BHUBANESWAR: The climate change will have a deadly impact on Odisha before the turn of next century if the present rate of carbon emission persists. The state is projected to witness 30 times more hot days and 42,000 more deaths annually, reveals a study.
The report by the Climate Impact Lab in collaboration with the Tata Centre for Development at the University of Chicago estimates that by 2100, around 42,300 more people could die in Odisha each year due to spike in temperature caused by carbon emission and climate change.
“These excess climate-related deaths due to an increase in temperature is nearly five times more than the total deaths the state records due to cardiac arrest every year,” the report said.
The report released here on Monday stated that if green house emissions continue to grow at the current rate, the average summer temperature of Odisha will increase by 3.32 degree Celsius from existing 28.87 degree Celsius to 32.19 degree Celsius which will be far higher than the national average increase from 24 degree Celsius to 28 degree Celsius during this period. Neighbouring Andhra Pradesh will be next to Odisha with a temperature rise of 3.07 degree Celsius.
The report has projected that number of extremely hot days in Odisha will increase from 1.62 days in 2010 to 48.05 days by 2,100 and the spike in temperature and hot days will have a clear impact on mortality.
Professor Amir Jina of Harris School of Public Policy at the University of Chicago, who works as a researcher at the Climate Impact Lab, said in order to establish the relationship between extreme heat and mortality, the lab analysed highly spatial detailed climate data from 33 global climate models. Their research study revealed that between 2010 and 2018, around 6,100 people died in India due to heatwave and 90 per cent of these deaths were reported from Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and West Bengal.
Chief General Manager of Odisha State Disaster Management Authority (OSDMA) Pradeep Kumar Nayak said Odisha has a history of experiencing extreme heat-related fatalities and had recorded 2,042 deaths due to heatwave conditions in 1998. Though the State has managed to reduce such deaths drastically since then, the study calls for amplified efforts to reduce carbon emission and build resilience for vulnerable communities.
Sriji Mishra, Director of Nabakrushna Choudhury Centre for Development Studies, said the extreme climatic condition will have a huge impact on agriculture sector. To address this issue, the State needs to shift its focus from input subsidy-based agriculture to knowledge-based agriculture which would encourage farmers for crop diversification.