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Dear readers,
The post COVID-19 rebuilding efforts offer great opportunities for climate action and for sustainable development more generally. Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) including those related to housing, sanitation and access to green spaces demand particular attention; indeed the whole concept of sustainable cities needs to be revisited. And the IMF’s Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) can enable climate resilient sustainable development if they were to become a more general source of development finance, rather than being allocated as a mere one-time measure to deal with the crisis, as is presently the case. As for the government of India it can take a wide spectrum of measures to reduce emissions. But above all, it needs to cease prioritizing short-term needs over long-term ones, institutionalize climate risk assessment and build a new eco-institutionalism.
The importance of such measures is underlined by a new study which found that nearly 15 per cent of the area under rice and maize cultivation in India had been affected by flash droughts between 1951 and 2018, with central and eastern India particularly prone to the phenomena. And the rising incidence of extreme weather was highlighted this week as two near-simultaneous Atlantic Ocean hurricanes sparked fears that they may combine to form a mega hurricane due to the so-called Fujiwhara effect.
Solutions to the climate crisis need, above all, to empower local communities, as a new study of forest restoration projects in poor countries emphasized. And in Ghana, biochar application is helping raise yields and enabling smallholders to combat the impact of climate change on the soil. |
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| EXTREME WEATHER TRACKER |
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Extreme weather: Understanding birds’ response can help conservation efforts| 25 August 2020
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Flash droughts hit nearly 15% rice, maize areas in 1951-2018 monsoons: Study| 26 August 2020
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