On analysing the data published by the European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service, the BBC has said that the world’s oceans have suffered a year of record-breaking heat due to climate change. The seas have broken temperature records every single day for the past year.
This has not only caused widespread coral bleaching, but has threatened the habitat for many marine species. For 13 months in a row, the sea surface temperature has been the warmest on record. According to experts, warmer sea temperatures may result in severe hurricanes and these changes could have long term effects on the Earth like rising sea levels. Greenhouse gases and El Niño have warmed the seas.
According to ‘World Air Quality Report 2023’ (“Report”) by IQAir, which tracks air quality worldwide, India was ranked as the third most polluted country in the world after Bangladesh and Pakistan. Delhi was the most polluted capital city in the world in 2023.
The Report further stated that in 2023 almost all 100 cities in the world with the worst air pollution were in Asia. Infact, 83 of the 100 cities were in India and they all exceeded the World Health Organization’s air quality guidelines by more than 10 times.
Other Key Findings of the Report:
The top 5 most polluted countries in the world in 2023 are Bangladesh, Pakistan, India, Tajikistan, and Burkina Faso.
Of the top ten most polluted cities in the world, 9 belong to India.
Only 10 countries and territories had “healthy” air quality: Finland, Estonia, Puerto Rico, Australia, New Zealand, Bermuda, Grenada, Iceland, Mauritius, and French Polynesia.
The Indian Supreme Court has recognised that the climate crisis impacts the lives of people.
In a recent judgement, the Supreme Court has expanded the scope of fundamental rights to include “the right to be free from adverse effects of climate change.’’ The three judge bench of the apex court, comprising the Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud, Justice JB Pardiwala, and Justice Manoj Misra, was hearing a writ petition filed by conservationist MK Ranjitsinh regarding the conservation of two endangered species of birds, the Great Indian Bustard and the Lesser Florican.
This judgement is a recognition of the serious threat that climate change poses to the lives and welfare of people. Courts have in the past helped to advance the cause of climate justice and protection of the environment, but this is the first time the apex court has linked environmental and climate-related issues to the fundamental rights of citizens
What are Fundamental Rights?
The Constitution of India guarantees certain rights and liberties to every Indian citizen. These rights are considered fundamental because they are essential for the all-round development, dignity, and well-being of individuals. The Fundamental Rights includes the right to equality, the right to freedom, and the right against exploitation.
According to the European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service, the United Nations World Meteorological Organization, and the United States’ National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association, 2023 was the hottest year on Earth since records began. Record keeping started in 1850 after the Industrial Revolution began. It is also reported that July 2023 was likely the hottest month in the last 120,000 years. The EU’s climate service has said that 2023 was around 1.48ºC warmer than pre-industrial times. Scientists say these record temperatures were driven by human-caused climate change and boosted by the natural El Niño weather event.
This basically means that the Earth is heating up. Throughout the Earth’s history, climate has changed due to natural causes. However, according to the UN’s climate body, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the rapid warming of the Earth in the last hundred years cannot be attributed to natural causes.
Even though natural factors like El Niño can raise or reduce temperatures for individual years, they say, the temperatures experienced in 2023 go far beyond simply natural causes.
It is also predicted that 2024 could be even hotter!
What is El Niño?
El Niño is a weather pattern. It is a natural event where warmer surface waters in the East Pacific Ocean release additional heat into the atmosphere. Even though it occurs in the Pacific Ocean, it is so big that it impacts the weather all over the world.
It has been confirmed that the summer of 2023 in the Northern hemisphere was hottest in the last 2,000 years. The UN’s climate body has said that the last time the Earth was continuously this warm may have been more than 100.000 years ago.
The experts looked at deep sea sediments and ice cores to determine this. They also looked at tree rings for valuable insights about climate. Tree rings not only show the tree’s age, but also record detailed information about the state of the climate each year as the tree grows. Scientists reviewed living specimens and fossils, from the European Alps to the Russian Altai mountains.
They studied trees living at altitude, where the impact of summer growth would be most clearly felt. In such places, ringe are usually wider in warmer years when there is more growth and thinner in colder years. This long term Tree ring record along with modern temperature data has shown that: Summer of 2023 was 2.07°C warmer than the “pre-industrial” period of 1850-1900. Compared with the coldest summer in the record which was the year 536, last summer was 3.93°C warmer.
How is Global Warming Tracked?
Presently, global warming is tracked by comparing temperatures to the “pre-industrial era”, before humans started burning large amounts of fossil fuels. This time period is widely defined as the period between 1850 to 1900.
