India lost $87 billion last year due to natural calamities: WMO

The United Nations weather agency in its State of the Climate in Asia report said India was the second most affected country by the effects of global warming on life and property after China, with losses of $238 billion. and the Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific. The deficit in Japan was slightly less than $85 billion.

Drought caused the most damage, it said, adding that 2020 was the hottest year on record for Asia, with an average temperature of 1.39 degrees Celsius above the 1981-2010 period average.

The report highlighted the extent of the global climate crisis, days ahead of the global summit in Glasgow later this week.

Extreme heat was recorded in several places, with Verkhoyansk in Russia recording the highest known temperature within the Arctic Circle at 38 °C.

According to the report, the East and South Asian Summer Monsoons were unusually active. Recurrent cyclones, floods and landslides have resulted in loss of lives and widespread displacement across nations.

Cyclone Amphan, one of the strongest storms ever recorded, displaced 2.4 million and 2.5 million people respectively in May 2020 in the Sundarbans, the world’s largest mangrove forest spread over India and Bangladesh, the report said.

With record surface temperatures, the Indian Ocean is also warming rapidly along with the Pacific and the Arctic. Sea surface temperatures around Asia were rising three times faster than the global average, especially in the Arabian Sea. Warmer sea levels increase the likelihood of a severe storm.

Globally, progress in food security and nutrition has also been slow. Last year, 48.8 million people in Southeast Asia, 305.7 million in South Asia and 42.3 million in West Asia were malnourished. “The actual impacts of Covid-19 on food security and nutrition are yet to be established,” it added.