Climate deal urgent after weather-linked disasters kill 600,000 in 20 years: UN
Weather-related disasters have grown
more frequent over the last 20 years,
claiming more than 600,000 lives, the UN
said Monday, issuing a further call for
nations to strike a landmark deal on
climate change.
The report from the United Nations
agency for disaster risk reduction
(UNISDR) said floods, storms and other
extreme weather events have killed
606,000 people since 1995, “with an
additional 4.1 billion people injured, left
homeless or in need of emergency
assistance.”
The report noted that while there was no
way to establish how much of the rise in
such disasters was caused by climate
change, the link between the planet’s
changing climate and extreme weather
was clear.
“The contents of this report underline
why it is so important that a new climate
change agreement emerges from the
COP21 in Paris”, said UNISDR chief
Margareta Wahlstrom, referring to
crunch climate talks starting next week.
The talks that open in the French capital
on November 30 are tasked with crafting
a 195-nation pact to curb greenhouse gas
emissions blamed for dangerous levels of
climate change.
Between 2005 and 2014, the leading
database that tracks weather-linked
disasters recorded 335 such incidents, a
14 percent increase compared to the
previous decade and nearly double the
number recorded from 1985 to 1994.
Overall, the report said, the planet has
seen “a sustained rise in the numbers of
floods and storms”, noting that drought,
heatwaves and extreme cold were also
growing concerns.
According to UNISDR data, flooding
accounted for 47 percent of all weather
disasters over the last 20 years, affecting
more than 2.3 billion people, the vast
majority of whom live in Asia.
A full 75 percent of the 4.1 billion people
affected were in either China or India,
underscoring the extent to which densely
populated areas in those countries were
disproportionately vulnerable.
Next in line in terms of the number of
people affected over the reporting period
were Bangladesh (131 million people)
and the Philippines (130 million people),
while Brazil (51 million people) led the
way in the Americas and Kenya was the
most affected country in Africa (47
million people).
The report also detailed the heavy
damage to property and infrastructure
inflicted by extreme weather.
This includes 87 million homes damaged
or destroyed, with hundreds of
thousands of schools, hospitals and other
key facilities affected worldwide.
In total, UNISDR data counted $1.9
trillion (1.8 trillion euros) in financial
losses attributable to extreme weather
events.
Given the correlation between climate
change and extreme weather, the planet
will “witness a continued upward trend
in weather-related disasters in the
decades ahead,” the report warned.
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