher inflation, and worse nutrition, among other issues.

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