Global temperatures reached a record high last year, and the United Nations Meteorological and Climate Agency said Asia is warming at an even faster rate.
The World Meteorological Organization says the effects of heat waves in Asia are intensifying, with melting glaciers threatening water security in the region in the future.
Asia is warming faster than the rest of the world, the WMO said, with temperatures last year averaging two degrees above the 1961-1990 average.
“The report’s findings have profound implications,” WMO chief Celeste Saulo said in a statement.
Many countries in the region are experiencing their hottest year on record in 2023, with extreme conditions ranging from droughts and heat waves to floods and cyclones.
“Climate change has increased the frequency and severity of such events, with a major impact on communities, economies and, most importantly, human life and the environment we live in.”
The State of Asia Climate 2023 report shows that key indicators of climate change such as global warming, glacier retreat and sea level rise are accelerating, with serious implications for communities, economies and ecosystems in the region.
“Asia remains the most vulnerable region to climate, weather and water-related hazards in 2023,” the WMO said.
Heat, melting and flooding
The average annual temperature in Asia in 2023 is 0.91 degrees above the 1991-2020 average, and 1.87 degrees above the 1961-1990 average.
Above-average temperatures were recorded mainly from western Siberia to Central Asia and eastern China to Japan, the report said.
As for rainfall, it is below normal in the Himalayas and the Kush mountains of India in Pakistan and Afghanistan.
Meanwhile, southwest China is experiencing drought, with below-normal rainfall levels almost every month of the year.
The high-altitude Asian region of the Tibetan Plateau contains the largest amount of ice outside the polar regions.
WMO says many of these glaciers have retreated in the past few decades, and at an accelerating rate, 20 out of 20 glaciers monitored in the region showed mass loss last year.
The report says 2023 sea surface temperatures in the Pacific Northwest are at record highs.
“urgency” for action
Last year, 79 water-related weather disasters were reported in Asia. More than 80 percent of these were floods and storms, killing more than 2,000 people and directly affecting nine million people.
“It is the leading cause of death by a significant margin in reported cases in 2023,” the WMO said.
Hong Kong recorded 158.1 millimeters of rain in an hour on September 7 – the highest since the first typhoon in 1884.
The WMO said there is an urgent need to improve the information available to the national weather service in the region for staff working on disaster risk reduction.
“Reducing greenhouse gas emissions and adapting to a changing climate is not just an option, it is a basic necessity.
