One billion more people face at least one day of extreme heat stress, compared to 1970s: Study

📌 Summary:

• A new study finds an additional one billion people now face at least one day of extreme heat stress compared with the 1970s
• Heat stress worldwide is increasing in frequency, severity and duration — during both day and night
• The research was conducted by the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) with collaborators in the U.K. and Germany
• Suggested responses: heat-health action plans, early-warning systems, urban cooling interventions, and integrating heat stress metrics into climate risk assessments
• Implication for India: a tropical, densely populated, rapidly urbanising country is highly exposed, making heat action plans and urban cooling critical

🎯 UPSC Relevance: GS3 — climate change impacts, heatwaves as a disaster, adaptation through heat action plans and urban planning

📝 Prelims Facts:

• ECMWF (European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts) is a leading global weather/climate modelling institution
• 'Heat stress' combines temperature, humidity and other factors affecting the human body, beyond air temperature alone

🔑 Key Term: Heat stress — physiological strain caused when the body cannot dissipate heat effectively, driven by combined heat and humidity; intensifying with climate change