Drishtikon: Heatwave And Disability
Introduction
It was March, the supposed season of spring, which lately has been put to skip mode as it simply goes from the chilly winters directly to hot scorching summers with heatwaves (loo) of unprecedented frequency and intensity. And this time was no different, somewhat worse. February was no better, either. It was as if we were witnessing the ‘Missing Spring’![1] The cricketesque and poetic spring season is the synonym for new life and energy, with fresh flowers & leaves looking like abstract art of nature. this serene beauty of nature is becoming shorter and shorter, and not long before it becomes just a thing of fiction. March 2022 recorded an average maximum temperature, the highest ever in the last hundred and twenty-two years.[2]
Climate Change and Heatwaves
Climate change[3] is a global human right [4] “threat multiplier”.[5] Climate Change aggravates the heatwave by multifold.[6] [7] It worsens every other crisis and intensifies other problems and worsens existing vulnerabilities and injustices.[8] Just like how a rising tide lifts all boats, climate change hurts everyone. We need to understand and internalize that we have got everything to lose because of climate change including our future. In the Era of Consequences, decades of collective inaction have resulted in a world where climate change is triggering inequalities and having a cascading impact on already disadvantaged groups resulting in their income and capability deprivation and consequently in increased cost of living.[9]
“Qualitatively, the heat wave is a condition of air temperature which becomes fatal to the human body when exposed. Quantitatively, it is defined based on the temperature thresholds over a region in terms of actual temperature or its departure from normal. In certain countries, it is defined in terms of the heat index based on temperature and humidity or based on the extreme percentile of the temperatures.”[10]
Heatwave, Labour, and Economy
There is a deteriorating interface between the environment, employment, and economy too.[11] Heatwave decreases working capabilities and thus reduces productivity and efficiency.[12] We should start looking at things from the perspective of “Opportunity Cost” because when the economy will go south, vulnerable sections will hurt the most as was the case during Covid19. Heat Wave reduces the working hours and increases the healthcare expenses for vulnerable workforce resulting in capability deprivation and consequently, loss of work and thus income and livelihood.[13] Heatwaves also contribute to the energy crisis and carbon emission.[14]
Heatwaves affect the farmers and labour class the worst. As neither have they had the income and capability to take precautionary actions nor do they have the option to skip the work given their financial conditions, especially the daily wage workers. Heatwaves have detrimental effects on agriculture as the crop yield decreases, resulting in livelihood crisis and inflation.[15]
Almost 2,000 high-yielding and stress-tolerant varieties of field crops and hybrids have been released through 2022. Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), an autonomous body under the Ministry of Agriculture, Government of India released 1,956 varieties of crops through its National Agricultural Research System of which 1,633 crop varieties are climate resilience for one or the other biotic and abiotic stress. Thirty-six of these crop varieties have been particularly nurtured for heat stress/high-temperature tolerance, Narendra Singh Tomar, Minister of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare told the Rajya Sabha in the Parliament of India.[16] ICAR has also developed 87 Nutrition Rich crop cultivars. Central Research Institute for Dryland Agriculture (ICAR-CRIDA) has also formulated contingency plans for 650 districts to mitigate the impact of weather-related challenges.[17]
Heatwave and Health
In May 2010 in Ahmedabad, temperatures surpassed over 48° C resulting in the death of 800 people within one lethal week of catastrophic heatwaves. Consequently, Ahmedabad became the first city in India to initiate a heat action plan[18] that provided guidelines to reduce the health impacts of heat and later on saved hundreds and thousands of lives.[19] [20] As the IPCC Report highlights, climate change doesn’t only impact our physical health but also results in mental health issues.[21]
Heatwaves have been a direct result of the death of people, especially ones who don’t have the capability to mitigate and negotiate its impacts.[22] Further, it not only leaves people with disability, children, the older population, and people with comorbidity among others as usual suspects of heatwaves. Extreme heat exposure especially worsens the experience and condition of people with disabilities like People with Multiple Sclerosis.[23] People with Disabilities are accustomed by necessity to surviving the disabling effects of the heat.[24] People with Disabilities (Schizophrenia) are disproportionately affected by heat waves.[25]
Heatwave and Wildfires
Heatwaves don’t leave the flora and fauna either. Loss of livestock is one important externality of the extreme heat that often goes under the radar despite having a severe impact on rural setup and having a cascading effect on the livelihood and other concerns in the rural setup.[26]
Wildfires have become more common because of the heatwaves[27] as was in the case of the catastrophic Australian bushfires that resulted in the death of millions of wild animals and loss of forest cover over millions of hectares.[28]
Concluding Remarks
Climate Action needs to be people-centric and all-inclusive. Ecosystem-centric approach is important but needs mainstream communities to ensure climate-conscious citizenry in climate action. The government shall create dashboards with a geographic information system (GIS) for mapping and analysis to understand patterns, intersection, demographic, and geographic context concerning Natural Disasters, Climate Change like Heatwaves and floods, and Disability-inclusive Disaster Risk Reduction (DiDRR) and beyond. Further, regular State and District wise Performance Indexes are required for monitoring and implementing District Disaster Management Plans, District Environment Management Plans, et al.
Certainly, not everything can be put to skip mode but certainly, to avoid the heatwaves related health impacts on the body and mind, provisions like reasonable accommodations need to be generalized, not just for the school children but even for adults and especially the vulnerable workforce like people with disabilities to mitigate and adapt the negative externalities of the heatwaves.
Covid19 made work from home reasonable and thus similar provisions shall apply concerning natural disasters and climate crisis including heatwaves. Construction work should be carried out at night to cause less disturbance to traffic as well as more productive hours and efficiency.
There is a need for accessible and climate-resilient public infrastructure based on traditional and indigenous architecture techniques like Kath Kuni as well as to incentivize and create awareness for such housing infrastructure that not only protects from the impacts of climate change but also doesn’t lead to climate change.
The extreme condition also warrants hot spots that face severe heatwaves and extreme heat needs to be identified and come up with a region-specific heat action plan and guidelines for the citizenry. Further, there is an urgent need to conduct a Social Impact Assessment of Disability and Climate Change-related laws and policies in order to formulate better versions as per the need of the planet and people.
References
[1] The Sangyan at Twitter, Available at <https://twitter.com/thesangyan/status/1511573641645158400?s=20&t=TbCmfOLF1JdlFsQb_EEIjw> Accessed on 06th May 2022.
[2] Country sees hottest March in 122 yrs, heatwave to continue in Delhi, The Indian Express, 03rd April 2022, Available at <https://indianexpress.com/article/cities/delhi/country-sees-hottest-march-in-122-yrs-heatwave-to-continue-in-delhi-7850043/> Accessed on 20th August 2022.
[3] State of the Global Climate 2021, World Meteorological Organization (WMO), 2021, Available at <https://public.wmo.int/en/our-mandate/climate/wmo-statement-state-of-global-climate> Accessed on 20th August 2022.
[4] Special Rapporteur on the Right to Development to the Human Rights Council: climate change is a global human rights threat multiplier, Human Rights Council, 17th September 2021, Available at <https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2021/09/special-rapporteur-right-development-human-rights-council-climate-change?LangID=E&NewsID=27490> Accessed on 20th August 2022.
[5] Climate change recognized as ‘threat multiplier’, UN Security Council debates its impact on peace, United Nations, Available at <https://www.un.org/peacebuilding/fr/news/climate-change-recognized-%E2%80%98threat-multiplier%E2%80%99-un-security-council-debates-its-impact-peace#:~:text=As%20climate%20change%20is%20increasingly,ways%20to%20diminish%20the%20effects> Accessed on 20th August 2022.
[6] Akshit Sangomla, Blame climate change! UK heatwaves became 10 times more likely, Climate Change, Down To earth, 29th July 2022, Available at < https://www.downtoearth.org.in/news/climate-change/blame-climate-change-uk-heatwaves-became-10-times-more-likely-84055> Accessed on 03rd August 2022.
[7] Jude Coleman, Climate change made South Asian heatwave 30 times more likely, Nature, 23 May 2022, Available at <https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-022-01444-1#:~:text=Human%2Dinduced%20climate%20change%20made,heat%20has%20yet%20to%20subside.> Accessed on 20th August 2022.
[8] Special Rapporteur on the Right to Development to the Human Rights Council: climate change is a global human rights threat multiplier, Human Rights Council, 17th September 202, Available at: <https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2021/09/special-rapporteur-right-development-human-rights-council-climate-change?LangID=E&NewsID=27490> Accessed on 06th May 2022.
[9] Abhishek Kumar, Climate Change, Disability, and the Capability Approach, The Sangyan, 20th February 2022, Available at <https://sangyan.medium.com/climate-change-disability-and-the-capability-approach-916a2fdfae41> Accessed on 20th August 2022.
[10] Heatwave, Indian Meteorological Department, FAQ Heat wave, Available at <https://internal.imd.gov.in/section/nhac/dynamic/FAQ_heat_wave.pdf> Accessed on 20th August 2022.
[11] Working on a warmer planet: The impact of heat stress on labour productivity and decent work, International Labour Organization, 2019, Available at <https://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/---dgreports/---dcomm/---publ/documents/publication/wcms_711919.pdf> Accessed on 07th May 2022.
[12] Increase in heat stress predicted to bring productivity loss equivalent to 80 million jobs, International Labour Organization, 01st July 2019, Available at <https://www.ilo.org/global/about-the-ilo/newsroom/news/WCMS_711917/lang--en/index.htm> Accessed on 20th August 2022.
[13] Heat waves, World Health Organization, Available at <https://www.who.int/india/heat-waves> Accessed on 20th August 2022.
[14] Shwetal Shah, Heatwaves: Rethink India’s energy mix, Hindustan times, 16th May 2022, Available at <https://www.hindustantimes.com/opinion/heatwaves-rethink-india-s-energy-mix-101652698293702.html> Accessed on 20th August 2022.
[15] Kapil Kajal, Heatwave takes a toll on north India’s wheat yield, Mongabay-India, 08th June 2022, Available at <https://india.mongabay.com/2022/06/heatwave-takes-a-toll-on-north-indias-wheat-yield/#:~:text=March%20was%20the%20hottest%20in,their%20high%20production%20of%20wheat.> Accessed on 20th August 2022.
[16] DTE Staff, As told to Parliament (July 22, 2022): UP had most number of cancer cases in 2020, Governance, Down To Earth, 22nd July 2022, Available at <https://www.downtoearth.org.in/news/governance/as-told-to-parliament-july-22-2022-up-had-most-number-of-cancer-cases-in-2020-83884> Accessed on 03rd August 2022.
[17] DTE Staff, As told to Parliament (July 22, 2022): UP had most number of cancer cases in 2020, Governance, Down To Earth, 22nd July 2022, Available at <https://www.downtoearth.org.in/news/governance/as-told-to-parliament-july-22-2022-up-had-most-number-of-cancer-cases-in-2020-83884> Accessed on 03rd August 2022.
[18] Heat Action Plan (HAP), Indian Institute of Public Health Gandhinagar, Available at <https://iiphg.edu.in/heat-action-plan-hap/> Accessed on 20th August 2022.
[19] Ahmedabad Heat Action Plan, Guide to Extreme Heat Planning in Ahmedabad, India, 2019 Update, Available at <https://www.nrdc.org/sites/default/files/ahmedabad-heat-action-plan-2018.pdf> Accessed on 19th May 2022.
[20] How Ahmedabad tackled its heat waves and saved 1,000 lives a year, The Hindi Business Line, 25th February 2022, Available at <https://www.thehindubusinessline.com/news/science/how-ahmedabad-tackled-its-heat-waves-and-saved-1000-lives-a-year/article65083634.ece> Accessed on 20th August 2022.
[21] Isabelle Gerretsen, IPCC report spotlights mental health impacts of climate change, Climate Home News, 02nd March 2022, Available at <https://www.climatechangenews.com/2022/03/02/ipcc-report-spotlights-mental-health-impacts-caused-by-climate-change/> Accessed on 20th August 2022.
[22] Penelope J S Stein and Michael Ashley Stein, Climate change and the right to health of people with disabilities, The Lancet Global Health, VOLUME 10, ISSUE 1, E24-E25, JANUARY 01, 2022, Available at <https://www.thelancet.com/journals/langlo/article/PIIS2214-109X(21)00542-8/fulltext#seccestitle10> Accessed on 20th August 2022.
[23] Ulgulan Talks! : Interview with Anjali Vyas, The Sangyan, 07th July 2022, Available at <https://sangyan.medium.com/ulgulan-talks-interview-with-anjali-vyas-c1cd217731c7> Accessed on 20th August 2022.
[24] ÁINE KELLY-COSTELLO, Disability in the Heat, Disability Debrief, 25th July 2022, Available at <https://www.disabilitydebrief.org/disability-in-the-heat/> Accessed on 20th August 2022.
[25] ÁINE KELLY-COSTELLO, Disability in the Heat, Disability Debrief, 25th July 2022, Available at <https://www.disabilitydebrief.org/disability-in-the-heat/> Accessed on 20th August 2022.
[26] Shagun, March-April heatwave impacted agriculture in 9 Indian states: ICAR report, Down to Earth, 28th July 2022, Available at <https://www.downtoearth.org.in/news/agriculture/march-april-heatwave-impacted-agriculture-in-9-indian-states-icar-report-84018> Accessed on 20th August 2022.
[27] Proloy Deb, Ashish Sharma, et al, Causes of the Widespread 2019–2020 Australian Bushfire Season, Earth’s Future, Volume 8, Issue 11, 03 November 2020, DOI: <https://doi.org/10.1029/2020EF001671>.
[28] Ten impacts of the Australian bushfires, Climate Action Story, UNEP, January 22nd 2020, Available at: <https://www.unep.org/news-and-stories/story/ten-impacts-australian-bushfires> Accessed on 19th May 2022.
About the Author
Abhishek Kumar, NCPEDP-Javed Abidi Fellow on Disability.
The author can be reached at abhishek.ncpedp@gmail.com
