• UGI USER
  • Dec 06, 2023
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WARMEST DECADE YET WITH IMPROVED DISASTER PREPAREDNESS:

Why in the News?

  • The World Meteorological Organization reports that the 2011-2020 decade was the warmest on record.
  • Despite the rising temperatures, it witnessed the lowest number of deaths from extreme events, attributing this to enhanced early warning systems and better disaster management.

Report Highlights:

  • Glaciers worldwide thinned by approximately 1 meter per year on average from 2011 to 2020.
  • Greenland and Antarctica experienced a 38% increase in ice loss compared to the previous decade.
  • The report mentions the 2021 Uttarakhand rock-avalanche triggered by a breach in the Nanda Devi glacier, emphasizing the environmental impact.
  • Positive Trends:
    • The report highlights the first decade since 1950 without a single short-term event causing 10,000 or more deaths.
    • The ozone hole showed visible signs of recovery during this period, marking a positive environmental shift.

Climate Change Challenges and Financial Investment:

  • Human-induced climate change heightened risks from extreme heat events, with heatwaves causing the highest number of casualties.
  • Tropical cyclones led to the most significant economic damage.
  • Public and private climate finance nearly doubled during the decade, but there’s a call for a sevenfold increase by the decade’s end to achieve climate objectives, including limiting global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius.

About World Meteorological Organization (WMO) 

  • WMO is an intergovernmental organization with 192 Member States and Territories, including India.
  • Originating from the International Meteorological Organization (IMO) established in 1873, WMO became a specialized agency of the United Nations on March 23, 1950.
  • It focuses on meteorology, operational hydrology, and related geophysical sciences.
  • Its headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland.