West Bengal bears the effects of climate change with extreme weather

In West Bengal, rain variability and changing monsoon patterns in the past 60 years have led to more frequent floods and loss of agricultural production, reveals a study. Rainfall and temperature analysis of data obtained from 339 weather stations in the state for over a century (between 1901 and 2020), also highlighted a significant temperature rise.

On April 25, the eastern city recorded a high temperature of 41.6 °C, which is the second-highest April temperature in the previous 70 years. It then reached 41.7°C on April 29, 2024, which is a joint record high over the previous seven decades.

But that record was shattered the next day when the city registered 43°C, 7.4°C above average. Additionally, it was only 0.3°C colder than Kolkata's record-breaking April high of 43.3°C in 1954.

In addition, the IPCC has projected that Kolkata's mean temperature will rise at a faster rate than the global average by 4.5°C between 2081-2100 relative to the pre-industrial era. Since it is believed that human-caused carbon emissions began after the pre-industrial era, that time is used as the baseline.

A house collapsed in north Kolkata owing to heavy downpours in August, killing one person, and a 22-year-old woman electrocuted to death in a flooded area in the Howrah district.

The severity of climate change

West Bengal has witnessed a significant escalation in the severity of climate change in just one year, as revealed by the latest report from the Center for Science and Environment (CSE) on India's state of the environment. in 2023. The report, released on the eve of World Environment Day, highlights the increase in extreme weather events in Bengal, which has experienced 24 such events in just over five months this year, compared to a total of 10 events throughout the year 2022.

According to the report, India encountered extreme weather events on 314 out of 365 days in 2022, resulting in the loss of more than 3,026 lives and damage to 1.96 million hectares of crops. While heat waves predominated in early 2022, hailstorms have become the predominant extreme weather event in 2023.

CSE Director General Sunita Narain said:

"Our intent is to use the best data points available to tell you the story of India's environmental performance: where it has faltered, where it has made progress towards a sustainable existence and where, if It's that there were some, it's the gaps in the data."

Bengal's environmental and climate governance

The report assesses Bengal's environmental and climate governance in various categories, revealing a mixed performance compared to other states. In terms of overall environmental performance, Bengal is in the bottom five states, scoring 3.7 out of 10. However, Bengal falls below average on parameters such as "proportion of water bodies not in use", "stage of groundwater abstraction" and "change in number of polluted river reaches".

In terms of agriculture, Bengal ranks 11th with a score of 4.6. Madhya Pradesh leads in this category due to its high share of net value added and significant growth in food grain production. However, almost half of the growing area in Madhya Pradesh remains uninsured. In terms of public health, 

Bengal ranks 16th, with Delhi leading the way. Delhi allocates most of its budget to healthcare and has a strong network of healthcare facilities, though it has a low immunisation rate.

Climate risk-prone region

West Bengal is projected to become the 60th most climate risk-prone region in the world by 2050, according to a global report released this week. The study, titled XDI Gross Domestic Climate Risk, aims to help investors make informed long-term investment decisions and assesses more than 2,600 regions around the world.

The report highlights that 14 Indian states are expected to be among the top 100 regions facing climate risks by mid-century. Bihar is expected to top the list with an overall ranking of 22, followed by Uttar Pradesh with 25 and Assam with 28.

Regarding West Bengal's climate risk ranking, an expert associated with the study stated:

"West Bengal ranks 60th in terms of climate risk by 2050, and the modelling shows that damage to the environment in Bengal may increase by 81 percent from 1990 to 2050. Flooding is the main danger of this damage in West Bengal, but coastal flooding also plays a role."

Rise in average temperature

Mr Debarshi Duttagupta of Kolkata Cloud Chasers, an amateur group of storm chasers and weather enthusiasts stated,

"Due to the rise in average surface temperature of the Bay of Bengal the severity of cyclones has been increasing from the past few years. This should be a matter of huge concern as super cyclone formations like Yash, Amphan, Fani, and Bulbul are becoming common now.”

These cyclones are not only affecting West Bengal but are creating devastating effects in Andaman and Nicobar, Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, and Telangana. Previously West Bengal was not much affected by these storms as they went generally to Odisha and Bangladesh but now the situation is changing and this is very scary for cities like Kolkata."

Being known as the Mangrove Man, environmentalist and teacher Mr Umashankar Mandal, working in the Sunderbans since 2009 to plant and save the mangrove trees shares some of his thoughts on this. 

“After the cyclonic storm Aila in 2009, the Sunderban delta was pretty badly affected. The loss of rich cultivable land and freshwater was immense. Seeing the loss I made up my mind to do something to protect the land. It started with a donation of medicines, clothes, and other essentials to the affected families but after a period of time, I also started planting the mangrove trees. Planting mangroves helps in restricting cyclones or storms to enter the mainland as they act as a wall and take the blows on them thus reducing the damage of crops, fishing ponds, plants, livestock, and human life.”

The rate of storms increased

The largest bay in the world, the Bay of Bengal, which spans 2,600,000 square kilometres, is consistently ranked among the Earth's most cyclone-prone areas. A study by Dr. Jeff Masters, a meteorologist and hurricane scientist who records extreme weather, was released on the Yale Climate Connections platform. It states that within the last 200 years, 22 of the 30 deadliest tropical storms in recorded history have occurred in the Bay of Bengal.

The region's tropical cyclone-related disasters were mostly triggered by storm surges. Storm surge-induced flooding poses a serious risk to the people living in the Bay of Bengal and the Arabian Sea. In the Bay of Bengal, tropical cyclones arise more frequently than in the Arabian Sea, and storm surges also occur more frequently, according to a 2009 study.

Due in part to its funnel-like form and geography, which features shallow water for a considerable distance away from the shore, the Bay of Bengal is vulnerable to significant storm surges. Because of its distinct physical configuration, the area has seen some of the deadliest natural disasters in recorded history.

This is resulting in increasing pressure on cities like Kolkata as the population demographics are shifting in multiple gears. More population means that more pressure on finite resources like groundwater and fuel leads to the depletion of these resources at an alarming rate. Previously groundwater was known as a renewable resource but the rapidly increasing dependency on it for various uses has turned it into a finite resource.

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