PANAJI: A Goan model of Portuguese descent, Pearl Angel D’souza will represent India at the Global Climate Change Action Forum – an international platform for young minds to discuss and deliberate on Climate Change-related issues and activities As reported earlier she will also be honoured by a Lisbon, Portugal-based non governmental organisation (NGO), People for Underprivileged People or PUP for her active help in the slums of Dharavi and Govandi in Mumbai. More details are awaited and we will keep you posted on the award to be presented to her on an international platform.

D’souza whose family originally hails from Navelim in South Goa, is of Portuguese descent, but shifted to Mumbai when she was barely a year-old. She studied in Mumbai and took up work with a media organisation, before getting into acting and modelling.

Now, the 31-year-old besides pursuing her acting and modelling career in Mumbai, is very actively involved in social work, providing free tuition to street kids and kids living in slum pockets.

Pearl who is a big fan of the popular reality show on Colors – Bigg Boss, hosted by Salman Khan wants to continue both – her acting profession as well as her social activities for which she devotes 4-5 hours daily.

She has done a few web series for OTT (Over The Top) platforms and even featured in some ad films. She did a cameo role in the Maneesh Singh-directed film Green Terror. Besides, she has done dozens of print ad and catalogue shoots, but focused on social work during the Covid pandemic, as other avenues were shut during the lock down. She is very actively involved in Climate Change activism in India and particularly in Mumbai and Goa.

NEW DELHI: According to a report on the global impact of Climate Change by the CPIE India, peak summer temperatures in various coastal regions of India, including Goa, could rise by 2-4 degrees C (from the present levels) causing a range of catastrophic events that could greatly impact the oceans, cause widespread flooding and destroy the flora and fauna and piscine and aquatic life in rivers, ponds lakes, other water bodies in the region.

Climate change will lead to many more very hot days in the summer and fewer very cold days in the winter. In some areas like Mumbai, winters will disappear.

Higher growth in greenhouse gas emission volumes would cause more frequent and severe temperature extremes. Globally, cold waves have decreased in frequency and in cities like Mumbai, there are hardly 3-5 days in winter when it’s really cold. The higher intensity and severity of individual heat waves can often be attributed to global warming.

Temperature spikes must slow down if we want to avoid the worst consequences of climate change, say climate scientists. Global warming needs to be kept to 1.5C at the maximum by 2100 or else the consequences could be disastrous for our planet.

Scientific estimates based on present mathematical models claim global warming could exceed 4C in the future, leading to devastating heatwaves, millions losing their homes to rising sea levels, and the irreversible loss of plant and animal species across the world.

Several parts of Goa (and Mumbai), it’s beaches, fields and other low-lying areas could be under water by the turn of this century if global warming levels continue to rise. Beaches like those of Candolim and Baga will be initially eroded by sand erosion caused by devastating floods (caused by climatic variations) and whatever is left of the eroded beaches would be inundated by rising sea levels which would be in the range of 2 to 6 meters.

Extreme weather events like continuous floods and long heat waves of 10 to 12 days at a stretch are already more intense across the globe, threatening lives and livelihoods with devastation.

With further warming, some regions could become uninhabitable, as farmland turns into desert or gets inundated with saline sea waters. East Africa has seen several repetitive seasons of failed rains, which the UN’s World Food Programme says has put up to 22 million people at risk of severe hunger due to vegetable and food grain shortage and in the peril of death.

Extreme temperatures can also increase the risk of wildfires – as seen in Europe and the Americas. France and Germany recorded about seven times more land burnt between January and the middle of July 2022, compared with the average in the years earlier. Goa too has seen several forest fires with the frequency and intensity increasing annually.

Hotter temperatures also mean that previously frozen ground covered in layers of ice, will melt in places like Siberia, releasing greenhouse gases trapped for centuries into the atmosphere, further worsening climate change.

In other regions, extremely heavy rainfall caused historic, unprecedented flooding – as was seen in China, Pakistan and Nigeria.

People living in poorer and developing countries are expected to suffer the most as they have fewer resources to adapt to climate change, the report says.

BENGALURU: According to a report in the Hindustan Times, horticulture experts and farmers claimed that climate change is the main reason behind the drastic drop in mango production this season.

The report mentions a reduction of nearly 50 per cent in yield with mango farmers in the state staring at another lean year and loss of income.

This year, production of around 0.7-0.8 million tonnes of mango is expected as against the 1.5 million tonnes yield in a normal year, a clear drop of 50 per cent.

Further, this year the peak season is expected to be around mid-May or early June, which is also later than the usual season. Karnataka has witnessed a reduction in yield for the third time in a row. In 2021, the reduction was close to 60-70%, with the Covid pandemic also playing a role, the reports states.

According to horticulture experts, the prolonged unseasonal rainfall last year increased moisture in the soil and delayed flowering of Mango trees.

“Usually, flowering takes place in November-December, but it did not happen in most places, and it took place in January and February. The moisture in the water has been one of the reasons for this,” said SV Hittalmani, who retired as additional director (fruits) in the state horticulture department.

The expert pointed out that the December rains were unusual in Karnataka, and dry soil is needed for a good amount of flowering. But for the past two years, several parts of south Karnataka have been witnessing an increase in the amount of rain in December.

Since 2000 till 2018 or 2019, Karnataka has been under drought for 15 of the 18 years. But now things have changed, and some parts of the state even experienced floods. Prof MB Rajegowda, agrometeorologist and former Registrar, University of Agriculture Sciences (UAS), explained that in Karnataka, normal rainfall during the South-West Monsoon is in the range of 850-870mm. For the past couple of years, the state has seen normal or above normal rainfall.

The imbalance in mango flowering patterns caused by the high moisture content in soil is the main reason for the decline in mango yield in the state this year, Hittalmani added.

In Karnataka, mango orchards are spread across 180,000 hectares of land in Kolar, Ramanagara, Chikkaballapura and parts of the Bengaluru rural district in the south Karnataka region and Dharwad and Belagavi in the northern Karnataka region.

K Srinivas Gowda, president of the Chikkaballapura Mango Growers’ Association, said that the results of climate change are not limited to the unusual rains. According to him, while the past two years witnessed unusual rains, in the three years before that, Chikkaballapura witnessed drought-like conditions.

“There was hardly any rain. In a way, for the mango cultivation, such a weather pattern is good because for getting a good yield the temperature at night should be very low, and it should be high during the day. While the dry conditions helped during those years, it is having its effects now,” said Gowda.

He explained that when the state received excessive rain last year there was vegetative growth instead of flowering. “It is simple. Because there was a draught earlier, this time when the trees got water and nutrients, they used those for the growth of the plant, like getting branches and leaves. In other words, it is used for the tree to grow than create fruits. This is also another effect of climate change,” he said.

State Mango Development and Marketing Corporation Limited (KSMDMCL) officials also pointed out that a slump in hermaphrodite flowers, key for a good yield, was observed in mango trees.

To promote the sale of mangos which saw a slum during the pandemic, KSMDMCL organised a buyer-seller meet in Bengaluru. As part of the initiative, top traders from North India visited the mango plantations in and around Bengaluru and in Kolar and Chikkaballapur districts, said officials.

Source: Hindustan Times