Tamil Nadu would be severely impacted by heat, says a State Planning Commission report that has flagged several issues and called for mitigation measures.
Global reports indicate that India will lose up to 5% of its Gross Domestic Product by 2030 to rising temperatures. Tamil Nadu, the southernmost State in India, with its warm tropical weather, is projected to be severely impacted by heat, State Planning Commission Vice-Chairman J. Jeyaranjan said in the report, ‘Beating The Heat-Tamil Nadu Heat Mitigation Strategy’.
In the changing global scenario, heat is emerging as a pre-eminent threat to the health and well-being of humans, biodiversity, and agricultural and industrial production, he said. The State Planning Commission is anchoring the heat mitigation strategy, with support from the British High Commission.
The Tamil Nadu State Disaster Management Authority prepared the Heat Wave Action Plan in 2019, and in 2023, the State stepped up formal efforts to promote sustainable cooling solutions. Addressing the complex nature of heat and its compounding effect across sectors requires well-crafted policies, systemic changes, and collaboration across sectors and departments. The existing measures need to be aligned to reduce duplication and strengthen outcomes, the report said.
Regular breaches
The temperature range at which humans can thrive is 25 degrees Celsius to 30 degrees Celsius, with 60% humidity. However, in many parts of Tamil Nadu, this threshold is regularly breached, with high temperatures and humidity disrupting lives and livelihoods. With nearly 74% of Tamil Nadu’s population currently exposed to air temperature above 35 degrees Celsius, there is an urgent need to build heat resilience because climate change-driven heat is expected to intensify, it noted.
Extreme heat erodes development gains by affecting economic productivity and increasing vector-borne diseases. Additionally, differential exposure and vulnerabilities across communities are deepening intergenerational inequities and locking the afflicted into long-term distress, the report said.
Critical aspects
The State’s heat mitigation strategy focuses on critical aspects such as the built environment, socio-ecological systems and resources, the economy, livelihoods, and communities and people. The strategy identifies systems and short-term and long-term measures to address the impact of heat and builds on the State’s ongoing efforts to build heat resilience. The report flagged issues relating to health and well-being and interrelated impact of increased heat on human and non-human lives. Animal populations also face the risk of dehydration owing to heat exposure, which can lead to decreased immunity, a higher risk of disease, prevalence of zoonotic diseases, and even death, it said.
Short-term measures to ensure the health and well-being of humans and non-humans during prolonged and extreme heat conditions include medical interventions and adequate resource allocation, the report pointed out. Preventive healthcare measures include access to cool, shaded spaces, drinking water, and rehydration solutions to be provided to vulnerable groups on priority. Preventive veterinary intervention is the provision of rehydration solutions to individuals/communities practising animal husbandry, and to zoos and other animal care centres. Potentially provide measures at subsidised rates or for free, it said.
Planning, policy, building guidelines and ecosystem restoration to reduce heat exposure through monitoring could be the possible longer-term measures, the report said.
The Tamil Nadu Government Pregnancy Scheme (which has been implemented in various forms since 1987) is an innovative initiative to promote the health and well-being of pregnant women and ensure the healthy development of infants. Adding heat risk as a key criterion to screen during health check-ups and awareness drives can be a simple intervention to improve the adaptive capacity of pregnant women to take care of their health during extreme heat conditions, the report suggests.
A key strategy to ensure health and well-being in high heat conditions is to reduce heat exposure. This has two components: limiting the time that individuals spend outdoors without shade and ensuring that indoor environments are maintained at thermal comfort levels, it said.
Tamil Nadu’s Labour Welfare and Skill Development Department has notified the Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions (Tamil Nadu) Rules, 2022, which detail measures that employers must take to ensure workers’ health. Specific language to ensure the thermal comfort of workers in indoor and outdoor environments can be integrated into such notified rules, the report said.
The report also dealt with aspects like ensuring sustained resources and productivity and highlighted the challenges in key areas. like agriculture, tourism, mangrove and coastal regions among others. The actionable items and detailing of the corresponding solutions for the line departments will be carried out in phases over the next few months. This would be steered by the State Planning Commission and the Tamil Nadu State Disaster Management Authority.
Published – October 03, 2024 12:30 am IST
