Deadly heat waves, coastal flooding, reduced agricultural productivity, and water shortages are among the climate change-related problems facing India. But two experts from Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health said they are encouraged by recent problem-solving steps that the Indian government has taken to battle the threat.
In a July 9, 2019 article in The Economic Times, Dean Michelle Williams and Kasisomayajula “Vish” Viswanath, Lee Kum Kee Professor of Health Communication, wrote that, in spite of the challenges posed by human-caused environmental changes, India has made progress. For example, there’s been a dramatic decline in heat-related fatalities in recent years, spurred by the government’s efforts to communicate the dangers of extreme heat, urge employers to modify or reduce working hours during heat waves, and improve access to free drinking water and cooling centers.
The government has also set ambitious decarbonization and renewable energy targets and has embraced a multilateral approach to combatting global warming, the authors wrote.
“As the inextricable link between earthly health and human health becomes more apparent, so should our willingness to pursue bold solutions,” they wrote. “As Prime Minister [Narendra] Modi put it, further inaction on climate change would be an ‘immoral and criminal act.’”
Read the Economic Times article: The real-time cost of climate change and the needed real-time response