The Critical Climatic Conditions in Bengaluru

Bengaluru, the IT hub of India, is well known for its massive IT industry and its year-round moderate weather. The IT industry has grown beautifully ever since that time. But one thing that has gone worse is the weather which is not as mild, predictable or pleasant as it was before. The temperature in Bengaluru used to range from 21 to 32 degrees Celsius in around April 1997. During the usual summer days, Bengaluru experienced pre-monsoon rainfall on seven out of thirty days.

Around 20 years later from then, Bangaloreans faced the bitter reality. In April 2017, the average temperature went upto 28 degrees Celsius. It was almost 8% increase from the year 1977. The weather has been changing dramatically in this short period of time. Due to a decrease in the green coverage, and the increase in pollution due to automobiles, air pollution has become a stressor for climate change in Bengaluru. There is immediate need of strict action to be taken in order to combat the environmental degradation. Over the years, numerous efforts have been made by various NGO’s and groups. This has led to an increase in the green coverage of Karnataka. The Karnataka government has framed a comprehensive climate action plan, the State Action Plan on Climate Change (authored by the Environmental Management and Policy Research Institute – EMPRI), which includes theme-wise strategies for climate mitigation and adaptation under thematic areas such as ‘Water Resources’ and ‘Energy’. The total budget of the state action plan is around Rs. 3400 crores, and is used to combat the changes seen in the climatic conditions in urban areas of Karnataka. It is indeed very important for policy makers to create interventions that have an impact on the socio economic issues.

By: Anuja Arora

Source: https://www.thenewsminute.com/article/garden-city-warming-why-climate-change-must-be-election-issue-bengaluru-80176