We are barely one-fourth of a way through the gruelling summer -- the hottest two months of April and May that Goa experiences and the various state departments have issued as many as three heatwave warnings including the most recent advisory issued by the Met Department on April 15 which warned of heatwave like conditions in Goa over the coming days.
The advisory was issued for Goa alongside several districts of Maharashtra and comes even as various state departments including the State Disaster Management Authority, the Health Department, the Labour Department and the Tourism Department have issued advisories warning against the potential dangers of being exposed to outdoor heat for extended periods.
While not as hot and dry as last year (yet) when numerous forest fires burned for days across Goa’s age-old forests, a second consecutive year of record-breaking heat serves as an important reminder that it’s only going to get worse from here.
While this summer may already seem hot, it is important to remember that things are not going to get better -- this is not just among the hottest summers you have experienced, it is the coolest summer of the rest of your life.
The days when one could cool off in the shade even during the hot summer are long over not because it is increasingly hot with each passing year, but also because there isn’t shade anymore. Open and wild spaces have made way for housing complexes and villas, fields that held water throughout the year have now been buried under debris and have suffered land use change and massive trees that once lined the streets have been chopped to make way for road widening in the most brazen of ways.
Multiple studies have shown that tree-lined streets are much cooler than those lined only by buildings, yet in the name of development, project promoters have had little to no hesitation in hacking down age-old trees -- even illegally as was recently seen in Siolim -- and bulldozing wider roads through what were once peaceful Goan villages.
In the process, both shady trees and fruit-bearing trees were hacked down in exchange for wide roads and hotter outdoors. What Goa needs on an urgent basis is a new development paradigm for urban infrastructure -- one that incorporates the growing need to reduce city temperatures.
It’s not rocket science that urban interactions crystallise around cool places under large trees within parks and open spaces and public squares that are tree-lined as opposed to searing hot open pavements and parking lots. However, rather than recognize this, those at the helm have been prioritising parking spaces and wider roads while ignoring everyone else’s needs, especially those of non-car owners.
The government needs to work towards providing drinking water fountains that everyone can access, public spaces to sit and rest as well as public restrooms that will help boost the overall experience of the city and make it a truly welcoming place.
It would be suicidal to ignore the signs around us and continue with development plans as if it is business as usual when it comes to the changing climate. The faster our policymakers realise this the better.
