Session 1D: Symposium on “The International Year of Basic Sciences for Sustainable Development”

Basic sciences for environmental sustainability

Abstract: Basic sciences have an important contribution to make to progress towards a sustainable world. They enable us to understand the impacts on the climate, life on Earth and on aquatic environment, and to reduce these impacts. In this lecture, three important issues (Air Pollution, Heatwaves and Urban Floods) that are related to sustainable living will be discussed.

Air pollution is a serious environmental issue, especially in north India due to accumulation of pollutants from human activities. The science of air pollution and the development of air pollution warning systems will be discussed. Due to global warming, extreme temperature events like heatwaves are increasing in India. Heat waves impact health, agriculture, and energy systems. The recent heat waves over Pakistan and India provide us a lesson about the possible impact we can expect in future. Another major environmental risk for sustainable living is increasing frequency of Urban floods. Frequent urban flooding occurs due to changes in the characteristics of precipitation in urban areas and increasing influence of human activities. The physical mechanisms of heatwaves and urban floods and their prediction capabilities will be discussed.