Cities are growing faster than they can cope and are growing more vulnerable to extreme weather. With Bengaluru’s ever-escalating water problems becoming a recurrent, annual feature, innovative new thinking and plans are the need of the hour if a calamity is to be avoided. Can Bengaluru make room for the rain through sponge city principles?
As the effects of climate change become increasingly severe, many of the world’s cities are facing extreme weather events like heavy rainfall and prolonged droughts.
Our planet has already warmed by 1.5 degrees celsius compared to pre-industrial levels. This seemingly insignificant increase has set in motion a cascade of extreme weather events, a phenomenon aptly described by scientists as “loading the climate dice.”
Before the 1980s, the climate remained relatively stable, with fewer erratic occurrences. But this changed as temperatures increased, tipping the scales towards more frequent and severe weather anomalies. An Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change like heavy (IPCC) study finds that there will be more frequent or stronger El Niño-Southern Oscillation events which can lead to more floods and droughts.
Acknowledgements
Veena Srinivasan and Shreya Nath for The Water Digest.
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