hong kong
cnn
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The world’s largest capital cities are seeing hotter days than ever before, according to an unprecedented study, which it says is accelerating an alarming trend as hot temperatures reach extremes across Asia.
According to one study, the world’s 20 most populous cities – home to more than 300 million people – have seen a 52% increase in the number of days above 35 °C (95 °F) over the past 3 years. Published on Friday through the World Institute for Order and Building (IIED).
From Buenos Aires, Argentina to the French capital Paris and Cairo, Egypt, it has been discovered that with each passing decade, as human-caused greenhouse gas emissions increase, more and more hot days are being recorded in the main capital cities. Are – which are causing blackmail for humans. Situation, economies and infrastructure.
“Climate change is not just a future threat – it is already happening and getting worse,” IIED senior researcher Tucker Landsman said in a press drop.
“In just one generation, there has been a worrying increase in the number of days of extreme heat affecting some of the world’s largest capital cities – made worse by the urban heat island effect,” which occurs when cities overheat on roads and buildings. Let’s change the herbal land. Accumulation excess heat.
Asian cities, which are part of the region’s most populous capitals, have seen the greatest temperature increases – a pattern that can be seen in contemporary heat waves around the continent from Southeast Asia to China and the Republic of India . Asia is particularly at risk from environmental threats because of its peak population, poverty and the percentage of the community living in low-lying areas, overexploitation, sea level rise and the threat of alternative natural failures.
Uncharted Delhi tops the list of most up-to-date cities, recording 4,222 days above 35°C in the last 3 years – more than any alternative city analysed. Between 2014 and 2023, only a few percent (44%) met that threshold in the Indian capital, compared to 35% from 1994 to 2003 and 37% from 2004 to 2013.
The capital patch is most effective in warming up. In late May, a part of Delhi reached 49.9 °C (121.8 °F) – the city’s highest temperature on record, putting a strain on India’s power grid and equipment supplies. The heat continued even till midnight, which brought some respite to the citizens.
“We have been living in this neighborhood for 40 years, but we have never seen such heat,” Kalyani Saha, a 60-year-old resident of Lajpat Nagar in southeast Delhi, told CNN.
“We only get water once a day, and it is extremely hot, you cannot bathe with this water unless you fill a bucket and let it cool all day before using it.”
A Delhi rickshaw puller told CNN that he is getting fewer passengers as society has chosen air-conditioned taxis rather than open-air shipping.
“My body can’t bear it, but I have to cycle,” said Sagar Mandal, 39. “We are used to physical labor, we are not complaining about it.” But this heat is not normal, something has to change.”
Indonesia’s capital Jakarta saw the biggest jump in the number of days above 35 degrees Celsius in 30 years, from 28 days between 1994 and 2003 to 167 days from 2014 to 2023.
Seoul, South Korea, and Beijing, China also experienced significant increases in extremely hot days. In 2018, temperatures in Seoul exceeded 35 degrees Celsius on 21 days – higher than in the past 10 years. The preference for days over 35 degrees has increased by 309% in Beijing since 1994.
Cities also see long stretches of the highest temperatures, as governments fail to meet climate objectives and adequately curb emissions. In October 2023, Jakarta had 30 consecutive days with temperatures above 35 degrees Celsius – more days than the entire period between 1994 and 2003.
Last summer could also be devastating, especially for vulnerable groups who would not have access to cooler areas. Between June 11 and 19, there were 192 heat-related deaths of homeless people in Delhi, a record high compared to the same period in the past five years, according to a document by NGO Center for Condition Building Republic of India. ,
Young children, the elderly and pregnant women are more at risk from heat waves, which can also have a devastating impact on casual and hourly workers who may be faced with the decision between work stoppages or staying home without pay or working. May fall. In bad circumstances.
The heat additionally harms the economy, destroying plants and livestock and reducing the productivity of hard work, especially in parks without air conditioning, as workers must travel extra miles for leftover food and rehydration. A break is required.
And the ultimate heat puts pressure on infrastructure including highways, roads, power lines and railways, causing supply chain disruptions and blackouts and illness.
According to a 2022 Dartmouth School study, the last warming since the early 1990s has cost the global economy trillions of dollars, disproportionately affecting the world’s poorest and lowest-emitting countries.
“Responding to the challenge of extreme heat will require bold action from policymakers, including serious investments to adapt to this new reality,” said IIED’s Landesman.
“For many cities, it is not a lack of knowledge or capacity or resources that is preventing large-scale action to address climate change, but rather a lack of political will and governance tools.”