The United Nations warns of the increasing frequency and severity of natural disasters caused by climate change and leaves out warnings about a lack of financial preparedness for the dark future that lies ahead.
One Report The United Nations is once again issuing a warning about the impact of human action on the environment.
The document was prepared by the United Nations Department for Risk and Disaster Reduction (UNDRR), and the document refers to Significant increase in frequency Natural disasters in recent years.
If between 1970 and 2000 the world recorded on average between 90 and 100 natural disasters per year, the value would have risen to Between 350 and 500 average to major disasters annually from 2001 to 2020.
The events considered range from fires to floods and also cover epidemics and chemical accidents – and the UN warns their frequency could rise to 560 per year by 2030, which translates to an average 1.5 disasters per daydue to the exacerbation of climate change.
By 2030, temperature-related disasters could become three times more common. In addition to the fact that disasters become more frequent, they are also more dangerous. Rising temperatures, for example, lead to more dangerous fire seasons and heat waves.
Humanity has not encountered at any other stage in modern history set of risks and dangers Family and strangers interact in a rapidly changing interconnected world.
The report also warned that governments were not prepared for what was to come. Amina J. said: Mohammed, Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations, who believes that we are entering a “vortex of self-destruction”: “The world needs to do more to integrate disaster risk into the way we live, build and invest.”
In the past ten years, natural disasters have cost the world 160 billion euros annually. And while they’re not the main culprits in climate change, poorest countries They were the ones who suffered the most from its consequences, aggravating their already fragile economic situation.
Each year, developing countries spend about 1% of their GDP on managing natural disasters. On the other hand, rich countries only spend between 0.1% and 0.2% of GDP in this sense and this disparity should continue, according to the United Nations.
Asia Pacific is the hardest hit region in the world, where countries have to lose 1.3% of its GDP annually in response to disasters. Next comes the African continent, whose GDP suffers, on average, 0.6% each year.
In addition to having structures and buildings that are more fragile and vulnerable to these disasters, there is also less insurance coverage in the poorest countries, which makes them more vulnerable. Since 1989, Only 40% of the damage The insurance covers losses caused by natural disasters in less developed countries.
There is still a large discrepancy between the money spent on disaster response and prevention. Between 2010 and 2019, €5.2 million was invested in disaster prevention and the money spent on recovery efforts was €7.3 billion. Emergency response spending exceeds all of these values by a large margin – 113 billion euros.
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