Almost half a million people have been killed in natural disasters linked to extreme weather events in the last 20 years, with the world’s poorest countries increasingly bearing the brunt of climate change’s wrath.
The mortality burden of climate-related catastrophes such as storms, flooding, and heatwaves is overwhelmingly borne by developing nations, according to a new assessment of the direct threat posed to humanity by global warming.
At the start of the Climate Adaptation Summit on Monday, held virtually this year because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the think-tank Germanwatch calculated these disasters have cost the global economy a staggering $2.56 trillion this century.
An analysis of more than 11,000 extreme weather events showed nearly 480,000 fatalities since 2000, with Puerto Rico, Myanmar, and Haiti the worst-hit countries, it said.
Under the 2015 Paris climate deal, wealthier nations are supposed to provide $100bn every year to help poorer states mitigate temperature rises and adapt to the changing climate.
But recent research suggests the true amount of funding available to developing countries for climate action is vastly lower.
Germanwatch’s Global Climate Index examined the impact of two decades of extreme weather events, particularly the 2019 storm season, which produced hurricanes and cyclones that devastated parts of the Caribbean, East Africa and South Asia.
“This shows that poor, vulnerable countries face particularly great challenges in dealing with the consequences of extreme weather events,” said co-author David Eckstein.
He noted that poorer countries had yet to receive the full $100bn a year in climate funding promised by wealthy nations. Richer nations agreed to build up to providing that sum annually, starting in 2020, to help poorer countries adopt cleaner energy systems and adapt to the impacts of planetary warming.
“They urgently need financial and technical assistance,” said Eckstein.
Aljazeera