"The Monsoon Is Becoming More Extreme"

"South Asia’s monsoon is inextricably linked, culturally and economically, to much of Asia. Climate change is making it increasingly violent and erratic."

"Like all of India’s tens of millions of small farmers whose lives depend on the annual monsoon, Bhagwat Gagre keeps a firm eye on the sky.

At his village in the shadow of the Western Ghats mountain range, the rainy season usually starts in June. Winds over the subcontinent reverse, as they have for millennia, carrying clouds ripe with water from the Arabian Sea up over the Ghats, soaking Mr. Gagre’s tiny farm in Kumbharwadi and ensuring that the crops that he and his wife sow will have the rain they need.

Now, however, across South Asia, climate change is making the monsoon more erratic, less dependable and even dangerous, with more violent rainfall as well as worsening dry spells. For a region home to nearly one-quarter of the world’s population, the consequences are dire."

Henry Fountain reports for the New York Times with photographs by Saumya Khandelwal and maps by Zach Levitt and Jeremy White October 4, 2022.

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"As Himalayan Glaciers Melt, a Water Crisis Looms in South Asia" (Yale Environment 360)

Source: NYTimes, 10/05/2022