Post-Wayanad landslides, Centre approves 'Mission Mausam' to tackle impacts of climate change

New Delhi: After facing huge loss in natural calamities like landslides in Wayanad and and floods in Andhra Pradesh, the Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved "Mission Mausam" to enhance India's ability to predict and respond to extreme weather events and the impacts of climate change.

The mission, with a budget of Rs 2,000 crore over two years, will be primarily implemented by three key institutions under the Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES) -- the India Meteorological Department, the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology and the National Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasting.

These will be supported by other MoES bodies, such as the Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services, the National Centre for Polar and Ocean Research and the National Institute of Ocean Technology.

The mission will focus on improving observations and understanding to deliver highly accurate and timely weather and climate information across temporal and spatial scales. This includes information on monsoon, air quality, extreme weather events, cyclones and weather interventions for managing fog, hail and rain.

Critical elements of "Mission Mausam" include the deployment of next-generation radars and satellite systems with advanced sensors, high-performance supercomputers, the development of enhanced Earth system models and a GIS-based automated decision support system for real-time data sharing, the Union Cabinet said in a statement.

The mission will benefit multiple sectors, including agriculture, disaster management, defence, aviation, energy, water resources and tourism. It will also improve decision-making in areas like urban planning, transportation and environmental monitoring.

The multi-faceted and transformative initiative will "tremendously boost India's weather and climate-related science, research and services", the Union Cabinet said.

It will equip stakeholders, including citizens and last-mile users, to better tackle extreme weather events and climate change impacts. The programme will help broaden capacity and resilience across communities, sectors and ecosystems in the long run, it said.

Climate change is triggering more extreme weather events, such as sudden heavy rainfall, heatwaves, and cyclones. Experts say these events are becoming harder to predict due to shifting patterns in the atmosphere and oceans.

As part of "Mission Mausam", India will exponentially expand research and development, and capacity in atmospheric sciences, especially weather surveillance, modelling, forecasting and management, the Union Cabinet said.

By integrating advanced observation systems, high-performance computing and cutting-edge technologies like artificial intelligence and machine learning, "Mission Mausam" will set a new benchmark for predicting weather with high precision, it said.

According to the Centre for Science and Environment's "State of Environment 2024" report, India experienced extreme weather events on 318 out of 365 days in 2023, with all states and Union territories facing such events on at least one day. These events resulted in 3,287 human deaths, the loss of 1.24 lakh animals, and damage to 2.21 million hectares of crop area, the report said.

A survey conducted by the Forum of Enterprises for Equitable Development (FEED), in collaboration with the Development Intelligence Unit (DIU), found that 80 per cent of marginal farmers in India have suffered crop losses due to extreme weather events over the past five years.