AA Edit | Slow Down, Jointly Manage Climate

The eruption of Hayli Gubbi in Ethiopia’s Afar region, which was dormant for nearly 12,000 years, on November 23 jolted the world into a renewed awareness about its geographies’ interwovenness. The shield volcano belched ash high into the sky, generating a plume that soared up to 14 kilometres, affecting air travel from Ethiopia to India.

It showed that no country could remain unaffected by Earth’s deep geophysical rhythms. Domestic and international flights to and from India were cancelled, rerouted or delayed as aviation authorities issued urgent advisories and rerouted air-traffic corridors.

A similar impact was seen in 2010 when a volcano erupted Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland, affecting air travel across Europe. Though the immediate ash threat recedes quickly, the world needs to reflect on broader implications.

According to an estimate, the world had seen around 90 major volcanic activities since the year 2000. This is the second volcanic eruption in Ethiopia, which sits on the ridge of two subdivisions — Nubia and Somalia — of the African plate. The East African country is the most active region for volcanic eruptions due to the drift in the Somalia division.

As the Somalian division is adjacent to the Indian plate, India would get affected whenever any major volcanic eruption happens in Ethiopia. Though the major impact of the Somalian rift on India is ruled out, the country needs to invest in understanding nature, as no country can withstand its fury. The world, therefore, should have a coordinated, multinational framework of geological research, satellite surveillance, real-time atmospheric modelling and shared early-warning systems.

As “black-swan” events like volcanic eruptions, severe cyclones, wildfires and glacier melts get more frequent, no country can remain an island. If humanity hopes to avert greater disruption, it must transcend borders and come together to build capacity to either slow down and pause or reverse climate change.