Adani News

Tag: Climate change

  • Skies more bumpier for aircraft as climate change worsens air turbulence

    Skies more bumpier for aircraft as climate change worsens air turbulence

    The skies aircraft fly through are bumpier today than four decades ago, scientists have found, after producing a new analysis showing that turbulence has increased as the climate changed.

    New research from the University of Reading in the UK showed that clear-air turbulence, which is invisible and hazardous to aircraft, has increased in various regions around the world.

    At a typical point over the North Atlantic — one of the world’s busiest flight routes — the total annual duration of severe turbulence increased by 55 percent from 17.7 hours in 1979 to 27.4 hours in 2020, the research found.

    Moderate turbulence increased by 37 percent from 70.0 to 96.1 hours, and light turbulence increased by 17 percent from 466.5 to 546.8 hours, said the study published in the journal Geophysical Research Letters.

    Warmer air from CO2 emissions is increasing wind shear in the jet streams, strengthening clear-air turbulence in the North Atlantic and globally.

  • Conservationists Say Climate Change Is Increasing Human-animal Conflict

    Conservationists Say Climate Change Is Increasing Human-animal Conflict

    Climate change is increasing the intensity of forest fires, reducing vegetation and degrading natural habitats, forcing the wildlife to move out and come into conflict with humans, conservationists said on Friday. In its latest all-India tiger estimation report, released recently by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) highlighted the “silent and surmounting” threats of climate change-related impacts on habitats and the loss of the quality of forests over time.

    It added that climate change threatens the survival of tigers in the Sunderbans and is one of the major challenges facing the wildlife in the Western Ghats. While the big cat population in the Sunderbans is steady, it has come down substantially in the Western Ghats where 824 tigers were recorded in 2022 against 981 in 2018.

    Mohammad Sajid Sultan, the NTCA’s assistant inspector general of forests, said the wildlife is being affected by climate change with new pests and diseases emerging. “Rain patterns are also changing subtly and gradually rather than all at once. Reports have emerged of tigers moving to higher altitudes and overlapping territories with snow leopards, which has never happened before.

    “This suggests that changes are occurring in the ecosystem, including shifts in monsoon rain patterns, more dry spells and forest fires, which will likely impact vegetation and organisms in the forest, including top predators like tigers,” he said. While empirical evidence is needed to fully understand the impact of climate change, it is undeniable that it is affecting wildlife, as well as the migration and breeding cycles of organisms, the official added.

    Anish Andheria, the president of the Wildlife Conservation Trust and a member of the NTCA, said climate change is having a devastating impact on both wildlife and communities. “Climate change has led to erratic weather patterns, causing crop yields to diminish, and making farmers increasingly dependent on forests for their livelihoods.

  • Climate change threatens tea sector globally: ITA

    Climate change threatens tea sector globally: ITA

    Leading planters body Indian Tea Association (ITA) said climate change is threatening the industry globally which is resulting in lower yields and rise in production costs.

    A spokesman of ITA said climate change is also threatening the long-term viability of tea industry, which is also causing increasing pest infestations making pesticide residue management surfacing as a major challenge.

    To mitigate this, ITA said that the industry needs to adopt a multi-faceted to address the climate change issue by way of sustainable farming practices and reduction in carbon footprint.

    In this context, the association maintained the industry involving all the stakeholders to invest in research to come out with mitigating solutions.

    There has also been a decline in rainfall and increase in temperature in the tea cultivating regions for the last several years, ITA said.

    According to the association, future projections indicate a substantial reduction in suitability in tea cultivation in areas where the crop is grown.

    The other major area where work is needed to be done by the industry is that optimisation in the use of chemical fertilisers and greater use of renewable energy.

    In the latest data compiled by Tea Board, production in January 2023 in the country was 13.43 million kilogramme as against 16.22 million kilogramme in the same month of last calendar year.