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- The researchers at the Indian Institute of Technology(IIT) Bhubaneswar has documented how urbanisation of cities in the last decade can sharply increase the local temperature.
- The study has found out that the local surface temperature in large cities in Odisha such as Cuttack and Bhubaneswar has increased by as much as 40-50% during the period 2001-2010.
- While temperature has increased by about 0.9 degree Celsius due to regional warming which is a global phenomenon.But urbanisation or changes in land use and land cover alone has contributed 40-50% of that increase in these cities.
- In other words,there has been a 0.5 degree C increase in absolute local temperature in large cities in the State during the period 2001 to 2010 solely due to urbanisation.
- The rapid increase in urbanisation was at the cost of dense vegetation and crop fields.While dense vegetation reduced by 89%,crop fields shrunk by 83%.
- According to UN-HABITAT,although cities cover less than 2% of the earth’s surface,urban areas account for 76 % of the world’s carbon dioxide from global final energy use and a significant portion of total greenhouse gas emissions.
- At the same time, hundreds of millions of people in urban areas across the world will be affected by (a)rising sea levels (b)increased precipitation (c)inland floods (d)more frequent and stronger cyclones and storms and (e)periods of more extreme heat and cold.