{"id":63807,"date":"2020-10-14T02:49:00","date_gmt":"2020-10-14T00:49:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sonnenseite.com\/?p=63807"},"modified":"2020-10-13T12:52:39","modified_gmt":"2020-10-13T10:52:39","slug":"staggering-rise-in-climate-emergencies-in-last-20-years-new-disaster-research-shows","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sonnenseite.com\/en\/environment\/staggering-rise-in-climate-emergencies-in-last-20-years-new-disaster-research-shows\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Staggering\u2019 rise in climate emergencies in last 20 years, new disaster research shows"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The first 20 years of this century have seen a \u201cstaggering\u201d rise in climate disasters, UN researchers said on Monday, while also maintaining that \u201calmost all nations\u201d have failed to prevent a \u201cwave of death and illness\u201d caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The first 20 years of this century have seen a \u201cstaggering\u201d rise in climate disasters, UN researchers said, while also maintaining that \u201calmost all nations\u201d have failed to prevent a \u201cwave of death and illness\u201d caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.<\/p><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In an urgent\u00a0call for countries to\u00a0prepare better for\u00a0all\u00a0catastrophic events\u00a0\u2013 from earthquakes and tsunamis to\u00a0biological\u00a0threats\u00a0such as\u00a0the new coronavirus<\/a>\u00a0\u2013\u00a0data from\u00a0the UN Office on Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR<\/a>)\u00a0indicates\u00a0that\u00a0wealthy nations\u00a0have done little to\u00a0tackle\u00a0the\u00a0harmful\u00a0emissions\u00a0that\u00a0are linked to\u00a0climate\u00a0threats\u00a0which\u00a0make up the bulk of\u00a0disasters today.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Short odds <\/h3>\n\n\n\n

\u201cDisaster management agencies have succeeded in saving many lives through improved preparedness and the dedication of staff and volunteers. But the odds continue to be stacked against them, in particular by industrial nations that are failing miserably on reducing greenhouse gas emissions,\u201d said Mami Mizutori, UNDRR<\/a> chief, and Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Disaster Risk Reduction. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to the UNDRR report – produced with Belgium\u2019s Centre for Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters at UCLouvain – there were 7,348 recorded disaster events worldwide, during the last two decades. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Approximately 1.23 million people died \u2013 approximately 60,000 per year \u2013 with more than four billion affected in total; many more than once.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

These two decades of disaster also caused $2.97 trillion in losses to the global economy, with data also indicating that poorer nations experienced deaths rates more than four times higher than richer nations. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

By comparison, the previous 20-year period (1980 to 1999) saw 4,212 reported disasters from natural hazards, with 1.19 million deaths, more than three billion people affected and economic losses totalling $ 1.63 trillion. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Climate danger spike <\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Although better recording and reporting of disasters may help explain some of the increase in the last two decades, researchers insisted that the significant rise in climate-related emergencies was the main reason for the spike, with floods accounting for more than 40 per cent of disasters \u2013 affecting 1.65 billion people – storms 28 per cent, earthquakes (eight per cent) and extreme temperatures (six per cent). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis is clear evidence that in a world where the global average temperature in 2019 was 1.1 degrees Celsius above the pre-industrial period, the impacts are being felt in the increased frequency of extreme weather events including heatwaves, droughts, flooding, winter storms, hurricanes and wildfires,\u201d UNDRR reported . <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite the pledge made by the international community in Paris in 2015 to reduce global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, Ms. Mizutori added that it was \u201cbaffling\u201d that nations were continuing knowingly \u201cto sow the seeds of our own destruction, despite the science and evidence that we are turning our only home into an uninhabitable hell for millions of people\u201d. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

COVID-19 exposure <\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Turning to the COVID-19<\/a> pandemic, which has \u201claid bare many shortcomings in disaster risk management (despite) repeated warnings\u201d, the UNDRR report recommended urgent action from Governments to better manage such overlapping disasters. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

These hazards included known \u201crisk drivers\u201d, such as poverty, climate change, air pollution, population growth in dangerous locations, uncontrolled urbanization and the loss of biodiversity. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chronic needs <\/h3>\n\n\n\n

By way of an example of chronic weather risks which should be the focus of better national preparedness measures, the agency pointed that shifting rainfall patterns pose a risk to the 70 per cent of global agriculture that relies on rain and the 1.3 billion people dependent on degrading agricultural land.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite the fact that extreme weather events have become so regular in last 20 years, only 93 countries have implemented disaster risk strategies at a national level ahead of the end-of-year deadline, Ms. Mizutori said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cDisaster\u00a0risk governance depends on political leadership above all, and\u00a0delivery on the promises made when the Paris agreement and\u00a0the Sendai Framework\u00a0for Disaster Risk Reduction<\/a> were adopted,\u201d she said.\u00a0\u201cBut the sad fact is that we are wilfully destructive.\u00a0And that is the conclusion of this report; COVID-19 is but the latest proof that politicians and business leaders have yet to tune into the world around them.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She added: \u201cIt really is all about governance if we want to deliver this planet from the scourge of poverty, further loss of species and biodiversity, the explosion of urban risk and the worst consequences of global warming\u201d, in a joint statement with UCLouvain\u2019s Professor Debarati Guha-Sapir. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although the UNDRR report indicates that there has been some success in protecting vulnerable communities from isolated hazards, thanks to more effective early warning systems, disaster preparedness and response, projected global temperature rises could make these improvements \u201cobsolete in many countries\u201d, the agency warned. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Currently, the world\u00a0is\u00a0on course for a temperature increase of 3.2\u00a0degrees Celsius\u00a0or more,\u00a0unless industrialised\u00a0nations\u00a0can\u00a0deliver reductions in greenhouse gas emissions of at least 7.2\u00a0per cent\u00a0annually over the next\u00a010\u00a0years in order to achieve the 1.5\u00a0degree\u00a0target agreed in Paris.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n

Source<\/h5>\r\n\n\n\n

UN News 2020<\/a><\/p>\n

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