Summer has come early to Bangalore, a panel has approved the rebuilding of Teesta d3 am and India has recognized 4 more sites as wetlands.
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Welcome to your weekly dose of climate news where I bring one sunny story that gives hope and two stormy ones that are a cause for alarm. Hope you like them!
??? Stormy news ???
1. Summer has arrived early in Bangalore; It’s the new normal.
What are we talking about?
- Bangalore made headlines this week for “expecting a hotter summer than Delhi”. This happened as on Monday, February 17, Bengaluru recorded a high of 35.9°C, while Delhi remained cooler at 27°C.
- While this may be true for February, it's a bit of a stretch to extrapolate this for all of summer.
- While the trend may not continue to hold for all of summer, it is true that this February appears to be hotter than usual for Bangalore. According to the IMD, temperatures in February 2025 are 2.7 deg C higher than those recorded in February 2024.
- This is already reflecting in much more than the thermometer. Karnataka saw the highest peak electricity demand ever in the State, on February 14, setting a new record at 18,057 MW. The energy department has attributed this to the rising heat that has resulted in the use of ACs earlier this year.
- Also the Bangalore administration has already banned the use of potable water for non essential purposes. A similar ban was put in place only in March last year.
- It’s not unusual for Bangalore to see higher temperatures than Delhi in February.
- However, summer in Bengaluru usually begins in early March, but this year, it appears to have started around mid-February. This premature transition into summer seems to be becoming a new norm fueled by climate change.
- The IMD has warned that this year is likely to be hotter than the previous one. They have also cautioned about heatwave conditions in districts like Kalaburagi.
Sources for further reading
2. Expert panel has approved rebuilding the Teesta 3 dam, 14 months after it was washed away in a glacial lake outburst
What are we talking about?
- Teesta 3 HEP (Hydro Electric Power) project was the biggest hydropower project in Sikkim with a capacity of 1200 MW.
- It’s 60 m high dam was destroyed in ‘A Glacial Lake Outburst Flood’ (GLOF) that originated at South Lhonak Glacial Lake in Octobeber 2023.
- On Jan 10 2025, a centrally-appointed Expert Appraisal Committee (EAC) approved plans to rebuild the dam. This was done without a public hearing.
- Both environmental experts and opposition parties in the state have raised concerns about this approval to rebuild.
- Sikkim Urja Limited (SUL), the company that operates the dam and the hydro-electric power plant, has claimed in its proposal that the sturdier design of the rebuilt dam will account for a higher Probable Maximum Flood (PMF) levels (7,000 cumecs) as well as GLOF possibilities (12,946 cumecs) and thus offer greater resilience to flash floods and GLOFs. However, no documents of the studies or details about how the analysis was done were made available.
- A recent study published in the journal Science warned that the region remains highly susceptible to GLOF events.
- The flash flood in 2023 that destroyed the dam was triggered by the collapse of South Lhonak lake’s lateral moraine (a ridge formed along the side of the glacier as it retreated) into the glacial lake resulting in a 20-meter-high tsunami which came cascading down the Teesta river.
- A study that got published in Science has found that the region still “remains highly susceptible to future GLOF events, including repeat triggers from northern lateral moraine failures.”
- The likelihood of extreme events like the glacial lake outburst has increased due to climate change, that has resulted in permafrost warming and glacier retreats.
Sources for further reading
?? Sunny news ??
3. India recognizes 4 more sites as wetlands
What are we talking about?
- India has added four new wetlands to the Ramsar List of Wetlands of International Importance on World Wetlands Day (February 2).
- These include Sakkarakottai Bird Sanctuary and Therthangal Bird Sanctuary in Tamil Nadu, Khecheopalri Wetland in Sikkim and Udhwa Lake in Jharkhand.
- India now has 89 Ramsar sites, making it the nation with the most sites in Asia and the third highest sites in the world.
- The Ramsar Convention is an international agreement from 1971 that aims to protect wetlands worldwide.
- Wetlands play an important role in maintaining functional ecosystem - they clean water, store carbon, help prevent floods and provide a home for many species. When a wetland becomes a Ramsar site, it is recognised as globally important and must be protected by national and international rules.
- While adding wetlands to the Ramsar list is a positive step, it does not guarantee protection. Many Ramsar sites in India still face threats like pollution, encroachment, and mismanagement. For example, Sambhar Lake in Rajasthan suffers from illegal salt mining and bird deaths due to habitat damage.
Sources for further reading
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