The year 2025 sends an ominous warning for the future for Asia. The continent experienced intense heat, drought, retreating glaciers, high ocean temperatures and marine heatwaves, underscoring the imperative for early warning and coordinated action during extreme weather events, according to a new report by the World Meteorological Organization.

Asia has warmed faster than the global average in recent decades, with the warming trend between 1991 and 2025 approximately twice that observed between 1961 and 1990, the State of the Climate in Asia 2025 said.

In addition, South Asia has been inordinately affected by sea-level rise, ocean acidification and flooding, it said.

The report was launched on June 17 at Paro in Bhutan. It has been produced in collaboration with National Meteorological and Hydrological Services, international data centres, leading climate research institutions and United Nations partners. Its co-lead authors are Sreejith Op of the India Meteorological Department and Peiqun Zhang of the China Meteorological Administration.

The report analysed temperatures, rainfall, extreme events, glaciers, oceans and seas and interventions in the case of disasters. The report noted that much of Asia experienced temperature anomalies. But cooler-than-average conditions prevailed over South Asia, including the Indian subcontinent.

It warned that water security could be impacted severely as all 23 monitored glaciers in high-mountain Asia lost...

Read more