The Union Environment Minister stated at the UN Climate Conference (COP27) in Egypt on Monday, November 7th, 2022, that since climate finance is still in short supply, climate adaptation in the form of early warning spreading is essential to protecting lives and livelihoods from cascading natural hazards that cause significant losses throughout the world.
Bhupender Yadav emphasized that the global speed of climate mitigation is insufficient to slow the rate of climate change during his speech at the UN Secretary General High Level Round Table to introduce the “Early Warnings for All Executive Action Plan.”
He added that there was a pressing need to recognize the cascading natural disasters that result in significant losses all across the world and that India fully supported the UN secretary general’s initiative to achieve “Early Warnings for All.”
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Small tropical States have lost 200 percent of their national revenue in a matter of hours due to the intensity of tropical storms in the Pacific and the Caribbean. According to Yadav, such occurrences could have disastrous effects on nations that lack the resources to handle them.
“With climate finance still scarce, climate adaptation in the form of early warning dissemination is key in safeguarding lives and livelihoods. ‘Early Warnings For All’ plays a part in not just containing the immediate physical impacts, but also mitigating the far-reaching, long-term socio-economic implications that follow,” he added.
India has been working to improve end-to-end early warning systems for all hydro-meteorological threats, according to Yadav.
Deaths due to cyclones in the country have reduced by up to 90 per cent in the last 15 years, he said, adding that early warning systems for cyclones cover almost the entire east and west coasts.
The minister stated that the country has made concerted efforts over the past few years to make early warnings impact-based, simply understandable, and actionable by communities. India is making quick progress in terms of early warning for other risks such as heat waves.
At the summit, which runs from November 6 to November 18 in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt, developed nations are anticipated to press underdeveloped nations to further bolster their climate plans.
The rich countries, on the other hand, would need to agree to provide the money and technology necessary to combat climate change and the disasters that arise from it.
This year’s UN climate summit is taking place in the wake of Russian aggression in Ukraine and the ensuing energy crisis, which have put a pressure on the ability of nations to take prompt action against climate change.
