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- Hindi Portal
According to the World Meteorological Organization's (WMO) yearly report, climate change continued to advance in 2022 from the tops of mountains to the bottom of the ocean. Communities on every continent were impacted by droughts, floods, and heatwaves, which cost many billions of dollars. The volume of Antarctic sea ice decreased to its lowest level ever, while some European glaciers virtually melted through the roof.
The State of the Global Climate 2022 documents the planetary-scale climate changes brought on by record amounts of heat-trapping greenhouse gases on land, in the ocean, and in the atmosphere. Despite the cooling effects of a La Nina event over the previous three years, the years 2015–2022 were the eight highest on record for the global temperature. Up to thousands of years, glacier melting and sea level rise will continue, with 2022 setting new records in both categories.
“While greenhouse gas emissions continue to rise and the climate continues to change, populations worldwide continue to be gravely impacted by extreme weather and climate events. For example, in 2022, continuous drought in East Africa, record breaking rainfall in Pakistan and record-breaking heatwaves in China and Europe affected tens of millions, drove food insecurity, boosted mass migration, and cost billions of dollars in loss and damage,” said WMO Secretary-General Prof. Petteri Taalas.
“However, collaboration amongst UN agencies has proven to be very effective in addressing humanitarian impacts induced by extreme weather and climate events, especially in reducing associated mortality and economic losses. The UN Early Warnings for All Initiative aims to fill the existing capacity gap to ensure that every person on earth is covered by early warning services. At the moment, about one hundred countries do not have adequate weather services in place. Achieving this ambitious task requires improvement of observation networks, investments in early warning, hydrological and climate service capacities,” he said.
The Indian monsoon onset was earlier and the withdrawal later than normal in 2022. The majority of the Indian subcontinent was wetter than average and the monsoon extended farther westward than usual towards Pakistan, where there was extensive flooding, as per the report. Heatwaves in the 2022 pre-monsoon season in India and Pakistan caused a decline in crop yields. This, combined with the banning of wheat exports and restrictions on rice exports in India after the start of the conflict in Ukraine, has threatened the availability, access to and stability of staple foods within international food markets and posed high risks to countries already affected by shortages of staple foods.
The pre-monsoon period was exceptionally hot in India, the report said. In India, grain yields were reduced by the extreme heat and there were several forest fires, particularly in Uttarakhand. There was also significant flooding in India at various stages during the monsoon season, particularly in the north-east in June, with over 700 deaths reported during the season from flooding and landslides, and a further 900 from lightning.
A story map that illustrates how the climate change indicators are evolving and how advanced technology has made the switch to renewable energy more affordable and accessible than ever is included with the new WMO report.