Yale study: 56% in Bengal have faced severe storms, the highest in India

Kolkata: 56 per cent people in Bengal have personally experienced severe storms, which is the highest percentage in the entire country. 77 per cent of the people in the state are of the opinion that global warming is contributing to such severe storms bearing testimony to the fact that people in the state are well aware about the effects of global warming. Infact, over 80 per cent of the people in Bengal are worried about global warming.

The Climate Opinion Maps for India by the Yale Programme on Climate Change Communication reveal people’s experiences with extreme weather and their beliefs about the role of climate change in these events vary across India’s states and districts. The new maps provide a state and district-level look at how climate change is being felt and understood across 34 of India’s 36 states and Union Territories and 634 districts.

In the case of Bengal, 75 per cent people have personally experienced severe heatwaves, 56 per cent have experienced agricultural pests and diseases, 44 per cent have personally experienced severe air pollution. A whooping 82 per cent of the people believe that global warming is affecting severe heatwaves, 79 per cent believe that it is leading plant and animal species to extinction, while 78 per cent have opined that global warming is causing severe air pollution. Another 76 per cent believe that global warming is affecting severe floods as well as monsoon while 77 per cent have opined that it is affecting severe storms.

With over 1.4 billion people, India is the third-largest emitter of greenhouse gas emissions and one of the most climate-vulnerable nations. In 2024, India experienced extreme weather events on 322 days, almost 90 per cent of the year.

“As India rapidly develops while facing intensifying extreme weather, understanding how people across states and districts perceive and experience climate change is essential. These maps can help local and state leaders design climate action plans that reflect people’s lived realities and build durable public support for solutions,” said Jagadish Thaker, Senior Lecturer, University of Queensland, and one of the lead authors of this project.