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illuminem summarises for you the essential news of the day. Read the full piece in The Economist or enjoy below:
🗞️ Driving the news: New research reveals that South Asia, despite being one of the hottest regions globally, has warmed far more slowly than the rest of the world over the past four decades — largely due to local pollution and extensive irrigation
• As efforts to clean the air and address water scarcity progress, scientists warn this temporary shield will vanish, triggering a potentially dangerous acceleration in regional warming
🔭 The context: From 1980 to 2020, South Asia warmed at just 0.09°C per decade, compared to a global land average of 0.30°C
• Aerosols from industrial pollution have partially blocked solar radiation, while widespread irrigation has cooled the land through evaporation
• These conditions created a regional “warming hole,” particularly pronounced across the densely populated Indo-Gangetic Plain
• However, both pollution control and groundwater depletion mean these effects are unsustainable
🌍 Why it matters for the planet: South Asia is home to over a quarter of the world’s population and already faces extreme heat stress
• The removal of aerosol pollution — a vital step for public health — will unmask significant warming
• Similarly, declining irrigation due to falling groundwater levels will eliminate a crucial cooling mechanism
• This delayed exposure could cause a sudden and severe escalation in heat extremes, threatening livelihoods, health, and regional climate resilience
⏭️ What's next: As India pushes forward with air quality improvement targets (a 40% reduction in PM2.5 by 2026), and irrigation levels plateau or decline, scientists predict South Asia may warm at twice the rate of the past 20 years
• Without adaptation, the number of heat stress days could quadruple by 2047
• Existing heatwave response plans remain insufficient
💬 One quote: "India can’t continue to irrigate. And they also can’t continue to have the level of air pollution they have." — Daniel Schrag, Harvard University
📈 One stat: Air pollution killed an estimated 2.6 million people in South Asia in 2021 — over five times more than deaths attributed to extreme heat
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